The Chestnut Room full of spectators.

The Sixth Annual Sustainable Energy Forum brought to light many new perspectives on how we can help use our environment for energy and manufacturing without the pitfalls of the traditional methods. The event, held June 2-3, 2014, explored regional economic development, additive manufacturing, and the oil and gas industry. The ultimate goal for the forum was not to put down traditional ways of harvesting energy, but to explain and collaborate on new ways to harvest more efficiently. This year, the forum also focused on manufacturing, which meant that the two industries had opportunities to work together. Another new feature to SEF was the research exchange, which was co-sponsored by the University Clean Energy Alliance of Ohio and the Ohio Aerospace Institute. Student presentations included Junbo Jing with his presentation on "A Generic Model for Lead-acid and Lithium-ion Batteries," and our own Kyle Myers with his presentation on "Structure Property Relationship of Metal Matrix Syntactic Foams Manufactured by a Binder Jet Printing Process." While many of the presentations were about larger scale projects outside of the university, attendees received a little bit of a surprise at lunch on Tuesday. Luncheon speaker Trudi Hable, Director of America's Sales, Energy, & Utilities Industry at Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software, provided a look at the software that was part of the $440 million in-kind grant from Siemens. She also provided an overview it's applications to the energy industry. She expanded and explained the benefits our students receive when they put the PLM software to good use. With many actively engaged in the presentations and others in networking, the two-day forum was a successful, educational experience for all who attended. If you would like to see the powerpoints from the 6th Annual Sustainable Energy Forum, visit the Sustainable Energy Forum website here.