"Grid Game" headlines 2017 Engineering Your Future event

The Grid Game got its start as a simulator of the power swing equation created for the Idaho Universities’ Resilient Control Systems class in Fall of 2013.

In recognition of National Engineers Week, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES) are sponsoring the Engineering Your Future STEM Workshops and GridGame Competition event today from 4-6:45 p.m. at CAES, 995 University Boulevard.

The event is aimed at local high school and college students, and will feature booths, a prize drawing, the GridGame Competition, and several interactive STEM workshops on subjects including wind energy, electric vehicles, mechanical engineering, virtual reality, unmanned aerial systems and INL internship opportunities.

The GridGame is a desktop simulation developed by INL that allows students to experience what it is like to manage a power grid in the face of adverse conditions. During the competition, players will use the digital control panel simulation to try to obtain the most revenue from their microgrid by optimizing the use of resources (e.g., storage, generation, loads) while combating hackers trying to sabotage their control systems. In addition to competing against each other, teams will try to beat a challenge team led by Jackie Flowers, Idaho Falls Power’s head honcho.

The team with the highest score in the competition round will be invited to attend the Eastern Idaho Engineers Week Banquet Friday at the Idaho Falls Shilo Inn.

National Engineers Week takes place each February during the week of Washington’s birthday, Feb. 22.

For more about the grid game, here’s a story that ran in 2015: GRID GAME TEACHES STUDENTS ABOUT ELECTRIC GRID COMPLEXITY, RESILIENCE.

I.F. building permits applications start accumulating

We know a lot of you check in here to find out what sort of development is going on. With the weather warming up and the snow going away we expect to have more to tell in the coming days.

In the meantime, here is a list of commercial building permits application recorded by the city of Idaho Falls Building Department since the beginning of the year.

COM17-0003: INL Energy Services Lab overhead door removal and infill, 750 University Boulevard
COM17-0004: Sunnyside Place Memory Care Renovation, 3400 South 5th West
COM17-0005: Remodel and wall relocation, 2110 Rollandet Avenue
COM17-0006: Earl Building Iteris Office remodel, 525 North Park Avenue
COM17-0007: Advance Home Care Remodel, 2100 Niagara Street
COM17-0008: EIRMC Imaging Center Remodel, 2860 Channing Way, Unit 123
COM17-0010: TMO L700 Monopole remodel, 325 Briggs Street
COM17-0011: NewU Salon, 1,664 square-foot addition, 2048 E. 17th Street
COM17-0012: Zoo breakroom remodel, 460 Rogers Street
COM17-0014: Dr. Bitter office remodel, 749 Oxford Drive
COM17-0015: Buildout of additional EROB offices, 2525 Fremont Avenue
COM17-0016: B&G Tire remodel to add interior filing room, 265 Northgate Mile
COM17-0018: Parking garage for hospital expansion, 2325 Coronado Street
COM17-0019: HVAC remodel, 2075 North Boulevard

No, we don't know why there are gaps in the numbering. We can ask, if it's important to you.

Java Espress plans March 17 grand opening for Anderson Street shop

Java Espress is planning a March 17 grand opening for its newest shop, at 745 E. Anderson Street, from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m.

All 16-oz. drinks will be free that day, including all specialty coffees, chai and flavored sodas. All Javaccinos, Real Fresh fruit smoothies, protein shakes and energy drinks will be 25 percent off.

This is the company’s eighth location. Based in Idaho Falls since 1993, Java Espress is locally owned and operated.

They are introducing a new line of flavored sodas with Nugget ice, and high energy and protein drinks.

The new Anderson location will be open 4:45 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

“I think this NEW Idaho Falls store will be an absolute home run,” said owner and CEO Shane Murphy. “With a location near the Idaho National Laboratory community, our amazing baristas and delicious products, how could it not be? Our team is energized and ready to continue setting the standard for quick service of gourmet beverages.”

