INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT
Initiative for Cycling Innovation and Sustainability
PIs: Darryl Thelen and Lennon Rodgers
A group from the College of Engineering is establishing the Initiative for Cycling Innovation and Sustainability to become a hub for interdisciplinary research, education, and entrepreneurship in the cycling world. Leveraging Madison’s status as a Platinum Bicycle Friendly Community and fostering strong partnerships with industry leaders, the initiative aims to drive innovation across three core pillars: sustainability, design and performance, and health, wellness, and safety. The initiative will promote cycling as a tool for physical and mental well-being through campus-wide initiatives and partnerships.
A main goal is to foster collaboration between engineering students and industry partners to develop innovative cycling technologies. Leveraging existing expertise, we will partner with research labs and initiatives across campus to conduct research on cycling safety. We will then develop and implement programs to enhance cycling safety education and awareness, including practical experience in bicycle design and manufacturing through hands-on frame building courses for students. Finally, the initiative will support the UW-Madison RISE-EARTH initiative by promoting cycling as a sustainable transportation solution. Part of our research activities will focus on the environmental impact of cycling infrastructure and manufacturing.
In spring 2026, the group will begin an industry speaker series with speakers from major cycling companies.
INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT
Consortium for Holistic Steel Systems Industry Engagement & Optical Distributed Sensor Interrogator
PI: Hannah Blum
Steel is the most structurally reliable, societal responsible material, and it is capable of robust, cradle-to-cradle performance, making the steel systems approach the ideal solution for superior construction. The Holistic Steel Systems Consortium weaves structurally reliability, robustness, and responsible designs (e.g., economic impact that benefits the workforce) to spearhead a new era of steel construction. And by creating academic and industrial partnerships, we can achieve this mission to truly impact our communities in Wisconsin and beyond. The Consortium is an Industry-Academia partnership focused on improving steel construction.
The Wisconsin Impact Nexus grant will provide resources to grow the Holistic Steel Systems Consortium, strengthen industry-academic partnerships, and promote industry-sponsored research. The Consortium welcomes industry sponsors from trade associations, steel mills and processors, manufacturers of steel construction products, and other general interest entities. Industry and academic affiliates will collaborate on research projects to advance the Consortium’s mission to advance the steel construction industry.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Ultrasound for Fibrosis Research in Cancer Treatments
PI: Aarushi Bhargava
Fibrosis — the buildup of dense, scar-like tissue — is a key feature of many chronic diseases, including liver cirrhosis, pulmonary fibrosis, heart disease, and pancreatic cancer. This stiff tissue, made largely of collagen fibers, doesn’t just block blood flow or drug delivery — it also tells cells how to behave. In cancer, this dense network acts like armor, protecting tumors from treatment and even helping them grow.
My group at SonIMate Mechanics Lab is developing a non-invasive way to reverse these harmful effects using sound. Their innovative ultrasound-based technology uses microscopic gas bubbles that vibrate in response to gentle sound waves. These vibrations apply precise mechanical forces that gradually loosen and reorganize the fibrotic tissue — softening it without drugs or surgery.
By restoring normal tissue softness, this approach can reduce the harmful signals that drive disease and make existing treatments work better. This work opens a new frontier where sound waves become a tool to reprogram diseased tissues, promote healing, and make therapies more effective.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Commercial Opportunities for Electroluminescent Refrigeration
PI: Eric Tervo
The performance of many electronic devices is limited not by how many transistors are packed into a small area, but by how hot they get under heavy workloads. Intense computations needed for large language models, high-voltage power converters, and other applications cause chips to get too hot and slow down or shut down to prevent damage. A simple solution would be to integrate an active cooling device at the chip level to reduce temperatures, but current technologies are not efficient enough to handle these high heat loads.
In this project, we aim to demonstrate a new technology called electroluminescent refrigeration that could solve this problem. Electroluminescent (EL) coolers are all-solid-state semiconductor devices that cool down by converting heat into light and sending it away from a hot chip, and they can be much more efficient than other options. These could be closely integrated with a high-power electronic device to reduce its temperature and avoid costly performance throttling. In addition to demonstrating EL refrigeration, this project will explore commercial opportunities for the technology and develop plans to bridge experiments to the market.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Technology Development & Commercialization for Small and Micro Modular Nuclear Reactors
PI: Ben Lindley
Nuclear reactors can suffer from cost and schedule overruns, often due to civil engineering costs. One contributor is that the reactor is often very tall and is partly buried underground. This leads to substantial, costly excavation works. Advanced reactor concepts under development include large, vertically oriented pebble bed reactors, where spherical fuel elements are continuously loaded from the top and discharged from the bottom. This enables online operation and good fuel economy but increases the height of the system and necessitates complicated fuel handling infrastructure.
