UH Maui Professor Receives $10,000 IBM Award For Energy Lab

UHMC courtesy image.

By Sonia Isotov

The IBM Corporation recently awarded Professor Debasis Bhattacharya, J.D., DBA, University of Hawaii Maui College (UHMC), $10,000 for his development of a program that creates a living laboratory on energy sustainability.

The 2010 IBM Smarter Planet Innovation Faculty Awards are highly competitive and recognize the quality of Professor Bhattacharya’s program and its important to the industry. Recognition is given for forward-thinking approaches and preparing the next generation of students with skills they can use to compete as leaders in the workplace.

Professor Bhattacharya, along with Professor Rafi Boritzer, will use the grant to a living laboratory at UHMC that will demonstrate the comparative efficacy of different renewable energy generation, efficiency and conservation systems as well as measure and monitor their respective performance. 

Students earning the Bachelor of Applied Science in Engineering Technology degree, under Applied Business and Information Technology program, will have a change to use the laboratory to train in engineering technologies. Through advanced metering and monitoring training and robust performance, students will have the opportunity to engage, experience and examine a wide array of real world conditions as installer as well as consumers. Students trained in these skills will be well suited to work as energy managers in all types of organizations from small businesses to large utilities. 

The project will operate through a collaboration of several UHMC departments, including the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math departments along with the ABIT. 

“I appreciate the award from IBM that allows me to translate the learning from the renewable energy initiatives on campus to classroom curricula and instruction materials. As students in a classroom learn from real-world projects, they become more motivated and focused in their career and professional orientation,” said Professor Bhattacharya, in a written statement.