NanoSteel closes on new equity investment

It’s a long way from the Snake River to Motor City, but NanoSteel, a company with its roots in Idaho National Laboratory and its R&D department still in Idaho Falls, announced Feb. 13 it has closed on a new round of equity investment led by GM Ventures.

Proceeds from the investment round will be used for the commercialization of NanoSteel’s advanced high strength steel (AHSS) for automotive applications. The financing includes new investments from Lear Corp., a leading automotive seating systems and electrical systems supplier, and SPDG, the leading car importer in Belgium and owner of Belron, the global leader in vehicle glass repair and replacement.

NanoSteel’s corporate headquarters are in Providence, R.I., but the company spun out of INL in 2002. It was founded by Dan Branagan, an INL researcher who led a team in the mid-1990s in the development of Super Hard Steel. When he left the INL, Branagan, now NanoSteel’s chief technical officer, took processes and patents he developed at the lab and spun them out for licensing to industry. The company’s products are used in oil and gas, mining, power generation, and cement and concrete, and it develops metal powders for 3D printers. He was recognized the 2002 Forbes Special Anniversary Big  Ideas Issue as “one of the important innovators of our time, one of 15 people who will reinvent the future,” and was selected by Massachusetts Institute of Technology as one of the top 100 “brilliant young innovators” in the world whose work will have “a deep impact on how we live, work, and think in the century to come.”

But Branagan said in 2016 that lightweight steel was always his ultimate goal. In 2012, General Motors Ventures LLC bought a stake in the company. "Over the next several years, light-weighting of vehicles will be a major focus area to improve fuel economy," said Jon Lauckner, GM's chief technology officer, vice president of Global R&D and president of GM Ventures. "NanoSteel's nano-structured alloys offer unique material characteristics that are not available today, making them a potential game-changer."

Commercial scale qualification of Advanced High Strength Steel began in North America in 2016. AHSS features a combination of very high strength with the enhanced formability normally found only in low-strength mild steels. The blend of properties provides designers the ability to optimize part geometries resulting in thinner, lighter components.  Additionally, it allows part producers to avoid costly production processes, such as stamping shapes at high temperature (hot stamping), when forming the new designs.

Through the transaction announced Feb. 13, Lear Corp. becomes the first automotive Tier 1 supplier to license NanoSteel’s products. “After initial testing of NanoSteel’s AHSS, we are optimistic about its potential to contribute lighter materials for our vehicle seating structures,” said CEO and President Matthew J. Simoncini, in a press release. “Helping our customers meet their fuel economy targets is a clear priority for Lear, and we are enthusiastic supporters of new lighter-weight solutions that would allow us to use our current manufacturing infrastructure.”

Olivier Périer, CEO of SPDG, called NanoSteel “a compelling opportunity that targets two of our core investment theses, disruptive mobility solutions and environmental sustainability. We believe NanoSteel is positioned for significant growth,” he said.

NanoSteel president and CEO David Paratore said the latest investment brings the company to an inflection point, “where our focus has shifted from technology development to product deployment with our steel partners and automotive customers. Our relationships with Fortune 500-level partners have been a major factor in our accomplishments thus far and will be key to our success moving forward,” he said.

Rexburg chamber names new president

The Rexburg Area Chamber of Commerce has a new president and CEO, Christopher Mann, a longtime Rexburg resident who was been named to replace Ted Austin. Austin, who has served as the chamber’s CEO for the past year, informed the executive board last month of his intention to leave, citing health issues and desire for a reduced work load.

Mann, a Rexburg resident for 35 years, recently retired from
Brigham Young University-Idaho, where he was food services administrator. He has served on the Rexburg City Council for 12 years, and has served on the chamber board and several of its committees. He and his wife, Barbara, have three grown children and three grandchildren, also residing in the Rexburg area.

Austin will provide guidance to Mann during a transition phase and will emcee the chamber’s annual Farmer Merchant Banquet and Fundraising Auction on March 9, as he has done in previous years.