RUSTON, La. – While most people were busy shopping during the holiday season, Dr. Daniela Mainardi, associate professor of chemical engineering at Louisiana Tech University and member of the Institute for Micromanufacturing, was preparing for a trip that would take her half way around the world.

As part of a joint effort, Mainardi, together with Virendra Mathur from the University of New Hampshire, and Suddhasatwa Basu and Shantanu Roy from The Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, was in charge of organizing a workshop titled, “Energy and Environment: Challenges and Research Opportunities” for The Claridges, SurajKund in Delhi, India this past December.

The purpose of the workshop was to have an exchange of scientific information and a dialogue between American and Indian university faculty members. The interaction was supported by the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, The Indian Institute of Technology, and the National Science Foundation through a grant on which Mainardi...