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Research

Johannes Van der Watt, research assistant professor at UND’s Institute of Energy Studies, has been awarded more than $1.25 million in funding to study the feasibility of using industrial residues to capture carbon dioxide in a solid form—and then using that solid in a beneficial way.

Sougata Roy, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, received nearly $250,000 to study how additive manufacturing (AM) processes can be used to make the nuclear reactor components. Additive manufacturing is a process not dissimilar to how a 3D printer makes plastic objects.

“We’re very excited about this collaborative project between the College of Engineering & Mines and the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences,” said Brian Tande, dean of the College of Engineering and Mines. “This project will build upon a long history of space-related research at UND and further grow our capabilities to develop new technologies for space applications. It will also capitalize on the generous investment the North Dakota Legislature has recently provided for space research at UND and will certainly lead to even more opportunities.”

And you thought the crusty ice in your freezer was old. A UND geologist has ice in his freezer that’s potentially up to 5 million years old — which likely makes it some of the oldest ice ever discovered on the planet. Jaakko Putkonen, associate professor of geology at UND’s Harold Hamm School of Geology & Geological Engineering, doesn’t actually store that ancient ice in his home freezer. Rather, it’s safe and sound in a commercial freezer at the Energy & Environmental Research Center on the east side of campus. It comes out only occasionally if he needs to thaw out a chunk to get at the sand and dirt particles inside, in which case, he temporarily stores it in a small, office freezer.

Over a period of five years until 2021, Jaakko Putkonen, associate professor of geology at UND’s Harold Hamm School of Geology and Geological Engineering, spent months at a time doing field work in the tundra in Spitsbergen, in northern Norway. His goal: studying the effects of the warming climate on permafrost and reindeer.

Sattar Dorafshan, assistant professor of civil engineering at UND, has been awarded multiple research grants in recent months from the North Dakota Department of Transportation, as well as an award from the Federal Railroad Administration.

Research may benefit not only clean energy production and carbon storage, but also agriculture.

UND joins four-year $17 million Arctic research project with DoD. CEM collaborators on the project include David Apostal, instructor in computer science; DjeDje Kossu Zahui, associate professor of mechanical engineering; Naima Kaabouch, director of the UND Artificial Intelligence Research Institute; and Aymane Ahajjam, post-doctoral student in AI. Additional undergraduate and graduate student team members will be joining the team in the Fall.

Within UND’s College of Engineering & Mines, the School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science will, this fall, break ground for a National Security Corridor at which satellite development, fabrication and testing will take place.

Award is part of $14.6 million given to 23 collaborative teams after fiscal year 2021 competitions