Student Teams from Cornell University and New Jersey Institute of Technology Awarded $45,000 EPA Grant for Innovative Technology Projects
NEW YORK – This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $45,000 in funding for three student teams through its People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) grants program. Student teams from New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and Cornell University are receiving funding to develop sustainable technologies to help solve environmental and public health challenges.
“EPA’s P3 grants program supports the next generation of scientists and engineers,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “These students are able to take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to real-world environmental problems that require innovative solutions.”
“Students at New Jersey Institute of Technology and Cornell University are creating affordable, sustainable solutions to the real issues we are challenged by in Region 2,” said EPA Regional Administrator Pete Lopez. “These students are applying science and cutting-edge technology to tackle important environmental threats to our lakes and the quality of our drinking water.”
Grantees include student teams from the following universities:
- New Jersey Institute of Technology – Newark, N.J.: The student team from NJIT is devising a sustainable process based on reactive nanobubbles technology to control and mitigate harmful algal blooms.
- New Jersey Institute of Technology – Newark, N.J.: The student team from NJIT is developing a novel device that will remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) from drinking water.
- Cornell University – Ithaca, N.Y.: The student team from Cornell University is developing a pump with the goal of zero electricity drinking water treatment.
The P3 competition challenges students to research, develop and design innovative projects that address a myriad of environmental protection and public health issues. The Phase I teams will receive grants of up to $15,000 each to fund the proof of concept for their projects.
The Phase I recipients will attend the TechConnect World Innovation Conference and Expo in Boston, Mass., on June 17-18, 2019, to showcase their research. They can then apply for a Phase II grant that provides funding up to $100,000 to further the project design.
These students, who represent the future workforce in diverse scientific and engineering fields, are following in the footsteps of other P3 teams. Some of these teams have gone on to start businesses based on ideas and products developed through their P3 project. In 2018, a previous P3 Phase I awardee from Oklahoma State University (OSU) leveraged P3 funding to initiate their research to develop a cost-effective approach to enhance energy efficiency in wastewater treatment. In furthering their P3 project, OSU transformed the research into a business plan and won the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition with its startup business plan for Contraire, a predictive analysis control system designed to provide near real-time wastewater test measurements. Amongst 15 other teams, OSU pitched their business plan to a panel of Canadian business leaders and received multiple inquiries from investors.
To learn more about the P3 projects, visit: https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/recipients.display/rfa_id/639/records_per_page/ALL
For more information on the P3 Program, visit: http://www.epa.gov/P3
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