How NASA’s Three Million-Dollar Grant Will Change CCNY’s Future

By Sarah Logan

The following news piece appeared in the September 2019 edition of The Campus.

Theprevious July marked the 50th anniversary of the historic moon landing. The CityCollege of New York (CCNY) also gained fame during the same month by receivinga three million-dollar grant from NASA, which will assist in launching futurespace exploration efforts. The funds will be used to create and establish the‘Center for Advanced Batteries for Space’, right here at CCNY. Theestablishment will be directed by Dr. Robert J. Messinger, who doubles as afaculty member of the CUNY Energy Institute, and an assistant professor ofchemical engineering at the Grove School.

Theaward is a three-year grant funded by NASA’s Minority University Research andEducation Project (MUREP). The grant seeks to educate the next generation ofSTEM students for careers in: aeronautics research, human exploration, generalspace operations, and developing space technology. With this grant, CCNY willcollaborate with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), as well as NortheasternUniversity.

Whatdoes this mean for us, as students of CCNY? Along with theestablishment of a new battery program, students from both City College andNortheastern University are now able to pursue several opportunities to becomeinvolved in an exchange program. The opportunity features an internship atNASA’s JPL, as well as the opportunity to attend an undergraduate summerresearch program held at CCNY, featuring students from Hostos and Bronx’scommunity college.

Thiscollaboration between the colleges will allow CCNY students to learn, andeventually take part in the creation of making powerful batteries that will beused by NASA in future space missions. In a press release submitted by CCNY,Dr. Messinger stated that the new center “will not only develop next-generationbatteries to enable entirely new mission concepts in planetary science, butalso train a highly skilled, diverse STEM workforce in electrochemical energystorage, an area of strategic importance for NASA and the nation.” With thisnew partnership, students at CCNY will be given the chance to study differentscientific fields that have never once been offered at City College. Dr.Messinger also added that JPL, Northeastern University, and CCNY will eachbring their institution’s most brilliant individuals, who will help guide theproject.

Oneof CCNY’s engineering students believes that the new center will not onlyadvance the study of space engineering, but can potentially assist withautomotive engineering as well. David Kim Chi, a senior mechanical engineeringstudent at CCNY, is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). “Ifeel like [the center] could really align with our club goals,” he noted. TheSAE anticipates on building a formula racing car within the next few years.Formula racing is among the many forms of automotive racing in the country thatfeatures single-seater vehicles. Moreover, each car is completely unique asthey are custom-built.

Asthe center continues to excel and expand, so will the dreams and ideas of itsstudents. Chi elaborated on his hopes for the future of the center, and how itwill allow him to flourish within his own field of study. “Personally, I want topursue battery technologies, and though I have gotten into mechanicalengineering, I really enjoy the problems that electrical engineers have toface,” he said. The center will also be vital to Chi’s future career path. It willenable him to challenge himself, as well as contribute to the success of theSAE.

Inaddition to Dr. Messinger and his expertise, Drs. Elizabeth Biddinger,Alexander Couzis, and Sanjoy Banerjee— all professors of chemical engineering—willhelp lead the new center as collaborators. The center will be run by thesementors, who will educate students on how to create space batteries. Dr.Banerjee, director of the CUNY Energy Institute, recently received the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency’s 2019 Green Chemistry Challenge Academic Awardfor his and his partners’ development of reusable batteries that promote greenchemistry.

Inall, the Center for Advanced Batteries for Space promises high hopes for CCNY’sengineering students. Whether they are striving to build race cars, developspace batteries, or something in between, this brand-new educational centerwill allow young scientists to work with NASA and work on futuristictechnologies.