Alumni Research & Discovery

June 24, 2014 | Jennifer Huber, UConn Foundation

UConn Receives Gift for Global Energy Sustainability Program

A recent gift from alumnus Ed Satell will support a new research partnership in sustainable energy with Technion–Israel Institute of Technology.

Prabhakar Singh, director of UConn’s Center for Clean Energy Engineering. (Christopher LaRosa/UConn Photo)

Prabhakar Singh, director of UConn’s Center for Clean Energy Engineering. (Christopher LaRosa/UConn Photo)

A recent gift from the Satell Family Foundation will support UConn’s new research partnership in sustainable energy with Technion–Israel Institute of Technology. UConn and Technion are recognized leaders in energy engineering and education, and both are committed to advancing global adoption of clean and efficient energy technologies.

Professor Prabhakar Singh, director of UConn’s Center for Clean Energy Engineering, which has a new research partnership in sustainable energy with Energy Program at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. (Christopher LaRosa/UConn Photo)
Professor Prabhakar Singh, director of UConn’s Center for Clean Energy Engineering, which has a new research partnership in sustainable energy with Energy Program at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. (Christopher LaRosa/UConn Photo)

UConn’s Center for Clean Energy Engineering and Fraunhofer Center for Energy Innovation, led by Professor Prabhakar Singh, together with Technion’s Grand Technion Energy Program, led by Professor Gideon Grader, provide a platform to advance sustainable energy research in such areas as fuel cell systems, molten salt technology, materials corrosion, concentrated solar power life enhancement, and large-scale stationary batteries.

The Satell UConn–Technion Leadership Program for Global Energy Sustainability will support an international exchange of faculty and graduate students. Teams from the two institutions will visit each other’s campuses in the U.S. and Israel to present ongoing research and discuss joint investigations.

Ed Satell '57 (BUS), left, displays a T-shirt given to him by Prabhakar Singh, director of the Center for Clean Energy Engineering, in the President’s conference room at Gulley Hall, during a recent visit to the Storrs campus. (UConn Foundation Photo)
Ed Satell ’57 (BUS), left, displays a T-shirt given to him by Prabhakar Singh, director of the Center for Clean Energy Engineering, in the President’s conference room at Gulley Hall, during a recent visit to the Storrs campus. (UConn Foundation Photo)

“I’m proud to support this exciting alliance between my alma mater and Israel’s great research institute, the Technion, where for years I’ve quietly sponsored some major research projects,” said Ed Satell ’57 (BUS). “This project can have a dramatic, positive, creative impact on the world’s much-needed clean, affordable, plentiful alternative energy resources. Professors Grader and Singh are the tops in their fields, so our hopes are high.”

Satell, who earned a degree in business from UConn in 1957, is founder, president, and CEO of Progressive Business Publications. Previously, he established the Ed Satell Non-Profit Internship Program and the Ed Satell International Social Entrepreneurship Fund at UConn to mark the 50th anniversary of his graduation from the UConn School of Business. The Satell Family Foundation also supports numerous research projects in energy and medicine at Technion.

“Technion is one of the finest institutions in the world, and we are delighted to be expanding our collaboration,” said Daniel Weiner, UConn vice provost for global affairs. “This generous gift from the Satell Family Foundation will support an innovative partnership and very important research and scholarship.”

UConn has developed collaborations in multiple disciplines at Technion, including sustainable energy, stem cell research, physics, and mathematics, and is exploring new collaborations in materials science and robotics. UConn’s alliance with Technion is part of a broad global engagement strategy with premier institutions around the world.