Spring 2024
January 29, 2024: Hayoung successfully defends her Master's thesis. Congratulations!!
Fall 2023
December 19, 2023: Binit successfully qualifies through his PhD comprehensive exam. Congratulations!
December 5, 2023: Binit is making waves in propellant development with the innovative Laser-Induced Air Shock from Energetic Materials (LASEM) technique, featured in the Aerospace America magazine (AIAA) 2023 Year in Review.
LASEM evaluates shock velocity by using a high-energy laser pulse on small solid fuel samples, offering a tailored approach to propellant development. Why does this matter? Nanoenergetic materials, crucial for propulsion, boast high energy density and faster burn rates compared to traditional propellants.
November 17, 2023: Binit and Gabe traveled to Washington D.C., for the APS DFD Conference. Binit provided a talk on laser-induced plasma and solid combustion, while Gabe participated in the student poster competition, presenting on jet breakup under supersonic flows.
October 17, 2023: 3P Lab hosted Forrest Pommier (right), a Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University, for a three-day workshop with Daipayan (left) on plasma generation hardware and ignition systems. 3P Lab is collaborating with the Advanced Engine Research Laboratory (AERL) at TAMU to develop sustainable plasma-assisted combustion systems for natural gas engines.
October, 2023: As part of a DOE-sponsored project, Akash recently completed a successful three-week experimental campaign at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California. Thanks to Rajavasanth Rajasegar, PhD, and Aleš Srna, PhD, for hosting Akash.
Summer 2023
September 13, 2023: Professor Biswas took on the role of faculty advisor for the UMN ASME chapter in the summer of 2023. The UMN ASME chapter is actively recruiting new ME students, emphasizing student-led projects, and coordinating university-wide events such as Tech Elective lunch, Lunch & Learn, and E-Fest.
August 17, 2023: Aritri joins 3P lab for her PhD. Welcome!
July 21, 2023: 3P Lab attends the movie Oppenheimer on opening day.
July 7, 2023: The annual summer BBQ is held at Prof. Biswas' house.
June 5, 2023: David joins 3P Lab for the summer as an NSF REU student. He is working with Gabe to develop plasma electrodes in a miniature wind tunnel for scramjet flow control applications.
Spring 2023
March 23, 2023: Akash wins the Josef Mestenhauser Student Award for Excellence in Campus Internationalization, which recognizes outstanding student contributions to international education. It acknowledges important work being done by students at the University of Minnesota to internationalize the curriculum and campus.
March 18, 2023: All five 3P Lab PhD students attend the United States National Combustion Meeting at Texas A&M in College Station, TX. Akash and Gabe give talks on their work while Oluwasegun, Daipayan, Binit, and Roudh present posters.
April 26, 2023: Gabe, Daipayan, and Oluwasegun all passed their qualifying exams with flying colors. Congratulations!
Fall 2022
December 23, 2022: Himanshu successfully defended his master's thesis. Congratulations, Himanshu!
August 24, 2022: Daipayan, Oluwasegun, and Gabe join 3P lab for their PhD. Welcome!
Summer 2022
July 17, 2022: Summer 2022 BBQ at Professor Biswas’s place in Pillsbury Court. Left to right: Himanshu, Prof. Biswas, Reed, Akash, Binit, Gabe, Sydney, Carissa.
Here is a picture of all the invitees, +1, and pets!
June 20, 2022: Professor Biswas travels to Scottsdale, AZ, to attend ASME annual meeting. He meets his fellow ECLIPSE interns, the Board of Governors, and ASME friends and colleagues.
June 15, 2022: Professor Biswas drives to Morris, MN, to attend Midwest Farm Energy Conference to learn how renewable energy options could transform the rural US.
June 13, 2022: Professor Biswas travels to Chicago to attend the ARPA-E kick-off meeting for the REMEDY methane abatement program.
June 2, 2022: Professor Biswas visits Cooper Machinery in Houston, TX, to meet his collaborators from the University of Alabama and Texas A&M to discuss the ARPA-E project on methane reduction from compressor station engines. These engines are huge!
June 1, 2022: NSF REU student Carissa Rowan, an undergraduate student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, joins the 3P Lab to perform summer research on superparamagnetic nanoparticles. It is nice to have you on the team, Carissa!
May 30, 2022: 3P Lab initiates hosting two high-school students from Eden Prairie and Wayzata high-school for the summer YES-E outreach program. The students will learn about our energy future via small-scale projects and hands-on activities.
