The Connecticut Center for Applied Separations Technologies (CCAST), formerly known as the Fraunhofer USA Center for Energy Innovation (Fh USA CEI), has been in operation at the University of Connecticut since 2013. In mid-2017, Dr Jeffrey McCutcheon, a professor in the Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Department, was appointed the Executive Director of the Center. The Center then became focused on applied R&D for separations technologies, technology validation and project acquisition.

Since then, the Center has grown in terms of dedicated staffing, reputation as well as projects, both federal and industrial. The Center has been extremely active in attending conferences and hosting separation events for emerging technologies and the end users, via roundtable sessions and dedicated workshops.

As result of a reorganization effort within Fraunhofer USA, the Center was renamed as the Connecticut Center for Applied Separations Technologies (CCAST) in June 2020 and is now part of the University of Connecticut. The Center’s mission, staff, laboratories, equipment, on-going projects,  and work we do remains the same.