Factory manufactured micro nuclear reactors have potential to reduce construction costs and schedule by limiting site construction costs. To facilitate this, they are typically configured horizontally. However, microreactors can instead have high fuel costs, in part because all the fuel must be loaded at the beginning of operation.
We will develop and de-risk a horizontal pebble bed reactor, where the core contains spheres of fuel that are loaded and discharged online. The online refueling enables continuous operation for decades, while reducing fueling costs by a factor of two. The concept therefore combines the fuel economy of a large reactor with the reduced civil engineering costs of a small reactor. Using computational modelling, we will develop horizontal designs with reliable pebble flow through the reactor, ensuring no pebbles get stuck. We will incorporate features to simplify the fuel handling infrastructure. We will also incorporate features to flatten the reactor power and temperature distribution, ensuring no pebbles get too hot.
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION
Network for System-Based Modeling in Fusion Diagnostic Design
PI: Adelle Wright
Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is a paradigm-shift with the potential to dramatically speed up the design, development and deployment of complex systems in real-world environments. This project will bring together communities from across engineering and the physical sciences to design and implement an MBSE framework that will accelerate the design, delivery and deployment of diagnostic innovations for current and future fusion energy systems.
Initially, the project will deliver an assessment of the state of digital engineering tools in the fusion energy context and identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for MBSE-based approaches to streamline and enhance design processes and workflows. Building on these insights, an MBSE framework will be developed and implemented to address the identified gaps. In its early phase, this project will focus on the design of diagnostics for future fusion pilot plants, which must withstand extreme conditions and satisfy numerous complex constraints.
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION
Advanced Manufacturing Innovation in Space and Aerospace Aided by AI
PI: Hantang Qin
Wisconsin has long been a manufacturing powerhouse, with nearly 20% of GDP and one in six jobs tied to manufacturing—all among the highest in the nation. The UW–Madison College of Engineering stands at the center of this industrial ecosystem, positioned to lead the next transformation: integrating Space Manufacturing and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and leading the technology and research development in advanced manufacturing. Space Manufacturing represents a frontier of U.S. national interest, as agencies such as NASA and the Department of War prioritize in-space manufacturing, in-situ production for space exploration, lunar infrastructure, and defense readiness. Simultaneously, AI-enabled advanced manufacturing is a pillar of the federal CHIPS and Science Act and the National Strategy for Advanced Manufacturing, emphasizing smart, autonomous, and resilient production systems.
Establishing an Advanced Manufacturing and Production Center focused on these domains will position UW–Madison as a national leader in the convergence of intelligent automation and in-space production. We will team up with local companies and regional/national manufacturing hubs to apply for federal funding and host an international manufacturing conference on campus. This initiative will catalyze cross-disciplinary collaborations on campus, as well as federal and industry partnerships. It will also attract top talent and generate transformative innovations that elevate Wisconsin’s industrial base.
Advanced technologies produced through interdisciplinary collaboration at CoE will help the aerospace and space industry soar in Wisconsin. In the long term, it will secure the College’s reputation as a pioneer in next-generation manufacturing and anchor Wisconsin in America’s technological and economic competitiveness.
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION
Building Quantum Information Science Engagement in the UW–Madison Fusion Energy Community Initiative
PI: David Smith & Matthew Otten
The QIS for Fusion project will cultivate innovative research that leverages emerging quantum science areas to address the technical gaps of fusion energy. The focus areas are 1) quantum simulation of fusion materials and atomic data, 2) quantum-sensing-enhanced experimental fusion science, and 3) quantum algorithms for computational plasma physics. The project will begin with technical seminars and an innovation workshop that brings together interdisciplinary experts from nuclear and electrical engineering, materials science, physics, and more.
Importantly, the QIS for Fusion workshop will identify gaps and opportunities at the intersection of quantum science and fusion energy, foster teaming and ongoing engagement, and develop responsive strategies for research sponsors. In the second phase of the project, micro-grants will support early-stage research that establishes new research thrusts and strengthens research proposals. Finally, this project will facilitate campus connections to local start-ups in the areas of quantum technology and fusion energy.