Johnson Controls and the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Milwaukee are being recognized for an unprecedented industry-academic partnership that advances research, development and commercialization of energy storage technologies. The Milwaukee Business Journal honored Johnson Controls and UW-Milwaukee with the Eureka Award for innovation in education during a ceremony Friday, May 10. “It is our objective to establish a world-class center of excellence for energy-storage research and development focused on discovery and commercialization of advanced energy-storage solutions,” said MaryAnn Wright, vice president of Technology and Innovation, Johnson Controls Power Solutions. “We expect exciting new projects to develop and it’s an honor to be recognized by the Milwaukee Business Journal for the work being done in this collaboration, as it will ultimately transform the university campus and the City of Milwaukee.”
The multimillion-dollar investment by Johnson Controls has already produced three joint laboratories at the College of Engineering & Applied Science, where the company’s scientists, who are also adjunct professors, and UW-Milwaukee faculty and students work side-by-side. One is a state-of-the-art “dry” lab with capabilities shared by only a handful of institutions in the world. In fact, it is the only advanced manufacturing dry lab of its kind on a university campus in North America. The other two labs support chemical and materials research. The company is also establishing a research laboratory at UW-Madison, and funding graduate fellowships which are already supporting advanced student research projects at both UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison. The Johnson Controls Endowed Professorship in Energy Storage Research is also being created in connection with the labs. The person who will hold the position will be responsible for maintaining the research labs and supervising graduate students at both institutions. “The creation of this endowed professorship and support for research fellows will allow us to attract an internationally known scholar and the most talented students—critical steps toward making Wisconsin a recognized hub for energy-storage technology and devices,” said Chancellor Michael R. Lovell, UW-Milwaukee. At the end of April, the collaboration was named a 2013 Gold Award winner in the Living, Working and Learning Environments category by the internationally recognized Edison Awards, which honor the most innovative products and business leaders in America.
