End of Year Awards

2019 Wilson Banquet and Awards Presentation

George H. Deike, Jr. Research Grant

The George H. Deike, Jr. Research Grant is awarded in support of an innovative research project.

Randy Vander Wal, professor of energy and mineral engineering and materials science and engineering, was selected for his proposal “Transitioning to the H² Economy Using Shale Gas.”

Gladys Snyder Junior Faculty Grants

The Gladys Snyder Junior Faculty Grants are awarded to junior faculty for the development of new courses or the improvement of current offerings; for travel to professional meetings; to broaden the studies of junior faculty members; or to recognize significant contributions in research efforts.

Joel Landry, assistant professor of environmental and energy economics, was selected for his proposal “The Unintended Congestion Cost and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Impacts of Solar Policies in California.”

John T. Ryan, Jr. Faculty Fellowship

This award was created to provide supplementary funds to an outstanding faculty member in the college to further their contributions in teaching, research, and public service.

Mort Webster, professor of energy engineering, was chosen for this fellowship.

E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Faculty Fellowship

The E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Faculty Fellowship was created to support faculty of exceptional creativity who propose highly innovative approaches to major contemporary challenges in the earth, energy, and material sciences.

Meng Wang, assistant professor of environmental systems engineering, was selected for her proposal “Dynamics of Reactive Nitrogen Released into Environment in Biological Nutrient Removal Processes.”

Wilson Research Initiation Grant

The Wilson Research Initiation Grant was established to provide an extra spark to the research career of a junior faculty member.

Hamid Emami-Meybodi, assistant professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering, was selected for his proposal “A Diffusion Perspective on Solvent Injection in Ultratight Oil Reservoirs.”

2019 Institutes of Energy and the Environment
Seed Grants

The following EMS Energy Institute researchers were 2018-19 Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE) seed grant recipients:

Future Energy Supply

“Increasing Power Densities and Cycle Efficiencies of Novel, Thermally-Charged Flow Batteries Using Advanced Flow Cell Topologies” — Matthew Rau, College of Engineering; Serguei Lvov (left), College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; Derek Hall (right), College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; and Bruce Logan, College of Engineering

Human Health and the Environment

“The Role of Olfactory Neuron Death in Particulate Matter-Induced Neurodegeneration” — Patrick Drew, College of Engineering, and Randy Vander Wal, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Energy and Environmental Resilience

“Lighting Up the Subsurface for Tomorrow’s City: Initiating a Penn State DAS Array for Monitoring Geo/ Environmental Hazards” — Tieyuan Zhu, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; Patrick Fox, College of Engineering; Andrew Nyblade, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; and Eileen Martin, College of Science, Virginia Tech

Food-Energy-Water Systems

“Rare Earth Element Enrichment from Mining Wastewater Streams” — Xueyi Zhang, College of Engineering; Mohammad Rezaee, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; and Michael Hickner, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences

High-Performance Building Systems

“Uncertainty-Aware Transactive Building Controls” — Gregory Pavlak, College of Engineering; Uday Shanbhag (left), College of Engineering; and Mort Webster (right), College of Earth and Mineral Sciences