Planning Grant: I/UCRC for Advanced Drying Research

1266339伍斯特理工学院；伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校（UIUC）；该中心将专注于提高各种干燥过程的能源效率。伍斯特理工学院（WPI）和伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校（UIUC）正在合作建立拟议中的中心，WPI是牵头机构。拟议中的中心（CADR）将开展与工业相关的研究，开发新型脱水技术，以减少能源消耗，主要集中在农业和食品加工、化学、林业产品、制药和纺织工业。通过专注于机械和系统工程与农业和食品科学以及制药研究的交叉点，该中心打算组建一个多样化和互补的研究人员和工业合作伙伴，他们独特地适合解决食品生产、农业衍生材料、化学、林业产品和制药工业中的几个“重大挑战”类型的问题。每个技术领域之间的基础科学和应用流动将提供一个跨学科和转化的研究环境，这将吸引顶尖的研究人员和积极的工业参与到中心。拟议中的中心（CADR）将通过提高相应的流程效率来协助美国在可持续制造方面的领导地位。每个合作机构通过以前广泛的工业/大学项目工作而建立的工业关系将促进成果的传播。将这些成果直接转让给工业将能够更迅速地采用新的可持续进程。CADR设想在区域会议的基础上扩大全国年度专题讨论会。该中心发现的新概念也将被纳入传统的运输现象课程，为新一代工程师提供实施可持续制造实践所需的工具。WPI和UIUC的CADR人员致力于文化多样性，以促进少数民族学生参与中心的工作。

1266339 Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI); Jamal Yagoobi 1266327 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC); Hao Feng The proposed center will focus on improving the energy efficiency of various drying processes. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) are collaborating to establish the proposed center, with WPI as the lead institution. The proposed center (CADR) will conduct industry-relevant research in developing novel dehydration technologies to reduce energy consumption by focusing primarily on agricultural and food processing, chemical, forestry products, pharmaceutical, and textile industries. By focusing at the intersection of mechanical and systems engineering with the agricultural and food sciences, and pharmaceutical research, the center intends to assemble a diverse and complementary set of researchers and industrial partners who are uniquely suited to tackle several "grand challenge" types of problems in food production, agriculturally-derived materials, and in chemical, forestry products, and pharmaceutical industries. The flow of basic science and applications among each of the technical areas will provide a cross-disciplinary and translational research environment that will attract top researchers and active industrial participation to the Center. The proposed center (CADR) will assist U.S. leadership in sustainable manufacturing via improving the corresponding processes efficiencies. Dissemination of results will be facilitated through the industry relationships that each collaborating institution has developed through extensive previous industry/university project work. Direct transfer of these results to industry will permit more rapid adoption of new sustainable processes. CADR envisions a national yearly symposium that will expand on the regional conferences. The new concepts discovered by the Center will also be incorporated into traditional transport phenomena coursework, equipping a new generation of engineers with the tools necessary to implement sustainable manufacturing practices. CADR personnel at WPI and UIUC are committed to cultural diversity to promote the participation of minority students in the Center's work.