PA R T I C L E S I D E A M A P
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Energy Geography @ USC
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The USC Viterbi School of Engineering is a powerhouse of research in numerous fields related to all aspects of energy. Here’s a visual overview of who is doing what, where. illustration by Huan Tran 7
1 Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute Nobel Prize winner George Olah and Surya Prakash’s contribution to energy-related issues ranges from ways to eliminate lead from gas, methanol fuel cells and a new method to capture CO2 and possibly recycle it in fuels or even animal feed.
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2 Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center Viktor Prasanna’s USC Center for Energy Informatics connects with the USC Smart Grid, optimizing demand response during peak hours. Petros Ioannou’s Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies works with carmakers to make road traffic safer, faster and more fuel-efficient. Massoud Pedram specializes in creating more energy efficient ‘green’ data centers. 3 Ronald Tutor Hall Chongwu Zhou’s laboratories focus on nanotech: more storage capacity in batteries using bulk silicon nanowires; also a new kind of transparent solar cell material. The USC Energy Institute, directed by Don Paul is here, along with The Center for Interactive Smart Oilfield Technologies (CiSoft) — pioneering new extraction techniques and educating a new generation of petroleum engineers. Hai Wang’s Combustion Kinetics lab studies jet fuel combustion and new, ultrathin solar materials, working with Denis Phares.
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4 Vivian Hall P. Daniel Dapkus and Mark Thompson’s Center for Energy Nanoscience (CEN), a DOE Frontiers Research Center finds more efficient ways to turn light into electricity and electricity into light; among the researchers on the projects are John O’Brien, Steve Cronin, Michelle Povinelli and Jongseung Yoon. Anupam Madhukar has been working for years on solar power applying quantum dot and nanowires. Steve Nutt’s Gill Composites Center has pioneered nextgeneration composite power cables with greater efficiency. Priya Vashishta uses supercomputing to perform the largest bio-nano simulations. 5 Hedco Building Chemical Engineering Kristian Jessen is an expert in the subterranean movement of oil and gas and efficient ways to extract it. Iraj Ershaghi, the founding director of CiSOFT, has been leading in the development of smart energy for decades. Fred Aminzadeh leads in the realm of geothermal energy, consulting with practitioners in the U.S. and abroad. Behnam Jafarpour studies rock formations, potential oil and gas reservoirs. Theodore Tsotsis investigates high temperature reactions, while Muhammad Sahimi uses things like fractal geometry to model the geology of rocks.
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6 Andrus Gerontology Center Behrokh Khoshnevis is known for Contour Crafting, a speedy, energy efficient means of ‘printing out’ buildings; Maged Dessouky has pioneered more efficient transportation methods for California flowers, and Najmedin Meshkati is an international authority on energy safety, from nuclear power to petroleum refining to drilling operations.
7 Olin Hall Paul Ronney is an expert on combustion, specializing in tiny electrical power generators and flames in space. Fokion Egolfopoulos and his Combustion and Fuels Research lab is working with Hong Kong-based TCC Foundation and Martin Gundersen (Seaver Science Center) on ways to reduce marine diesel emissions.
8 Kaprielian Hall Home to the USC Center on Megacities. Lucio Soibelman looks at appliance specific feedback on electricity consumption in a building; Burcin Becerik-Gerber collaborates with Cyrus Shahabi and Roger Ghanem in imagining new smart buildings that allow users to control energy use (via smart phones) far more effectively than existing designs.
9 Information Sciences Institute Mike Orosz directs the consumer behavior research efforts in the LADWP/DOE Smart Grid Demonstration project. Clifford Neuman focuses on energy security: protecting personal data about our usage as it’s relayed from consumers to utilities.
CHARGED UP From a DOEfunded USC Center for Energy Nanoscience (CEN) to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Board’s $43 Million Smart Grid Demonstration Cooperative Project, USC Viterbi’s spans a huge spectrum on energy.
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