DOE new grant received by Dr. Lin Li

As Principal Investigator, Dr. Lin Li received a new grant of $2,250,676 from the U.S. Department of Energy, under the title “Manufacturing Technical Assistance and Energy Engineering Workforce Development with the University of Illinois Chicago's Industrial Assessment Center” for period 9/1/2021 – 8/31/2026.

The funded new Industrial Assessment Center (AC) at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is based on 15-year experience of current UI IAC and will provide:

1. Technical Assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and water reclamation facilities located in Illinois, Northwestern Indiana, Eastern Iowa, and Western Michigan. The technical assistance will focus on improving energy efficiency, increasing productivity via smart manufacturing, reducing waste and cost, promoting decarbonization and resiliency, and enhancing cyber security threat detection and mitigation. The proposed effort will also develop a pilot program to provide technical assistance to commercial buildings in the same service area.
2. Education and Training to develop the next generation of energy conscious workforce and address the growing shortage of engineering professionals with applied energy and smart manufacturing related skills, with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion of minorities and women in the program to increase representation of underrepresented groups in STEM fields. The pilot program will also focus on partnering with local community colleges and minority serving institutions including those from disadvantaged communities.
3. Research Cutting Edge Technologies and Processes to enhance production, reduce energy cost, and promote decarbonization and resiliency at SMEs as well as commercial buildings.