SyracuseCoE Research Program Overview

The mission of the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems (SyracuseCoE) is to create innovations that improve health, productivity, security, and sustainability in built and urban environments. SyracuseCoE supports projects that span the innovation spectrum—from basic and applied research to technology application and demonstration—in multiple areas, including indoor environmental quality, air quality, water resource management, and energy systems. The primary research program of the SyracuseCoE is “Collaborative Activities for Research and Technology Innovation” (CARTI), which involves projects targeting basic and applied research in two focused areas: air quality and water resource management. The Graduate Fellowship and CARTI programs are supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under award EM-83340401-0.

CARTI activities are intended to advance the development of technology innovations required to create envisioned new “Intelligent Environmental Quality Systems” (i-EQS). Full-scale i-EQS integrate multiple technologies, including sensors, algorithms to analyze real-time data and optimize available resources, and components that improve environmental quality conditions for intended objectives (e.g., occupant health and comfort in built environments; drinking water and/or recreation from surface waters). Potential applications of envisioned i-EQS include a variety of situations in which assurance and/or optimization of environmental conditions is highly valued. Two applications of strategic importance to the SyracuseCoE are: (a) control of building systems to create comfortable, healthier indoor environments while reducing contaminant emissions from buildings into the surrounding airshed; and (b) monitoring of surface waters that are sources of drinking water and ecological and recreational benefits. Motivations for these applications include improving human health, productivity, and security, as well as promoting sustainability of urban ecosystems.

Achieving the i-EQS vision will require advances in fundamental knowledge, technology innovation, technology application and demonstration, and system integration. Supported by grants and contracts from multiple sources, SyracuseCoE members are pursuing a broad portfolio of activities to realize the envisioned revolutionary i-EQS, including extensive research efforts to improve indoor environmental quality and a multi-year collaborative effort to establish a network of water quality monitors in the Seneca River watershed. In pursuit of the long-term vision of transformational new i-EQS, members of SyracuseCoE are collaborating to develop research and technology “roadmaps” in IEQ, water resources, and clean and renewable energy. The roadmap process seeks to identify areas for strategic research, enabling technologies, key business drivers and investment resulting in job and wealth creation in the areas of IEQ and water resources for Central Upstate NY.

SyracuseCoE Graduate Fellowship – Special Note

SyracuseCoE seeks to extend the breadth of its i-EQS research efforts through graduate fellowships. It is envisioned that the projects pursued by successful graduate fellows will utilize the resources available at the newly completed SyracuseCoE headquarters building located in Syracuse, NY. The SyracuseCoE headquarters building is a unique building-scale test bed and is a “green building” seeking LEED-Platinum certification. We have special interest in this call in projects that relate to air quality and water resource management issues associated with “green” buildings in urban areas. Green buildings in urban areas rely on high quality of indoor air and judicious management of water resources. Impacts on ecosystems that affect either air or water quality, or both, may adversely influence the performance of green buildings and health of the occupants. We seek to address emerging resource requirements and performance issues of green buildings through advances in specific research areas in air quality and/or water resources management, specifically using the new SyracuseCoE headquarters building.

For complete Graduate Fellowship application instructions, selection process, and forms click here