The University of Connecticut’s (UConn) Center for Clean Energy Engineering (C2E2) recently hosted its first-ever Graduate Student Research Summit, bringing together students from across the engineering disciplines to showcase their work in sustainable technologies.
The two-day event, organized by graduate students Alanna Gado and Leila Chebbo, provided a forum for 30 master’s and doctoral candidates to present their ongoing research projects and engage with peers and faculty.
“We wanted this to be a valuable experience for graduate students to practice their presentation skills while networking across C2E2’s various focus areas,” said Gado, explaining the motivation behind launching the summit.
Research topics spanned a wide range of sustainability challenges – from cultivated meat and air filtration to fuel cells, desalination, and deep space exploration power systems. Each student had 15 minutes to present their work followed by a Q&A session.
The multi-disciplinary nature of the summit allowed students like chemical engineering Ph.D. candidate Christopher Hawxhurst to gain new perspectives.
“It’s always interesting to get an overview of research happening outside your own lab,” he said. “It can even open up new opportunities for collaboration.”
Electrical engineering professor Ali Bazzi, whose students participated, noted the benefits of facilitating such cross-pollination.
“This brought together students from at least five different departments and schools,” he said. “They could discuss research, but more importantly socialize and develop that community spirit within C2E2.”
The connections formed extended both ways, allowing faculty to learn more about student work they may not directly oversee.
“All the presenters did an excellent job engaging their peers while furthering C2E2’s mission of building the next generation of energy solutions,” said center director Xiao-Dong Zhou.
In addition to the research presentations, students received professional development advice from the Center for Career Development on public speaking skills.
Following scoring from an anonymous peer review process, Chebbo took home the top prize for her presentation “Modeling and Operation of Microgrids for Deep Space Habitats Under Environmental Disturbances.” Christabel Adjah-Tetteh and Gado’s group rounded out the winner’s circle.
With the successful initial run, Gado and Chebbo hope to establish the C2E2 Graduate Research Summit as an annual tradition to foster collaboration and a sustainability-focused community among UConn engineering students.
