GTEP Students Shine at Research Day

Pictured Above / 2021 GTEP Research Day participants.

Every year, the Nancy and Stephen Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP) invites graduate students to share their research during its Research Day.

Prizes were awarded for the most innovative findings. Eliyahu Farber, who developed new methods for the precise production of porous carbon materials, shared the first prize. These porous carbon materials can be used in a variety of applications, including batteries, supercapacitators, and fuel cells. Inbal Offen-Polak also won first prize for research on low cost catalysts for urea oxidation, a useful process with applications in water treatment, hydrogen production, and even fuel cells.

Both Eliyahu and Inbal are GTEP Ph.D. students, conducting their research under the supervision of Professor David Eisenberg from the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry.

Second prize was awarded to two Ph.D. students:

• Emma Massasa from the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, under the supervision of Assistant Professor Yehonadav Bekenstein, for developing a method for improving properties of proboscites – new materials used in the production of solar energy.
• Rona Ronen-Manukovsky from GTEP, who is developing energy storage solutions of a significant size, under the supervision of Associate Professor Matthew Suss from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

The Best M.Sc. Poster Award category was won by GTEP graduate student Joseph (Joey) Cassell, who developed technology for producing solar energy under the supervision of Associate Professor Carmel Rotschild from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Joey and the two first-prize Ph.D. students, Eliyahu and Inbal, will represent GTEP with their research at the Technion’s Irwin and Joan Jacobs Graduate School Research Day on January 19, 2022.

In addition to presenting award-winning research, faculty and students delivered lectures on some of their most exciting work:

• Professor Avner Rothschild, from the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, presented a method of green hydrogen production using innovative technology. The findings, developed together with Professor Gideon Grader from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering, led to the establishment of the H2Pro start-up.
• Ph.D. student Rona Ronen-Manukovsky presented her research on innovative flow batteries, conducted under the supervision of Associate Professor Matthew Suss from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.
• M.Sc. student Arnold Bachrach presented his work studying the impact on porous medium through flow pressures, conducted under the supervision of Dr. Yaniv Edery from the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

GTEP’s mission is to advance research and promote multidisciplinary cooperation in sustainability and related fields on campus. As the winners of this Research Day demonstrate, that ethos of collaboration and innovation is alive and well.