Tag: innovation

April is Research + Innovation Month (RIM) at Clemson. During the entire month of April, RIM showcases the research and scholarly activity of faculty, staff, and students university-wide, on both the main campus and at Clemson’s innovation campuses. This year’s celebration promises to be particularly exciting with the university’s new designation as a Carnegie R1 – Doctoral University – Highest Research Activity.

RIM provides everyone the opportunity to showcase their research via interactive posters, energetic presentations, lively performances, awe-inspiring art, sculpture, and models. Everyone is encouraged to participate! Marquee events for this year’s RIM include:

• Team Science Workshop featuring Dr. Michelle Bennett, Deputy Scientific Director for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health
• Graduate Research and Discovery Forum (GRADS) and Three-Minute Thesis Competition
• Focus on Creative Inquiry
• Grant Application Workshop presented by the National Endowment for the Humanities
• Fulbright Scholar Program presentation by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars

You can participate

Does your program have an annual wrap-up or display event in April that you would like to include on the RIM calendar? It might be a poster session, symposium, performance, exhibition, or any other format displaying research and scholarly accomplishments. Please visit www.clemson.edu/rim to add your event to the RIM calendar!

Research + Innovation Month is sponsored by Creative Inquiry, Undergraduate Studies, The Graduate School, The Division of Research, and The Watt Family Innovation Center.

Follow Research + Innovation Month on Facebook for updates and event information. Make sure to share your events on Twitter using the hashtag #ClemsonRIM.

By Jackie Todd, Office of Media Relations

Clean energy and advanced manufacturing seem like future concepts. But the future is now at Clemson where research and development of new technologies are attracting the attention—and respect—of those who seek to invest in those innovations.

One of those “investors” is the United States Department of Energy (DOE). And its representative had great things to say about Clemson.

“The whole region is on fire in terms of advanced manufacturing and clean energy and you’re a big part of that,” said David Danielson, assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy. “I think you’re at the epicenter of that.”

Danielson stopped at CU-ICAR last week as part of his Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative Southeast U.S. tour to learn more about Clemson’s involvement in this area and to seek input on how the DOE can assist the region in developing technologies to push what he called “our clean energy economy” forward in the nation.

And Danielson liked what he saw.

“If I look at what you’re doing with the eGrid, with CU-ICAR and other efforts, I really think that you’re mapping a path forward that we’re going to see the rest of the nation take on in a very short order,” he said. “Walking around here at CU-ICAR, I’m blown away. I’m so excited by the work you’re doing and I couldn’t be prouder that the DOE is one of your sponsors.”

According to Danielson, there’s a growing appreciation of advanced manufacturing and clean energy. The clean energy market, which the DOE assistant secretary said was in the billions last year, is expected to increase into the billions in the next five to ten years.

With rising labor costs overseas, a focus on reduced CO2 emissions and a growing appreciation of advanced manufacturing technologies, it’s a prime time for the U.S. to bring back the manufacturing jobs that it lost in past years.

Melur Ramasubramanian thought it was important for the DOE to understand Clemson’s commitment to this research. Ramasubramanian, the D. W. Reynolds Distinguished Professor and Department Chair of the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, helped to organize Danielson’s visit.

“This is a national priority,” Ramasubramanian explained. “Large scale federal funding is being directed to this area. DOE has awarded large National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) Institutes and plans to invest in three additional institutes.

Ramasubramanian said that it is strategically important for Clemson to be at the forefront of this area and position itself to win one of these institutes.

“Clean energy-related manufacturing offers the best chance for us to win, given our strengths.”

By Jackie Todd, Office of Media Relations

The Watt Family Innovation Center reached a construction milestone when the final exterior steel beam was installed in a “topping out” ceremony on Feb. 19.

In keeping with tradition, a steel beam that completes the building frame was hoisted hundreds of feet into the air. As the beam made its ascent toward the blue sky, three flags unfurled. The American flag, a fixture in most construction sites, was joined by a banner bearing the Clemson University paw print and a banner from Turner, the construction company that was engaged to erect the four-story, 70,000-square-foot building.

Catching a ride on the steel beam was a small evergreen tree, courtesy of the South Carolina Botanical Garden. The tree will be planted on the grounds of Botanical Gardens at a later date. No one knows for certain the origin of including a tree in a topping out ceremony. But Turner Construction’s project engineer, Allison Ford, shared that the tradition was thought to have come from either Native Americans who believed that nothing should ever be taller than nature, or ancient Scandinavia where home builders used a tree or greenery to celebrate the setting of the final highest wood beam.

Regardless of the tradition, Ford, a former civil engineering student who graduated from Clemson in 2008, was excited about the event and the building.

“It’s just going to be a very innovative space,” she explained. “Architecturally it’s going to stand out and set the stage for projects to come on campus in the future. With it being a research and technology-focused center, it’s going to take Clemson into the next generation in terms of research and technology and innovation.”

Dr. Charles Watt, whose family pledged $5.25 million toward the center, was equally excited. And he gave high praise to those who made it possible for the construction to reach this milestone.

“To all you workers: you’ve done a phenomenal job,” he said. “You can know that what you’re doing is going to last a long, long time and make a fundamental change to higher education and the world we live in. This is the first building in America, and maybe even the world, to have the capabilities this building has.

As part of the topping out ceremony, Turner Construction Company presented a $5,000 check to Safe Harbor, a nonprofit organization that assists victims of domestic violence. Company officials indicated donations to local charities are considered tradition with every construction project.

Now that the Watt Family Innovation Center’s exterior frame is complete, workers will begin construction on the building’s exterior walls. The project is expected to be complete in spring 2016.

• View event photos here.
• Learn more about the Watt Family Innovation Center.