Cornell researchers win $20K Grand Prize

A multidisciplinary research team with Prof. David Erickson and Prof. Tobias Hanrath wins $20K Grand Prize in NASA Tech Briefs Create the Future Design Contest 2017 for their entry "HI-LIGHT - Solar Thermal Chemical Reactor Technology for Converting CO2 to Hydrocarbons."

The Cornell researchers have teamed up to convert the waste carbon dioxide into liquid fuels and feedstocks that power our economy and fit into a planetary carbon cycle, through the unique HI-Light reactor being developed at Cornell University. The team members include Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao, MAE; Jessica Akemi Cimada da Silva, CBE; Prof. David Erickson, MAE; Prof. Tobias Hanrath, CBE; Jason Salfi; and Clayton Poppe.

The team's entry was chosen as the Grand Prize winner out of over 1,100 entries from over 60 countries this year.  The judges concluded that "New technology that converts carbon emissions into a clean energy resource has earned Cornell University and Dimensional Energy the 2017 Grand Prize."  They are also invited to join the awards dinner which will be held on Friday, November 10 at the Water Club in New York City.

“This recognition is not for our team alone, but for the general science community to fight against climate change and push forward renewable energy research,” said Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao, a Ph.D. student in Prof. David Erickson’s lab. “We will continue to advance our technology and expect to contribute significantly to the reduction of energy-related emissions, and have a positive impact on energy storage.”

The research is sponsored by Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future through Academic Venture Fund and Cornell Engineering through Funding for Scale Up and Prototyping 2017.

About the contest:

https://contest.techbriefs.com/about - "The Create the Future Design Contest was launched in 2002 by the publishers of NASA Tech Briefs magazine to help stimulate and reward engineering innovation. The annual event has attracted more than 12,000 product design ideas from engineers, entrepreneurs, and students worldwide. The contest's principal sponsors are COMSOL and Mouser Electronics with Analog Devices and Intel as supporting sponsors."

A list of 2017 winner's for Tech Breifs Create the Future Design Contest can be found here:   https://contest.techbriefs.com/2017/winners

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