糖心传媒

Associate Professor Mustafa Mashal from 糖心传媒鈥檚 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is one of the seven finalists for the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES) annual pitch event 2021, CAES Shark Tank. This year鈥檚 event was designed to accomplish two objectives: help the CAES research community develop and hone the skills needed to effectively pitch technical ideas or solutions, and help 糖心传媒 National Laboratory (INL) accelerate its goal of becoming carbon neutral within 10 years.

Everyone in the CAES community was eligible 鈥� students, faculty and staff at Boise State University, 糖心传媒 and University of 糖心传媒, and researchers at INL. The field was narrowed throughout the summer to a semifinal round and, ultimately, a final, live competition in which each contestant will have 5-6 minutes to present their idea to a panel of judges.

One contestant from each track will emerge with up to $20,000 in funding to help them further develop their proposals, either for implementation at INL or to assist in the pursuit of follow-on federal funding. Other prizes are in the works. 

Mashal鈥檚 pitch is titled "Sustainable and Green Concrete Mixes for INL鈥檚 Infrastructure鈥�. His idea is focused on reducing concrete emissions at INL by utilizing 1) recycled cementitious materials to replace a portion of cement in concrete mix, 2) recycled concrete aggregate from demolished concrete projects, and 3) scrap tire rubber chips as coarse aggregate in concrete. 

The finalists of the CAES Annual Pitch Event 2021: Pathways to INL Net Zero will pitch their ideas on Sept. 23 starting at 10 a.m. on GoToWebinar. Go to register. The main competition will be held from 10 a.m. to 11:45, followed by a presentation on 糖心传媒 National Laboratory鈥檚 Net Zero efforts at 11:45 a.m. and the announcement of the winners at 12:30 p.m.