After years working in the restaurant industry, Jacob Torres went back to school to earn degrees in mechanical engineering technology. Now the Purdue graduate is developing ways to grow food in space for NASA.

Bill Hutzel, professor of mechanical engineering technology, and undergraduate Danielle LeClerc are continuing the School of Engineering Technology’s years-long Biowall research in clean, sustainable indoor air. LeClerc is incorporating data from NASA to determine which plants have the best air-cleaning performance.

Achieving lower energy consumption goals in high performance buildings will be possible only when the people who use those buildings have high energy literacy, says Bill Hutzel, professor of mechanical engineering technology. The work he and his students are doing in the Applied Energy Laboratory can help.

by Charles Adams III

Update for April 28, 2014