Members from the Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research (CATER) fueled their research momentum at this year’s Turbo Expo, hosted last month in Milan, Italy, by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) through its International Gas Turbine Institute. The group spent a week sharpening their technical skills, sharing their research and engaging with the world’s foremost authorities in turbomachinery and propulsion.
UCF’s presence at the conference has grown significantly over the years. A cornerstone of CATER’s outreach and professional development efforts, the group begin attending in 2003, sending three researchers to Atlanta, Georgia. This year, 24 attendees — 18 students, two postdoctoral researchers and four faculty members — represented the center.
“Over the years, CATER has established a strong presence in technical areas such as supercritical carbon dioxide systems and coal, biomass and alternative fuels,” says mechanical engineering doctoral student and CATER graduate research assistant Abhilash Prasad. “Its work in these areas has gained visibility and recognition within the ASME Turbo Expo community. A strong UCF presence helps build new collaborations while enforcing CATER’s reputation within the international turbomachinery and energy research community.”
CATER members were actively involved throughout the conference, presenting papers, participating in the poster session, reviewing technical papers, serving as student liaisons for technical committees and chairing technical sessions.
“The value of the conference extended beyond presenting our own work,” he says. “Students were also able to attend presentations from researchers in academia, industry and national laboratories, allowing them to learn about current developments, compare technical approaches and identify new research directions.”
Two students from CATER’s Applied Energy Systems Lab were elected to the conference’s Student Advisory Committee, further strengthening UCF’s impact on the global event. Davide Marino, an aerospace engineering doctoral student, will serve a three-year term as vice chair, followed by chair and past chair. Aerospace engineering doctoral student Ethan Taylor will serve a one-year term as secretary.
UCF played a tremendous role in supporting the group’s professional development by helping fund travel expenses. The campus organization Students for Training, Research, and Education in Energy and Turbines (STREET) successfully secured funding from the Student Government Association, covering 50% of travel costs for Professor Jay Kapat’s Applied Energy Systems research group. In addition, five students — Prasad, Al-Muthanna Al-Ani, Augusto Delavald Marques, Ethan Taylor and Mairah Ahmed — received $2,000 travel awards from the ASME Turbo Expo Student Advisory Committee. Graduate student presenters received an $800 fellowship from the UCF College of Graduate Studies.
Prasad says ASME Turbo Expo offered a multitude of valuable experiences for him and his peers. It was an opportunity for him to communicate his research more effectively, receive feedback that will help him guide his future research endeavors and gain a broader understanding of the field. He adds that his involvement as a technical committee member, session chair, reviewer and student liaison, along with observing how industry professionals organized the conference, helped prepare him to become a technical leader.
“The conference exposed me to new technologies, research methods and industry challenges through technical presentations, tutorials, panel discussions, committee meetings and the exhibition hall,” he says. “By interacting with researchers and professionals from universities, companies and national laboratories, I gained a better understanding of how academic research connects to real world engineering applications.”
- Written by Bel Huston