Shadi Shahedipour-Sandvik, interim vice president of Research Advancement and Graduate Studies at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, has been selected to receive $360,000 in federal funding from the United States Army Research Office—U.S. Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground .

Her grant is to develop more advanced batteries with greater energy storage capabilities compared to conventional batteries. In partnership with a team of collaborators at the Army Research Laboratory, Shahedipour-Sandvik’s team will explore the potential of “betavoltaic” (BV) and “beta photovoltaic” (BPV) devices, which use beta particles, or electrons, that are produced by a radioactive source to generate electricity that can be especially useful for applications in environments where a long battery life is required, such as in remote sensing and space applications.

During the course of this three-year award, SUNY Poly graduate and undergraduate students will take part in related research. SUNY Poly undergraduate students will be able to use the effort as a focus for their capstone research project.

The graduate students anticipate visiting the Army Research Lab for up to two weeks in addition to summer internship possibilities that will be based at the lab, furthering their national lab.

The SUNY Poly research taking place under this latest award will build upon a previous Short-Term Innovative Research grant that Shahedipour-Sandvik received from the Army Research Office.