News

Many disciplines, one goal: Multidisciplinary approaches to clean energy research

Ying Zhang and Martina Leveni both believe in a multidisciplinary approach to engineering. Fate brought the 29-year-old visiting doctoral researchers to USF’s Clean Energy Research Center during the same concentrated one-year slice of time, and their work here has brought their wide-ranging engineering interests into focus.

An open-minded mentor has introduced new possibilities for Zhang, who is from China, and Leveni, of Italy. Along the way, their friendship was cemented by one giant plan: mapping energy efficiency for the campus library.

Between them, the two women’s interests encompass geology, solar and geothermal energy, thermal physics, technology, and environmental and industrial engineering, all guided by goals in sustainability.

Ying Zhang: Helping distribute the power  

With its rich flowers and diverse culture featuring 22 minorities, Ying’s home province, Yunnan, is a major tourist destination in southwest China, she says.

There, because of the high solar irradiance of the area, domestic solar water heating has been popular for more than 20 years. “It has become a must-have item because it is very convenient,’’ Ying says. “However, people think that it's the only effective way to use solar energy.” Because the local grid is dominated by hydroelectric power, it is difficult for solar power generation to be competitive, she said. Hydropower “seems more environmentally friendly but inevitably has a negative influence on the local ecological environment” by drawing out too much water, she said.

In her hometown of Zhaotong, site of the second largest hydropower station in China, “Almost every year they have an earthquake, because it is located on seismic belt,” she says. Because of the hydropower stations, “A river becomes a stream.” And for the stations, which are beside mountains, Ying says, “They have to dig a big hole to store the water, and the hole can change the structure of the mountain, make it not stable -- especially when it is built on seismic belt.

“This is only one reason, but it is obvious that the development of green energy, especially solar energy, is an urgent task all over the world.”

Ying hopes that focusing her research on solar power distribution and exploring more green energy options will help keep the environment as it is. “Distribution of power is not popular because the cost is too high. Efficiency and location play a part. Thus, how to make solar power generation feasible, efficient, and reliable, becomes my focus point in research and my career goals.”

At USF CERC, she is researching dynamic computer simulations, testing variables and control strategies on the organic Rankine cycle, trying out multiple energy production processes driven by solar energy to improve them.

“Solar energy is more meaningful and environmentally friendly for our life. And it also needs technology,” Ying said. “I think the development of solar energy technology relies on multi-discipline research.”

With a bachelor’s in applied electronic technology and a master’s in agriculture and biological environment and energy engineering, she is majoring in engineering thermal physics for her PhD and is on track to graduate in November from Tianjin University in the northeastern city of Tianjin.

Ying calls USF “amazing.” “I love the research atmosphere of the on-campus technology Incubator, as well as the warm and rich campus cultural life,” she said.

“In China, I usually go to the lab Monday to Saturday from about 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.,” with few breaks except for badminton twice a week, she said. The U.S. was a big change for Ying, with experiences ranging from CERC potlucks and card games, to a kayak excursion with Martina and other international students, to encounters with ever-smiling strangers. When it came time for lunch, Ying and Martina were united in their successful efforts to coax other CERC student researchers away from computers to eat in a group as was customary in their home countries.

Ying is impressed by the participation and collaboration of the USF professors. In one course, for example, “Two professors listen to my presentation every week. I obtained comments and suggestions, and during the preparation I also learned a lot.”

One of her most meaningful experiences at USF was in the energy efficiency design class. With Martina, she collaborated on a two-month library conservation project involving an extensive building energy model. “I’d do one step, and she’d do the next; then I’d do one,” she said. Their model included implementing energy conservation strategies through window tints, updating the air conditioning to improve efficiency, and making the air volume controllable and therefore more flexible to the environment.

Ying says her Tianjin University advisor encouraged her to go abroad to learn more. She had the opportunity to come here through the Chinese Scholarship Council’s joint Ph.D. program, which provides financial support for strong Ph.D. students in China to travel abroad and study with “some of the best professors or the best universities in the world.”

Ying wanted to have this one-year experience here at USF “Because of Dr. Goswami,” she said of the CERC director who is a Distinguished Professor. “I will have the experience wherever he is. I think the famous university is everywhere, but the distinguished professor is much more difficult to find.”

