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Dr. Demet Usanmaz, ɫ����Ƶ Assistant Professor of Physics, received a $249,999 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to increase clean energy generation by designing new thermoelectric materials that convert waste heat to electricity. Today, more than 60% of energy generated by nonrenewable sources becomes waste heat, but she and her team hope to increase that by exploring new materials for efficient waste-heat conversion. 

“With the help of this grant, I will be able to mentor and train next-generation scientists and engineers, create research opportunities for underrepresented students and establish a robust research program,” Usanmaz said. 

It is difficult to decouple heat and electric transport to generate electricity efficiently. Usanmaz plans to use computational methods to search for new thermoelectric materials to make this process easier and more cost-effective. The successful approach will apply to other materials groups for different technologies.

“Increasing clean energy generation by developing new applications or improving energy conversion efficiency in renewable technologies is essential,” Usanmaz said. “Thermoelectric materials can directly convert waste heat to electricity, and they could play a role in a global sustainable energy solution. However, thermoelectrics have yet to reach the expected efficiency. My team aims to use a systematic approach to design new thermoelectric materials with high efficiency.”

Grants such as this or other sponsored program funding benefit the University, faculty and students.

“Sponsored program funding provides faculty and students with research and educational opportunities not ordinarily available,” said Dr. Scott Reeve, ɫ����Ƶ’s Dean of Graduate School and Research. “Sponsored program funding also provides revenue to the institution as well as prestige.”

The University has received more than $2 million in research grants this year. The University has received more than $16 million in sponsored program funding since 2016.

“Research and innovation are in ɫ����Ƶ’s DNA,” said University President Dr. Robert K. McMahan. “It is the hallmark of how our faculty continue to offer the latest cutting-edge content that enables our students to make an immediate impact in their co-op placements and is inherent in our alumni through their careers to solve complex problems.”

This grant is part of the NSF’s Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in Mathematical and Physical Sciences (LEAPS-MSP), which supports research of pre-tenure faculty in mathematical and physical sciences, with an emphasis on those at institutions that traditionally do not receive significant NSF funding, such as minority-serving, predominantly undergraduate or Carnegie Research 2 (R2) institutions. In addition, LEAPS-MSP also aims to achieve excellence through diversity and broaden participation to include members from groups historically excluded and underrepresented in mathematical and physical sciences.

Usanmaz will use her project to train underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students in computational materials science to increase their awareness, interest and knowledge in clean and renewable energy. 

“Students will conduct research, gain experience in modeling and simulation methods and improve their programming skills,” she said. “Students will also use advanced computational tools to perform calculations and utilize the ɫ����Ƶ High-Performance Computing cluster (KUHPC).”

She hopes to work through ɫ����Ƶ pre-college Academically Interested Minds (AIM) and Lives Improve Through Engineering and Science (LITES) programs to reach underrepresented students and build a pipeline for them to join the project when they attend ɫ����Ƶ.

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