The UConn and Eversource Energy proudly presented the Clean Energy and Sustainability Innovation Program (CESIP) Award to chemical engineering Ph.D. students Azeem Sarwar and Muhammad Hassan, and chemistry Ph.D. student Maham Liaqat for their project, “UConn’s Wastewater to Bioenergy: Integrated Chlorella Cultivation and Pyrolysis,” during the North American Power Symposium (NAPS) held on Monday, at the Hartford Marriott Downtown in Hartford.
The award includes a full year of funding to support the team’s continued work on their innovative solution.
The CESIP challenge brought together student teams from across disciplines to develop forward-thinking solutions to pressing energy and environmental challenges. This year’s finalists showcased a wide range of creative and impactful ideas from wastewater-to-energy generation to enhancing photovoltaic infrastructure, reflecting the next generation’s commitment to a cleaner, more sustainable future.
“Congratulations to this year’s winning team, whose project stood out for its ingenuity and potential to make a real-world impact,” said Catherine Finneran, Vice President of Transmission Development, Siting and Project Engagement at Eversource. “We were incredibly impressed by all of the presentations – the level of thought, collaboration and innovation on display by these UConn students was truly inspiring.”
“This program exemplifies the power of collaboration between academia and industry,” said Emmanouil “Manos” Anagnostou, Executive Director of UConn’s Institute of the Environment and Energy. “Our partnership with Eversource continues to create meaningful opportunities for students to apply their knowledge to real-world challenges and contribute to the future of clean energy.”
The award highlights Eversource’s ongoing commitment to developing a talent pipeline within the state of Connecticut, to supporting academic research and innovation in clean energy and to fostering partnerships that drive progress toward a more sustainable energy future.
