Over the last five years, the MIEMP has supported a large number of inter-disciplinary research projects at Khalifa University. Active projects include:
2020-2022Through-light-Optimized Agrophotovoltaic Systems for Sustainable Dry-land Agriculture, funded through the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) Award for Research Excellence (AARE2019), PI: Annalisa Molini, Co-PI: Matteo Chiesa and Lina F. Yousef.
2019-2022Exploring halophyte hydrodynamics and the role of vegetation traits on ecosystem response to disturbance at the terrestrial-aquatic interface, funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE)/Office of Science Program: Office of Biological and Environmental Research, PI: Ashley Matheny (University of Texas at Austin), Co-PIs: Annalisa Molini (Masdar Institute, UAE), Chonggang Xu (Los Alamos National Laboratory), Matteo Detto (Princeton University), Timothy Shanahan (University of Texas at Austin).
2019-2022Numerical Modelling of Radionuclides Dispersion in the UAE Environment(the “MORAD Project”),funded by the UAE Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (2019-2022) PI: Diana Francis, Co-PI Yacine Addad.
2018–2021 Multi-sensor Low-Atmosphere Optical Properties Characterization for Concentrating Solar Technologies Efficiency Assessment in Dusty Hyper-arid Regions, funded by Khalifa University of Science & Technology, Competitive Internal Research Award (CIRA), PI: Annalisa Molini, Co-PIs: Peter Armstrong, Prashanth R. Marpu.
2018-2022Integrating schemes from UAE Rain Enhancement Projects into a unified multi-component atmospheric model, funded by the National Center of Meteorology, PI: Diana Francis.
2018-2020Assessing the Health and Potential for Blue Carbon Storage of the Abu Dhabi Mangrove System through Remote Sensing and Ground Micrometeorological Observations,funded through the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) Award for Research Excellence (AARE2017), PI: Annalisa Molini, Co-PI: Prashanth R. Marpu.
2018-2020Sunshape Profiling Irradiometer (SPI), Innovation Grant (US 8981272), PI: Peter Armstrong. Three instruments are in beta test at MIEMP, SRRL-NREL and SRML-UO; retrieval algorithms under development.
2018-2020Suqia Low-cost Efficient Solar Desalination,funded through the Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum Water Award in Innovation (US patent pending 62/472,287) PI: Peter Armstrong. Targeting impoverished water-scarce regions, solar humidification-dehumidification process utilizes low-cost perforated cotton fabric as combined solar collector & humidifier that extracts 2X the water flux of traditional glass-covered basin still.
2018-2020Optimal Model-Based Control of District Cooling Plants,funded by Tabreed, PI: Peter Armstrong. Optimal cooling tower fan-speed control implemented in Plant AD-12 to realize 4% annual energy savings at no capital cost, and larger savings when plant RH sensor biases are corrected.
2017-2021 CubeSat project on “ Measurements of Atmospheric Methane and Carbon”, funded by UAE Space Agency, PI: Prashanth R. Marpu.
2017-2020EAA-MOEI MEPS Chiller, funded by the UAE Ministry of Energy & Industry, PI: Peter Armstrong.Advanced air-cooled chiller design raises “high performance” standard SCOP from 3.4 to 5.2 on track to save the UAE 2 Bn aed/yr at full market penetration. Prototype currently under test.
2016-2021Towards achieving a fog-ready air traffic management system for Etihad Airways: Numerical forecast and satellite tracking of fog, funded by Etihad Airways (2016-2021), PI: Diana Francis.
2015-2022A novel system for air quality monitoring using satellite- and modeling-based techniques: Towards real time high resolution monitoring of air quality, funded by the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, PI: Diana Francis, https://earth.masdar.ac.ae/air_quality/.
