UB CMI funds six faculty-industry manufacturing R&D projects

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo’s Center of Excellence in Materials Informatics (CMI) has awarded six manufacturing projects over $300,000 to support the development of new materials technologies during the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Materials informatics, an emerging field that combines data science and machine learning to accelerate the discovery, optimization and design of materials, is transforming how industries approach material development by enabling the prediction of new material properties and behaviors through large-scale data analysis.

CMI is one of 13 Centers of Excellence statewide funded by Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR). The centers foster collaboration between the academic research community and industry to develop and commercialize new products and technologies and enhance workforce training.

CMI annually supports Faculty-Industry Applied Research (FIAR) projects that provide opportunities to support applied research efforts that drive economic growth and impact with commercial value to manufacturing businesses in New York State. Through CMI FIAR projects, UB faculty collaborate with manufacturing and materials companies to gain access to funds for research and development projects in areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors and clean energy.

“The Center of Excellence in Materials Informatics plays a vital role in sustaining strong collaborations between academia and industry,” says Per Stromhaug, UB senior associate vice president for economic development. “CMI's FIAR program is crucial in allowing UB experts to work alongside advanced manufacturing and materials companies, helping to bring innovative discoveries and products to market with the potential for significant societal impact.”

“CMI is extremely excited about the variety of this year's FIAR projects; from the development of a self-powered tactile sensor system for autonomous crop harvesting and precision weeding, to optimizing multispectral LED lighting to boost plant growth, and also automating the extraction process for infasurf, a lung surface acting agent which helps prevent and treat respiratory distress syndrome in newborns,” says Adrian Levesque, interim director for CMI. “It’s truly incredible to witness the ingenuity that occurs when industry and academia work together.”

The faculty members awarded CMI FIAR support for the 2024-25 fiscal year include:

Jinjun Xiong, PhD, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and director of the UB Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science; and Sreyasee Bhattacharjee, PhD, assistant professor of teaching, Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Project: “Design and Optimization of a Dynamically Adjustable Multispectral LED Lighting Fixture to Close the Loop from Monitoring to Improving Indoor Growing Plants’ Health.”

Industry partner: Starco Lighting Inc. is a market leading, Buffalo-based innovator and manufacturer of linear LED retrofit lighting solutions for commercial and industrial applications.

Jun Liu, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Ehsan Esfahani, PhD, associate professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Project: “Self-powered Tactile Sensor-integrated Compliant Robotics System for Smart Agriculture.”

Industry partner: Akron Ag Products, Inc., is a New York State agricultural company, assisting the state’s agricultural ecosystem with operations support and engineering of cost-effective solutions for agricultural crops and waste-derived products.

Y. Chris Li, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Chemistry; and Fei Yao, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Materials Design and Innovation.

Project: “Understanding the Formation of Solid-Electrolyte-Interface from Fluorinated Solvents for Li and Na Batteries.”

Industry partner: Custom Electronics, Inc. is a global manufacturer of specialized electronics components, including capacitors, battery storage systems, bus bars, and electronic assemblies.

Luis R. De Jesús Báez, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Chemistry.

Project: “Striding Across the Molecular Frontier: Informatics-Guided Formulation for Particle Free Copper Inks.”

Industry partner: Copprium, is a University at Buffalo spin out that manufactures superior conductive copper inks and innovating new methods of applying them to electronic circuity.

Ehsan Esfahani, PhD, associate professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Project: “Soft robotic gripper for calf lung massaging to enhance surfactant extraction.”

Industry partner: ONY Biotech is a biotech company primarily focusing on the development of pharmaceutical solutions aimed at preventing and treating respiratory distress in newborns.

Bibhudatta Sahoo, PhD, Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering.

Project: “Precision Multi-Channel Current Sources for Superconducting Electronics and Qubits.”

Industry partner: HYPRES is a digital superconductor company that develops and commercializes superconductor integrated circuits and systems that provide unparalleled performance advantages for government and commercial applications.

For more information on CMI and details on the upcoming FIAR application cycle, visit: https://www.buffalo.edu/partnerships/about/programs/cmi.html.