Summer 2019 Sustainability Undergraduate Research Projects, Advisors, and Student Participants

Please join us in welcoming the Summer 2019 undergraduate summer sustainability research projects, advisors, and student participants, funded by the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation.

1. Reducing Emissions – Fuel Consumption Reduction Technologies for Pittsburgh Port Authority Buses
   • Advisor:                Matthew Barry, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science
   • Student:               Kathryn Rossi, chemical & petroleum engineering (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
2. Silk-based flexible/wearable electronics: towards sustainable fabrication and materials engineering
   • Advisor:                Mostafa Bedewy, Industrial Engineering
   • Student:               Rim Biaz, Industrial Engineering (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
3. Validating citizen science tools used to identify lead water lines
   • Advisor:                Mike Blackhurst, University Center for Urban and Social Research
   • Student:               Arianna Heilbrunn, Environmental Studies (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
4. Ni-Mn-Ga magnetic shape memory alloys for power generation applications
   • Advisor:                Markus Chmielus, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science
   • Student:               Tyler Paplham, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
5. Chemical semantics and its implications on environmental transport, fate, and toxicity
   • Advisors:              Leanne Gilbertson and Carla Ng, Civil & Environmental Engineering
   • Student:               Rachel Fay, Civil & Environmental Engineering (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
6. Small & Mighty:  Exploring nature to identify bacteria capable of degrading a new generation of environmental contaminants
   • Advisor:                Sarah Haig, Civil & Environmental Engineering
   • Student:               Kareem Rabbat, Civil & Environmental Engineering (Charles and Linda Sorber Scholar)
7. Structural Design with Bamboo
   • Advisor:                Kent Harries, Civil & Environmental Engineering
   • Student:               Stephanie Martinos, Architectural Studies (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
8. Capturing and storing energy from hurricane waves with a piezoelectric device
   • Advisor:                Katherine Hornbostel, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science
   • Student:               Stephanie Litwack, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
9. Capturing carbon dioxide from the ocean with a membrane device
   • Advisor:                Katherine Hornbostel, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science
   • Student:               Christopher Snodgrass, Bioengineering (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
10. Reducing frictional energy losses in transportation and industry: Surface coatings and the effect of surface roughness on friction
    • Advisor:                Tevis Jacobs, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science
    • Student:               Annie Shi, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
11. Using acoustic sensors and machine learning to locate birds and bats in the field
    • Advisor:                Justin Kitzes, Biological Sciences
    • Student:               Jiade Song, Industrial Engineering (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
12. Durable Antireflective, Anti-Soiling and Self-Cleaning Solar Glass
    • Advisor:                Paul Leu, Industrial Engineering
    • Student:               Sooraj Sharma, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
13. Designing new ways to test the performance of large-scale battery technologies
    • Advisor:                James McKone, Chemical & Petroleum Engineering
    • Students:             Carissa Yim, Chemical & Petroleum Engineering (Frank and Daphna Lederman Scholar)
14. Smarter Riversheds – Real-time sensor networks
    • Advisor:                David Sanchez, Civil & Environmental Engineering
    • Student:               Carlie Johnson, Civil & Environmental Engineering (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
15. Recirculating Aquaculture – Managing water quality in a closed system
    • Advisor:                David Sanchez, Civil & Environmental Engineering
    • Student:               Mason Unger, Civil & Environmental Engineering (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
16. Campus-Wide Sustainability Dashboard
    • Advisor:                Aurora Sharrard, University Office of Sustainability
    • Collaborators:     Melissa Bilec & Michael Blackhurst, plus interactions with Pitt Facilities Management
    • Student:               Jonathan Coles, Civil & Environmental Engineering (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
17. Increasing the Structural Resilience of Reinforced Concrete through Bio-Remediation
    • Advisor:                Max Stephens, Civil & Environmental Engineering
    • Student:               Aamil Shah, Bioengineering (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
18. What the Frack: Designing nanocatalysts for responsible use of natural gas
    • Advisor:                Goetz Veser, Chemical & Petroleum Engineering
    • Student:               Albert Lopez-Martinez, Chemical & Petroleum Engineering (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
19. Post-processing design on superalloys by additive manufacturing for NASA space technology missions.
    • Advisor:                Wei Xiong, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science
    • Student:               Yinxuan Li, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science (John C. Mascaro Scholar)
20. Graphene-based composite materials for high performance thermoelectric devices
    • Advisor:                Minhee Yun, Electrical & Computer Engineering
    • Student:               Seth So, Electrical & Computer Engineering (Douglas Condon Scholar)
21. Developing a novel photopolymer based additive manufacturing machine (3D Printer) for high-resolution applications
    • Advisor:                Xiayun Zhao, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science
    • Student:               Yue Zhang, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science (John C. Mascaro Scholar)