Gift Supports Global Energy Sustainability Program

The UConn Foundation announced a significant gift from the Satell Family Foundation that will support UConn’s new research partnership in sustainable energy with Technion–Israel Institute of Technology. UConn and Technion are recognized leaders in energy engineering and education, and both are committed to advancing global adoption of clean and efficient energy technologies.

UConn’s Center for Clean Energy Engineering and Fraunhofer Center for Energy Innovation, led by Professor Prabhakar Singh, together with Technion’s Grand Technion Energy Program, led by Professor Gideon Grader, provide an excellent platform to advance sustainable energy research in such areas as fuel cell systems, molten salt technology, materials corrosion, concentrated solar power life enhancement, and large-scale stationary batteries.

The Satell UConn–Technion Leadership Program for Global Energy Sustainability will support an international exchange of faculty and graduate students. Teams from both institutions will visit each other’s campuses in the US and Israel to present ongoing research and discuss joint investigations.

“I’m proud to support this exciting alliance between my alma mater and Israel’s great research institute, the Technion, where for years I’ve quietly sponsored some major research projects. This project can have a dramatic, positive, creative impact on the world’s much-needed clean, affordable, plentiful alternative energy resources. Professors Grader and Singh are the tops in their fields, so our hopes are high,” said Ed Satell ’57 (BUS).

Satell is founder, president and CEO of Progressive Business Publications. Previously, he established the Ed Satell Non-Profit Internship Program and the Ed Satell International Social Entrepreneurship Fund at UConn to mark the 50th anniversary of his graduation from the UConn School of Business. The Satell Family Foundation also supports numerous research projects in energy and medicine at Technion.

“Technion is one of the finest institutions in the world, and we are delighted to be expanding our collaboration. This generous gift from the Satell Family Foundation will support an innovative partnership and very important research and scholarship,” said Daniel Weiner, vice provost for global affairs at UConn.

UConn has developed collaborations in multiple disciplines at Technion, including sustainable energy, stem cell research, physics and mathematics, and is exploring new collaborations in materials science and robotics. UConn’s alliance with Technion is part of broad global engagement strategy with premier institutions in Israel and around the world.