May 23, 2022: Outreach Day. Professor Biswas and his students – Akash, Binit, and Sydney, visit Edina Elementary School for hands-on science activities with glider airplanes and water and air rockets. K1-5 students thoroughly enjoyed these outdoor activities. Science is cool and fun!
May 18, 2022: Sydney Nelson, an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota, joins 3P Lab for a full-time summer internship. Welcome, Sydney!
Spring 2022
October-November, 2021: Professor Biswas receives three major Federal Grants – 1 from DOE and 2 from ARPA-E, to forward plasma-based technologies for sustainable and clean energy production, worth a total of $7M+ of which 3P Lab’s share is $4M+. Read more about these exciting projects in the 3P Lab’s research.
September 28, 2021: Professor Biswas shares his vision for 3P Lab at the monthly UMN rocket club meeting. He received several enthusiastic UG student researchers willing to contribute to 3P Lab’s plasma and propulsion research.
September 6, 2021: Professor Biswas started teaching Thermodynamics ME3331, his first course at the University of Minnesota.
Summer 2021
July 23, 2021: Summer 2021 BBQ at Pillsbury Court. Left to right: Sean, Prof. Biswas, Roudh, Akash, Binit, Cesar, Dr. Zhan, Jiaqi.
July 15, 2021: Roudh Das - solid motor grain design propulsion sub-team lead of UMN Rocket Team wins the Spaceport America (SA) cup in both the 30k student research and developed (SRAD) category as well as been declared the overall champions of Experimental Sounding Rocket Association (ESRA) SA Cup 2021. Flying a 50% O-class 6-inch diameter motor 'Charlie' made from scratch by the propulsion subteam, on carbon fiber and fiberglass body tube with an aluminum welded fin can on a rocket, lovingly called "Thunder Yeet". This makes the second year in a row that the UMN Subteam has won the ESRA SA Cup! Coming September, Roudh and the UMN Rocket Team are looking to fly their High Alt rocket at the FAR (friends of amateur rocketry) launch site in California. This is the annual exhibition launch expecting 100,000 ft on an SRAD motor. Keep an eye out for that!
July 14, 2021: Professor Biswas gives an invited talk to Caterpillar natural gas division on advanced ignition strategies for large-bore off-road engines.
June 21, 2021: High school students started the 12 week-long Young Engineers and Scientists in Energy (YES-E) program – to learn more about sustainable energy technologies.
June 7, 2021: Binit Singh joins the 3P Lab to pursue PhD, after finishing his bachelor’s from the University of Kentucky. Welcome aboard, Binit!
May 31, 2021: Sean Mather decides to join 3P Lab to study plasma and supersonic propulsion. Sean just finished his bachelor’s from the University of Minnesota. Welcome to the team, Sean!
May 1, 2021: NSF REU summer student Cesar Moriel, an undergraduate student at the University of Texas El Paso interested in biofuels and sustainable energy, joins the 3P Lab. It is nice to have you on the team, Cesar!
Spring 2021
July 30, 2021: 3P Lab PhD student Akash Dhotre teamed up with Penn State and University of Colorado students to win the ‘Iron Lion Design Challenge’ hosted by Penn State Learning Factory. The design hack-a-thon consisted of 14 teams of graduate students competing over three days. Akash’s team designed a “smart power plant” – a plant that can talk to its owner, asking for water, light, etc., by employing a learning algorithm that also gives the plant a ‘personality.’ Congratulations, Akash!
March 29, 2021: Roudh Das, an undergraduate student in aerospace engineering at the University of Minnesota, is granted a Fall UROP project in the 3P Lab. Roudh decides to gain hands-on summer research experience at the Lab. You’re going to be a valuable asset to our lab, Roudh!
Feb – April 2021: Professor Biswas virtually visits 5 high schools around the United States through ASME DropMEin! Program and encourages students how engineers can be ‘problem-solvers for good.’
January 7, 2021: Akash Dhotre joins 3P Lab for his PhD. Akash received his master’s from the University of Minnesota. Welcome, Akash!
2020
December 21, 2020: Professor Biswas takes part in an invited panel discussion on ‘Challenges and opportunities for electric vehicle adoption’ in the 5th International Conference Sustainable Energy and Environmental Challenges.
December 17, 2020: Professor Sayan Biswas joins the University of Minnesota as an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Professor Biswas and his wife move to Minnesota in mid-December from California!