News
From Technician to Engineer: Penn College and NSF EARTH Partner on New Online HVAC Degree Program
Today’s HVAC technicians are among the industry's best sources of future engineering talent. They know the equipment, systems, and troubleshooting in today’s ever-changing cooling and heating environment. But what’s next for the technician who is ready to be challenged with more advanced HVAC work in commercial environments and perhaps move...
KU Program Connects HVAC Educators with Emerging Refrigerant Research
LAWRENCE, KS — Two Kansas City-area HVAC educators stepped out of their technical classrooms and into University of Kansas research laboratories this summer through a program that connects emerging engineering research with the educators who train the technicians installing and servicing new technologies. ...
2026 NSF ERC EARTH Seed Funding Program Awardees
The leadership team at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center (ERC) Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub (EARTH) has announced this year’s awardees of the NSF ERC EARTH Seed Funding Program, a core component of its innovation ecosystem, linking early-stage ideas to large-scale impact. ...
NSF EARTH Undergraduate Researcher Marina Johnson Receives Prestigious IIAR Founders Scholarship
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center for Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub (EARTH) is proud to celebrate Marina Johnson, an undergraduate researcher at the University of Kansas (KU), for receiving the highly competitive International Institute of All-Natural Refrigeration (IIAR) Founders Scholarship. ...
Rising heat, humidity threatens cheaper AI data center cooling methods
Reliable operation of data centers has become essential to nearly all sectors of modern society, including healthcare, education, government services, power grid operation, banking, defense and disaster relief. New research published in Scientific Reports and led by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa atmospheric scientists revealed that future climate conditions may...
NSF Research Centers Collaborate to Unveil Refrigerant Selection Framework for Next-Generation Organ Cryopreservation
During an organ transplant procedure, there are only a few hours of time that donated tissue can remain viable between the donor and the recipient. As a result of this short window of time, it is estimated that nearly 20 percent of donated organs go unused, as suitable recipients are...
NSF Program Directors visit ERC EARTH at the University of Kansas
Representatives from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) recently visited the NSF Engineering Research Center for Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub (EARTH) at the University of Kansas (KU) in Lawrence. Dana Denick, program director for NSF Engineering Research Centers, and Bert Chandler, program director for NSF CBET-Catalysis, spent two days...
NSF EARTH Members Partner to Commercialize Breakthrough Refrigerant Separation Technology
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center for Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub (EARTH) proudly congratulates NSF EARTH industry members Icorium and Hudson Technologies on announcing a preliminary agreement to commercialize Icorium's patented extractive distillation technology for refrigerant reclamation. ...
Dr. Mark Shiflett Reaches 12,000 Career Citations
WISE Researcher Contributes to New Book Advancing Sustainable Carbon Capture Technologies
Graduate Research Advances Sustainable Refrigerant Separation Through Machine Learning and Molecular Simulation
As industries around the world work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, researchers are searching for innovative ways to replace or recycle compounds that contribute to the atmospheric impact of emissions. One recent doctoral thesis has helped advance that effort by combining machine learning, optimization, and molecular simulation to improve the...