CENTER FOR ENERGY AND
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
The Institutional
Impact of CEES
(NSF CREST Center)
Raghava R. Kommalapati, PhD, PE, BCEE, F. ASCE
Director and PI
Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Prairie View A&M University
February 25, 2016
Outline
 Introduction
 Impact of the CREST
Center
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Research
Education
Infrastructure
Collaboration
 Challenges
 Future Plans
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Introduction
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Established in October 2010
10 Researchers from 2 Colleges and 5 Departments
Collaborations from more than 10 entities
 Goals of the Center
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Focus research on transitional and transformative
technologies for global energy solutions
Develop collaborative teams of researchers in three
major areas: Biofuel Productions, Wind Energy, and
Energy & Environment
Establish First Class Research Infrastructure to
support education and research activities
Lead the development of
 undergraduate level Energy Engineering Minor
 graduate level Energy focus
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02/25/2016
Research
 The CEES team has been very active with
research and educational activities
 Center Researchers published
 59 Journal Articles and 3 Book Chapters
 24 Peer Reviewed Conference Proceedings\Extended
Abstracts
 14 MS Thesis Completed (4 more expected in May
2016 with additional 9 in the pipeline)
 A total of 98 presentations were made at regional,
national and international conferences
 73 of the 98 were done by our students
 These numbers are more than 4 times the
average faculty production in our college
including our own center personnel prior to this
grant
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02/25/2016
Research
 The PI received a $3.32M grant from the Department of
Education through the University Title III Program to
develop Energy Labs as well as other Environmental
and Civil labs
 More than $1.5M was spent to renovate the Energy and
Environmental labs and acquired all the basic lab supplies as
well as major equipment
 The Center researchers received funding of $1.35M
from 12 grants from funding agencies including DOE,
NSF, DOT and ACS
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02/25/2016
Research
 A total of 152 students (46 graduate and 106
undergraduate) were supported either directly through
the Center grant or other leveraged activities
 39% are women, 64% are from underrepresented groups
and are either citizens or permanent residents
 89 (56 undergraduate and 33 graduate) students were
supported by CEES and other directly related projects
 45% are women and 55% from underrepresented groups
 An additional 63 (50 undergraduate and 13 graduate) students
were supported through other leveraged activities (LSAMP,
university support, Senior Design project etc.)
 A total of 7 post-doctoral candidates were supported
 4 post-docs moved on to permanent positions
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02/25/2016
Education
 Worked with 6 Departments and the College of Engineering
 Established the Energy Engineering Minor at the UG Level
 Established the Energy Engineering Concentration in the current
MS in Engineering Program
 Offered or helped to offer courses that support the Energy
Curriculum
 A total of 424 UG students got exposed to 25 courses (16 different
courses with 9 repeated) in the broader energy engineering field.
 A total of 263 graduate students enrolled in 17 Grad course
offerings (12 different courses with 5 repeated) in the broad
energy engineering field.
 An additional 152 students have been trained in research and/or
other experiences through the center
 Offered scholarships to 10 students
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02/25/2016
Infrastructure
 Worked with the College and University Administration
 Acquired 2900 sq. ft of space and spent $0.75M of the
leveraged grant and other funds to renovate and make them into
suitable labs
 The labs support Energy & Environment, Biofuels and Wind
Energy research
 Invested more than $0.75M and acquired major laboratory
equipment
 GC-MS, HPLC, Ion Chromatograph, TOC, UV-Viz
Spectrophotometer, CHN Analyzer, Thermogravimetric
Analyzer, Pyrolyzer, Air Quality Equipment and Safety
Tools
 Fabricated Fixed Bed and Fluidized Bed Biomass
Pyrolyzers
 Acquired 1500 sq. ft of Office Space for CEES staff and students
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02/25/2016
Collaborations
 Established collaborations with the following entities
and we continue to explore other opportunities
 Internal collaborations with other Engineering, Sciences and
Agriculture Departments
 Our Sister Universities in the System, Texas A&M
University, College Station and Texas A&M University,
Kingsville
 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
 University of Northern Iowa
 Louisiana Tech University
 University of Texas at Austin
 University of Kansas
 Iowa State University
 SUNY-Cobleskill
 Texas Tech University
 Rocketdybe (Part of Pratt & Whitney)
 International - Inha University, South Korea
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02/25/2016
Challenges
 Finding qualified Post-Docs and Graduate students
from underrepresented groups has been and continues
to be a big challenge
 Took us almost 2 years to acquire the space and
identify necessary funds and an additional 2 years to
renovate the labs and acquire lab equipment, furniture
and other supplies
 Overcame several obstacles in the past few years but
we are on target with all our goals for the center
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02/25/2016
Future Plans
 Plan to seek no-cost extension through September
2017.
 Apply for the Phase II award during the current cycle.
 We have the personnel, new laboratory infrastructure
and tools in place
 we hope to use these infrastructure developments, research
expertize and collaborations we created to secure the
CREST Phase II award and other funding.
 Our vision is to make PVAMU a national resource in
the area of Renewable Energy and Environmental
Issues.
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CEES Personnel
Raghava Kommalapati, PhD, PE, BCEE, F. ASCE (PI and Director)
Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Energy & Environment (Group Lead)
Ananda Amarasekara, PhD, Chemistry (Co-PI)
Biofuels (Group Lead)
Paul Biney, PhD, PE, Mechanical Engineering (Co-PI)
Biofuels
Ziaul Huque, PhD, Mechanical Engineering (Co-PI)
Wind-Energy (Group Lead)
Michael Gyamerah, PhD, Chemical Engineering, Senior Personnel
Biofuels
Kelvin Kirby, PhD, Electrical Engineering, Senior Personnel
Education and Outreach
Arabia Thompson, MS, Program Coordinator
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02/25/2016
Visit Us Online
WWW.PVAMU.EDU/CEES
Questions/Further Information?
Please contact:
Raghava Kommalapati, Ph.D, PE, BCEE, F. ASCE
Director, Center for Energy & Environmental Sustainability
Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Roy G. Perry College of Engineering
rrkommalapati@pvamu.edu
(936) 261 1660/ 1650 (off)