The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $26 million to establish a new Gen-4 Engineering Research Center (ERC) named Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub (EARTH) to create a sustainable and circular refrigerant economy.
The University of Kansas is the lead institution, joined by partners at Lehigh, University of Notre Dame, University of Maryland, University of Hawai'i and University of South Dakota. David Vicic, the Howard S. Bunn Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, will lead Lehigh’s team. Mark Shiflett, University of Kansas Foundation Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, will be the ERC EARTH director.
At the heart of ERC EARTH’s work is reimagining the process for heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) systems across the globe. EARTH will develop sustainable, accessible and equitable refrigerant technologies and practices through research, education and innovation that will improve quality of life and combat climate change.
“The EARTH Center will allow participating Lehigh faculty, students and staff to closely interact with the other core institutions to generate new scientific knowledge, engineering and chemical products, environmental policy recommendations, and industry and stakeholder behavioral changes to stimulate HVACR-ecosystem transformations,” Vicic said. “Commercial leaders will also be engaged with EARTH through direct involvement of projects, testbed use, membership programs, training activities and participation at EARTH’s annual meetings, which will allow graduate and undergraduate students to gain unique relationships with industry.”
The open-source educational material that EARTH provides will also benefit HVACR programs at smaller partnering institutions like Pennsylvania College of Technology by updating and refining curricula in a way that would not be possible otherwise.
The interdisciplinary team at Lehigh involves professors Vicic (synthetic chemistry), Lisa Fredin (computational chemistry), Elizabeth Young (molecular spectroscopy), Jessecae Marsh (cognitive psychology) and Todd Watkins (innovation economics and technical entrepreneurship). Watkins will serve as co-lead of the ERC EARTH Innovation Ecosystem group.
