Collaborative appointment from the three institutions
The multi-million dollar partnership builds on pre-existing investments in state-of-the-art labs and research by creating an endowed professorship for Deyang Qu, a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and seeding Johnson Controls scientists in the campus labs. Qu will be the first Johnson Controls endowed professor in energy storage research, a collaborative appointment from the three institutions.
Qu characterized the level of direct partnership involved as the standout element — not just in the U.S., but worldwide.
"I think the uniqueness of this collaboration is really the integration," he said. "We basically integrate Johnson Controls as leading the industry of battery manufacturing globally and also the two campuses, the state universities — Milwaukee to Madison. I have seen lots of this industrial-university collaboration where they give the money and that's about it."
It's the kind of academic-industry collaboration interim UWM chancellor Mark Mone, and predecessor Mike Lovell, have held up as key to bolstering dwindling system funds and reaffirming the university's role in the regional economy. From Johnson Controls' perspective, vice president of engineering and product development Mary Ann Wright said it's the kind of solution the Glendale-based firm has been seeking to build its talent pipeline.