Ultimately, Ying would like to try combining her research with entrepreneurship as she has seen here in the United States. “In America,” she said, “PhD students can learn more because they are not making progress on just one objective” since they often help pay their expenses as teaching or research assistants. “It is not easy but is a really good experience.”

Ying has an offer from the Solar Energy Research Institute at Yunnan Normal University, her alma mater, which would take her back to her home province. True to her multidisciplinary roots, she may teach engineering, physics, solar energy technology, or engineering thermal physics.

“I hope I can become a professional researcher and teacher in the university,” Ying said.

She now believes that commercializing technological achievements is a key to reaching 100% renewable energy: “And I would like to pass on that mission to students.”

Martina Leveni: Understanding the “Why”

“I've always had the need to understand the ‘why’ behind things,” says Martina. “I live constantly with the need to research and understand.”

At the University of Rome Niccolo Cusano, Martina is working on a doctorate in industrial engineering after earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Geological Science and geotechnology at the University of Milano-Bicocca. Originally from Seregno, near Milan, she expects to graduate in January.

The transition from geology to industrial engineering has not been easy. After earning her master’s, she was writing petrol station safety reports as a paid intern when she learned she had received a PhD scholarship.

After a few years of study in Rome, she decided to study in the U.S. for a year because “I wanted to test myself.”

At USF from September 2018 to September 2019, she has found “high-quality classes, teamwork, and a stimulating environment.”

“There are a lot of challenges that should be met to move the world to a cleaner, more sustainable future,” she said. “I strongly believe that multidisciplinary knowledge and experiences, as you can see from my background, are necessary. … I would like to enhance my perspectives across different fields and gain an overall view of sustainability and energy.”

At USF, she is working on theoretical modeling to find new cycle configurations to improve efficiencies and better exploit geothermal resources to increase output when combining power and cooling production from low temperature heat.

Weekly Wednesday meetings with other CERC researchers are “the thing I loved most,” she says. “I really like to show my work and have suggestions from Professor and the other students. It helps me a lot to grow as a scientist, and I like to know what other students are doing.” She said it means “a constant challenge with myself and with science.”

For Martina, the transition from geology to engineering “was a really hard path,” she said, “but in the end I’m here, and I met a lot of wonderful people. … There is a word I really like, resilience, the ability to adapt yourself to the situation. I think this is really important, and this is what I did in my path. In this way, I obtain a really open point of view.”

A geothermal expert in Florence she had worked with knew Dr. Goswami and led her to his lab in the U.S. “He said Dr. Goswami’s group is really creative,” she said. “Dr. Goswami does not judge your background, but sees what you are able to do, and sees your opportunities.”

“I really love research; it’s what I love most,” Martina said. “It’s something that probably you have inside. If I see a phenomenon, I really want to know what is behind this. I cannot let this go. I want to discover, learn how I can do more.”

“There are more opportunities here because there is more funding in the U.S.,” she said. “You can do really interesting things, use your skills in a more efficient and better way. … If you finish one project, you are able to find another one.”

For her, those opportunities include a summer fellowship she earned while here, to the Summer Institute on Sustainability and Energy at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

Martina and Ying both arrived in September 2018. Ying arrived first and helped her get settled, filling her in on everything from the USF card to the food. “She was so kind,” Martina said. “She’s someone you can trust. She is always willing to help, open to discuss. She’s a really good researcher.”

On creating an energy conservation plan for the library, Martina said, “We learned a lot, and we were really satisfied, and it was a really big, big building, so it was really hard.”

“We are similar because we really love research; it’s our passion. We are different because I am more talkative and I bother everyone in the lab, because I ask a question of everyone; it’s really helpful. They seem to be happy to answer. Ying works more by herself. I like to be in a group and discuss.”

As for the answer to her question “Why?” Martina cited a quote: “If we knew what it was, we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”

“There is a lot more I can do,” she said.

Martina adds: “When you find the answer, then there is another question. You continue in this way, you cannot stop. There are people who live quietly and do not do this. I cannot ignore this. I am not able to work in jobs that are repetitive. … In my case, I need to have new projects, new things. I need a new challenge, otherwise I’d probably go crazy.

“I don’t know what I will do. I want to continue in research, perhaps as a post-doc. It’s not just what you would like to do, but what opportunity you get, what they offer you. The academic career is not simple.”

But her goal is clear: “If I get to do a job in research, I would be one of the luckiest people in the world.”