Congratulations to two of our BiSSL graduate research students, Ph.D. student Abheek Chatterjee and Masters student Tirth Dave, for winning the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering Graduate Excellence Fellowship for continuing students for the Fall 2019 semester! The highly competitive graduate scholarship awards graduate students doing excellent research, academic performance, and leadership in the department.
BiSSL MS student Colton Brehm was a finalist for the Leo Award for best paper for his CIRP Life Cycle Engineering conference paper “Designing eco-industrial parks in a nested structure to mimic mutualistic ecological networks.”
Abstract: Industrial Ecology uses ecological systems as a guide for improving the sustainability of complex industrial systems. Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs) have gained support as a solution that seeks to simultaneously reduce environmental burdens and promote economic interests by exchanging materials and energy between industries to their mutual benefit. Recent studies have focused on drawing relations between food webs (FWs) and EIPs to improve the sustainability of the latter using ecological metrics, such as the level of cycling or average connections between actors. This study incorporates a new ecological metric, nestedness, into the discussion of sustainable design for EIPs. The association of nestedness with mutualistic ecological networks supports its application to EIP design. The work here improves the understanding of holistic network structure with the goal of improving future design decisions for EIPs with purposeful placement of material and energy flows.
The full paper is available here.
Congratulations to BiSSL grad student Varuneswara Panyam who became an Associate Fellow in the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) Academy for Future Faculty (AFF) at Texas A&M.
The Academy for Future Faculty (AFF) is a CIRTL@TAMU program. The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Learning and Teaching in higher education. The CIRTL mission is to enhance excellence in undergraduate education through the development of a national faculty committed to implementing and advancing effective teaching practices for diverse learners as part of successful and varied professional careers.
AFF provides professional development for graduate students and post-docs in preparation for a career in higher education. AFF offers a two-semester program anchored by faculty mentorship and featuring weekly seminars and workshops. AFF events are free and open to everyone in the Texas A&M University academic community. Participants may choose to attend a few events or enough to complete requirements for the Academy for Future Faculty Fellow certificate. New fellows are recognized at our annual banquet in April.
Congratulations to BiSSL MS student Colton Brehm! His conference paper for the 26th CIRP Life Cycle Engineering Conference on Advancing Industrial Sustainability, to be held at Purdue University May 2019, is nominated for the Leo Award for best paper!
“Designing eco-industrial parks in a nested structure to mimic mutualistic ecological networks,” first authored by Colton Brehm
Industrial Ecology uses ecological systems as a guide for improving the sustainability of complex industrial systems. Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs) have gained support as a solution that seeks to simultaneously reduce environmental burdens and promote economic interests by exchanging materials and energy between industries to their mutual benefit. Recent studies have focused on drawing relations between food webs (FWs) and EIPs to improve the sustainability of the latter using ecological metrics, such as the level of cycling or average connections between actors. This study incorporates a new ecological metric, nestedness, into the discussion of sustainable design for EIPs. The association of nestedness with mutualistic ecological networks supports its application to EIP design. The work here improves the understanding of holistic network structure with the goal of improving future design decisions for EIPs with purposeful placement of material and energy flows.
BiSSL Master’s student Tirth Dave just won 1st place out of all Engineering Graduate Student Presentations at Student Research Week at Texas A&M University! His presentation was titled: “Sustainable Water Networks Design: A Bio-inspired Approach”
Everyone here in the BiSSL group is so proud!
Student Research Week at Texas A&M is the largest, single-university student-run research symposium in the nation. Students get to show their research and have a chance to win up to $1,000 in award money and receive feedback from faculty and graduate student judges.
Congratulations to BiSSL grad student Jewel Williams for winning a Graduate Travel Award to attend the ASME conference for Manufacturing Science and Engineering (MSEC) in June at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. Jewel will be presenting her first authored paper titled WASTE REDUCTION: A REVIEW OF COMMON OPTIONS AND ALTERNATIVES.
BiSSL MS student Jewel Williams was one of only 60 students selected to participate in this weekend’s 48 hour Aggies Invent for the Planet event! We’re all wishing her good luck!
Feb. 15-17, 2019
Invent for the Planet: The sun never sets on innovation.
For 48 hours, college students from 30 universities around the world will be joining Texas A&M University virtually as we tackle some of the most challenging issues facing the planet today. From water insecurity solutions to stopping the spread of disease and creating new technology for the classroom, this competition will test the limits of your creativity and resourcefulness. Will your idea help save lives and improve life on Earth? From Feb. 15–17, the sun won’t set on innovation.
BiSSL MS student Varuneswara Panyam was accepted to and will attend the National Science Foundation’s summer school on Decision Making in Engineering Systems at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, June 23-29, 2018. The six-day summer school will introduce graduate students to the foundations of decision-making in large systems and is hosted by Dr. Ali Abbas, Director of the Neely Center, at the University of Southern California.
Topics covered include
Read more about the summer school here…
Congratulations to three of our BiSSL graduate students, Varun Panyam, Tirth Dave, and Colton Brehm, for being awarded travel grants to present their first author conference papers at the 26th CIRP Life Cycle Engineering Conference on Advancing Industrial Sustainability, at Purdue University May 2019.
Congratulations to two of our BiSSL graduate research students Varuneswara Panyam and Colton Brehm, for winning the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering Graduate Excellence Fellowship for continuing students for the Spring 2019 semester! The highly competitive graduate scholarship awards graduate students doing excellent research in the department.
BiSSL: Bio-inspired Systems Lab 