IUCRC Phase I: The University of Michigan Center for High Pressure Plasma Energy, Agriculture, and Biomedical Technologies (PEAB)

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Advances in atmospheric pressure plasma science have enabled breakthrough opportunities to improve our Nation?s healthcare, economic prosperity and defense. These science breakthroughs have resulted in the development of new technologies in green energy, environmental remediation, water treatment, medicine, food processing, and agriculture. These are the core fundamental areas of science and technology to be addressed by the Center for High Pressure Plasma Energy, Agriculture, and Biomedical Technologies (C-PEAB). Drexel University (DU), University of Michigan (UM), and George Washington University (GWU), leading institutions in the scientific subject area, are synergistically collaborating with each other and with their industrial partners as the founding members of the C-PEAB. This effort will support STEM education with focused recruitment of women and underrepresented minorities, produce an interdisciplinary workforce, and integrate novel breakthrough technologies with industry. While having long-term collaborations in plasma science with GWU and DU, UM's unique contribution to the C-PEAB team is based upon pioneering research in plasma modeling of atmospheric pressure plasmas and plasma-based water purification. UM has extensive experience in the study of plasma decomposition of contaminants in water as well as engineering the scale up of plasma reactors to treat volumes of practical interest to the consumer and industrial sector. Low Temperature non-equilibrium Plasma (LTP) science is the base upon which many modern industries such as microelectronics and micro-fabrication have been built. Current breakthroughs in plasma-generating electronics have made it possible to widen the area of LTP applications to atmos-pheric and higher pressures. These application areas are the focus of the Center for High Pressure Plasma Energy, Agriculture, and Biomedical Technologies (C-PEAB). The C-PEAB will translate science breakthroughs in diagnostics, pulse power and modeling to optimizing industrial applications in energy, environmental remediation, food safety and food processing, and medical and bioengi-neering. C-PEAB will initially consist of a three-site IUCRC between Drexel University (DU), University of Michigan (UM), and George Washington University (GWU) with subsequent addition of new member universities who have strong industry collaborations in high-pressure plasma applications pertinent to the C-PEAB. While having long-term collaboration experience in plasma science with GWU and DU, the University of Michigan's unique contribution to the C-PEAB team is especially based upon the University's core expertise in the science and engineering of atmospheric plasmas in contact with liquids including: 1) advanced computational simulation tools and 2) high throughput plasma reactors for the purpose of advanced water treatment.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.