The University of Pittsburgh’s Summer 2022 undergraduate summer sustainability research projects, advisors, and student participants are funded by the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation.

Check out Pitt’s Summer 2020 sustainability research projects, advisors, and student participants, funded by the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation below.  Special thanks to each of the faculty advisors who help to make this program happen.

Mapping Intersections in Water Inequities
Advisor: Dan Bain, Geology and Environmental Science
Student: Maggie Lincoln, Geology and Environmental Science

Pitt Regional Campus Greenhouse Gas Inventor(ies)
Advisors: Melissa Bilec, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Aurora Sharrard, Office of Sustainability
Student: Ryan Krug, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Sustainable Forestry within the Eastern Deciduous Forest Biome: Is salvage logging compatible with healthy forest regeneration following a major windstorm?
Advisors: Walter Carson, Biological Sciences and Hannah Assour, Biological Sciences
Student: Molly Draper, General Studies

Additive Manufacturing of Magnetocaloric Materials for High Efficiency Cooling
Advisor: Markus Chmielus, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Student: Rebecca Hotton, Chemistry

Microswimmers in the Ocean
Advisor: Lei Fang, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Student: Brandon Chai, School of Computing and Information

Save It, Don’t Spray It: Do water saving showerheads impact the microbes we breathe in during showering?
Advisor: Sarah Haig, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Student: Evan Trump, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Structural Design with Bamboo
Advisor: Kent Harries, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Student: Matthew Brancaccio, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Statistical Models for U.S. Electricity Grid Renewable Production
Advisor: Oliver Hinder, Industrial Engineering
Student: Yuchen Zhong, Industrial Engineering

Alchemical Screening for Hetero-Bimetallic Catalysts
Advisor: John Keith, Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Student: Margarita Prifti, Chemical and Petroleum Engineering

Distributed Energy Resource Control
Advisor: Bob Kerestes, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Student: Daniel Braunstein, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Using Machine Learning Models to Identify Wildlife Species in Field Recordings
Advisor: Justin Kitzes, Biological Sciences
Student: Junshang Jia, Computing and Information

Powering Miniature Embedded Systems using a Supercapacitor
Advisor: In Hee Lee, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Student: Dhinar Gayatri, Electrical and Computer Engineering

CyberWater
Advisor: Xu Liang, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Student: Ryan Young, Physics and Astronomy

Low Voltage Electrospinning of Nanofibers
Advisor: Qihan Liu, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Student: Hao Du, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Teeny Tiny Testers for Big Bad Batteries
Advisor: James McKone, Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Student: Noah Lawrence French, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Testing Biobased Sorbents for Contaminant Removal
Advisor: Carla Ng, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Student: Sneha Kc, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Electromagnetic Field Processing of Soft Magnetic Alloys for Electric Vehicle Applications
Advisor: Paul Ohodnicki, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Student: Alexander Pierce, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Social Network and Media Contexts of Substance Use
Advisor: Amin Rahimian, Industrial Engineering
Student: Zitao Zeng, Industrial Engineering

Human-Machine Teaming
Advisor: Amin Rahimian, Industrial Engineering
Student: Rishika Dhanda, Psychology

Using Microbial Fuel Cells to Degrade Contaminants of Emerging Concern
Advisor: David Sanchez, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Student: Natan Herzog, Engineering Mechanics

Best Practices in Climate Change Leadership
Advisor: Julia Santucci, GSPIA – Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership
Student: Allyson Frantz, Environmental Studies

Building Food Access, Community, and Sustainability
Advisor: Kay Shimizu, Political Science
Student: Ana Rowley, Geology and Environmental Science

 Practical Optimization of Traffic Signals to Reduce Fuel Consumption and Vehicular Emissions
Advisor: Aleksandar Stevanovic, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Student: Nolan Pernia, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Towards Circular Use of Polyurethanes
Advisor: Goetz Veser, Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Student: Jessica Gondak, Chemistry

Carbon Dioxide Capture through Carbonic Anhydrase-Catalyzed Carbon Mineralization in Saline Water
Advisor: Meng Wang, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Student: Sarah McGoldrick, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Additive Manufacturing Design for High-Entropy Alloys for Energy Components with Enhanced Efficiency
Advisor: Wei Xiong, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Student: Daozheng Li, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science