UMass Boston

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Engineering Research Initiation (ERI) grant program awarded three UMass Boston engineering professors nearly $200,000 each for their innovative research.

Engineering professors Rafael Valotta Rodrigues, Michael Rahaim, and Joanna Dahl received grants for their research projects in renewable energy, wireless communication optimization, and lab-grown tissue engineering.

The ERI program was created by the NSF’s Directorate for Engineering with the goal of broadening the number of engineering researchers by limiting the award to those not affiliated with Carnegie-designated R1 institutions (UMass Boston was an R2 institution in 2024). The competitive awards granted to three faculty members speaks to the research strengths of the Engineering Department, the newest in the College of Science and Mathematics.

Rafael Valotta Rodrigues’ project explores ways to improve the efficiency of renewable energy systems using the ocean. Current technology for offshore wind farms uses fixed-foundation wind turbines in shallow waters. More recently, floating wind turbine structures have been developed to extend beyond standard water depth levels. However, there is significant concern about the effects of interactions between offshore wind farms[GU1]  with fixed-foundations and those with floating technology. Due to their locations and the wake effects from different turbines, these interactions can cause power loss between the farms and reduce the amount of renewable energy converted into electricity. Dr. Valotta Rodrigues’ research seeks to mitigate power loss by developing alternative solutions for areas where wake effects would be most significant. The project will culminate in an open-source toolkit to help optimize the integration of wind and marine energy systems.

Michael Rahaim’s research focuses on advancing optical wireless communication (OWC) systems. The wireless communications ecosystem is an important technology in modern society, enabling wireless technology like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Wireless networks allow machines to communicate and process data, but the more data that’s needed, the harder it becomes for all components [GU2] to work smoothly. As the demand for data increases, researchers are looking for new ways to support the future of wireless systems. OWC offers promising technology for future ultra-dense wireless networks, but they face some challenges, particularly when used in environments with a high number of users and devices. To address these challenges, Rahaim’s project would create tools to help with experiments on OWC using Software Defined Radio (SDR) tools. Traditional OWC setups are often prohibitively expensive, limiting their use to institutions with mature research programs in the field. Rahaim’s project would help provide a cost-effective solution that enables institutes without established OWC infrastructure to run experiments. Rahaim’s approach also includes using an indoor OWC system that provides each device with its own wireless hotspot, transmitted from overhead lights. 

“The ERI program is an incredibly valuable program that supports early career faculty in the development of their research portfolio,” said Rahaim. “In my project, we are developing tools and models to support experimental testing of multi-user OWC systems. More importantly, we are making these tools open source such that other OWC researchers have an accessible and low-cost option to bring their work from simulation to experimentation.”

Joanna Dahl is working to improve tissue engineering, which involves growing tissues (like skin or muscle) in a lab to help repair the body. While other industries use computer simulations to design effective engineered products, understanding of human tissue is currently too limited to develop simulation prediction tools. Dahl's research focuses on measuring and predicting the mechanical stiffness of engineered tissues, a crucial element in producing tissue strong enough for use in the human body. By using microfluidics to measure the stiffness of cell clusters of various sizes, this project aims to provide foundational research and create a better functional tissue model. This research could ultimately aid development of lab-grown tissue to repair damaged body tissue.

“We are excited to explore this open question in biomechanics about how tissue stiffness changes are more and more cells cluster together,” said Dahl. “I'm also looking forward to involving freshman students from my First-Year STEM Community Gateway Seminar class in the research activities this spring in which they will help the research team formulate hypotheses that might explain the trends we see in the cell cluster stiffness data.”