ASU innovation on display at Arizona Science Center

New displays at Arizona Science Center will feature some of the latest research and entrepreneurship from around Arizona State University. The projects featured represent the innovation and creativity of ASU students and faculty members who work to create positive change in their community and the world at large. They are part of a larger partnership between Arizona Science Center and ASU, which was launched in 2012. The following projects will be highlighted.

G3Box

G3Box converts steel shipping containers into doctors’ offices to use after disasters such as hurricanes, or in areas with limited access to health facilities. G3Box adds systems for providing power, water, waste disposal, and security to the recycled shipping container. The modified box can be shipped anywhere in the world, allowing the mobile, medical-grade clinics to be used for many different purposes, such as disaster response or maternal health facilities.

Susanna Young is CEO of G3Box. Young received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Arizona State University. The G3Box team also includes Gabrielle Palermo, an undergraduate studying biomedical engineering at ASU; Clay Tyler, who graduated with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from ASU; and Billy Walters, an ASU student in mechanical engineering.

G3Box has also recently launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise money to ship a maternity clinic to Kenya.

SafeSIPP

When was the last time you feared taking a drink of water? Globally, over one billion people lack access to clean drinking water. Each year, 3.5 million people die due to water-related diseases. In addition, women and children in many developing countries must walk miles each day to obtain water, carrying it home in heavy jugs.

SafeSIPP is a system that transports and purifies water at the same time in one simple device. The device rolls water in a recycled industrial barrel with a purification system inside. As the barrel rolls from the water source to the community, the purification system removes disease-causing contaminants.

The SafeSIPP team consists of ASU chemical engineering students Lindsay Fleming, Taylor Barker and Jared Schoepf, and Jacob Arredondo, a business major at ASU. SafeSIPP will be featured as part of a larger displays on water-related research and innovation.

(To see the display featuring G3Box and SafeSIPP, visit the first floor of the Science Center starting April 12.)

Algae testbed

In September 2012, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Arizona State University $15 million to lead the first-ever national algae testbed. The Algae Testbed Public-Private Partnership (ATP³) provides high-quality data to support companies and research institutions working to solve the nation’s energy challenges.

The project is a partnership led by the Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation (AzCATI), part of the College of Technology and Innovation on ASU’s Polytechnic campus, and receives support from national labs and academic and industrial partners.

ATP³ allows researchers to test real-world conditions for algal biomass production for biofuel. Long-term algal cultivation trials will help establish a realistic plan for the development and implementation of sustainable biofuels that can be utilized on a commercial scale. This represents an unprecedented step toward clean energy.    

(Visit the fourth floor of the Science Center to learn more about ASU’s algae testbed and ATP³ partnership.)

To learn more about the Arizona Science Center-ASU partnership, visit www.inspireAZscience.org

Written by Allie Nicodemo, Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development