Congratulations to PhD student Teodor Vernica, who won a Best Paper Award for his research into helping manufacturers to identify sources of their environmental impacts, and to do something about them.

Teodor won the award for his publication 'LCAD: A Framework for Coupling Computer-Aided Design and Life Cycle Analysis Visualizations'. The research was carried out by the research group, Lifecycle Design and Manufacturing, at Aarhus University's Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering in close collaboration with the Advanced Manufacturing Engineering research and development group at Grundfos. The research is partially funded by Grundfos.

The publication describes an overall method for integrating sustainability perspectives in data form into manufacturing design through a collaborative framework for sustainability experts and design engineers.

"It’s at this stage that the manufacturing industry makes decisions on things like materials and manufacturing processes, which is why incorporating sustainability considerations at this point can have a major effect on the overall environmental footprint of the product. I hope our work can help promote this development," says Teodor Vernica.

He continues:

"I’m very grateful for this award. It’s an acknowledgment of our work and its potential to change the way products are designed. And it also encourages me to continue with my research. This publication is the first output of my research during my PhD project, and I look forward to contributing more in the future. I think it's important to reduce the environmental footprint of manufacturing all over the world."

Teodor Vernica won the award at the Design for Manufacturing and Life Cycle conference, which is part of the international American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) IDETC/CIE 2023 conference that took place in August. In addition to the conference's Best Paper Award, Teodor also took second place at the special session of the Design Tool and Commercialization Showcase.

Teodor earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science at the University of Bucharest. He then decided to take his master’s degree in the same field at Aarhus University. From 2019-2021, he worked as a research associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Maryland, USA, after which he returned to Aarhus University for his PhD.

"Denmark is the place to be if you want to research and develop sustainability perspectives, for example within manufacturing. Major research breakthroughs are taking place here. There’s not only support from the academic world, but also from the business community, and that motivates me; that feeling that I can actually contribute to the green development of industry,” he says.

At Aarhus University, Teodor Vernica is part of the Lifecycle Design and Manufacturing research group. The group is led by Associate Professor Devarajan Ramanujan. Teodor Vernica was first author of the paper that won the award. The co-authors of the paper are: Ph.D. Student Gaurav Aher and Associate Professor Devarajan Ramanujan and Chief Specialist at Materials & Process at Grundfos Badrinath Veluri.

Contact

Ph.D. Student Teodor Vernica
Aarhus University, Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering
Mail: teodor.vernica@mpe.au.dk

Associate Professor Devarajan Ramanujan
Aarhus University, Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering
Mail: devr@mpe.au.dk
Tel. +4593508848