Carnegie Mellon welcomes Costa Samaras as new director of the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation
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Scott Institute launches Grand Challenge Partnership Program
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Scott Institute seed grant helps demystify hydrogen’s damaging effects on metals
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Costa Samaras
Director, Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Valerie Karplus Associate Director, Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation Professor, Engineering and Public Policy
Daniel
Tkacik
Executive Director, Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation
The Scott Institute’s mission, at its core, is to drive positive impact –on the world’s energy systems and the climate. We do this at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by accelerating clean energy research, supporting our cleantech and climate tech entrepreneurs, and by creating spaces for our faculty, staff, and students to gather, exchange ideas, and find new ways of working across disciplines. As you’ll read in our latest IMPACT report, we’ve made exciting progress in all of these areas.
We believe good partnerships are essential to creating impact, and this year we launched and grew our Grand Challenge Partnerships program (p. 10), which pairs Scott Institute researchers with organizations committed to thriving in a net zero future to innovate across a range of grand challenges, from climate resilience and adaptation (p. 11) to electrification of residential heating systems (p. 12-13). We also continued to strengthen our partnerships with organizations leading energy innovation such as the National Energy Technology Laboratory (p. 28) and the Allegheny County Airport Authority (p. 44), and with several global collaborators at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (p. 36).
The Scott Institute’s seed award program continues to be an important accelerator of clean energy research at CMU. This past year we awarded nearly $400K across the university’s four colleges to conduct research on decarbonization, energy equity, and resilience (p. 14). Newly funded work will shed light on how economic policies of past energy transitions could accelerate the current net-zero push (p. 26). Previous seed awardees have advanced the scientific understanding of how hydrogen affects metals in pipelines and storage tanks (p. 30).
This past year we hosted important meetings with academic, government, industry, and non-profit leaders. One was the inaugural Accelerating Green Steel Workshop (p. 25), which brought together companies representing roughly a quarter of global steel production to discuss ways to accelerate the decarbonization of iron and steelmaking in line with climate goals. We also hosted our annual flagship event, CMU Energy Week, which focused on decarbonizing the transportation sector (p. 19). Over 600 registered attendees heard from over 25 speakers from academic, government, industry, and nonprofit backgrounds about the intersection of energy, transportation, and decarbonization.
Finally, our innovators, entrepreneurs, and founders are turning their cutting edge energy research into dynamic companies. We hosted a cleantech startup with deep CMU roots, CorePower Magnetics (p. 38), to learn about its progress in developing advanced magnetic components and electric motor technologies for applications in electric vehicles and data centers. Supporting our founders is one important way the Scott Institute ensures CMU energy innovations realize impact in the world.
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CARNEGIE MELLON WELCOMES COSTA SAMARAS AS NEW DIRECTOR OF THE SCOTT INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY INNOVATION
Samaras has more than two decades of experience working on climate and clean energy, and began his faculty career at CMU in 2014 as an Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Affiliated Faculty in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy.
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SCOTT INSTITUTE LAUNCHES GRAND CHALLENGE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
The Scott Institute for Energy Innovation launched the Grand Challenge Partnership Program to establish a growing family of organizations with an ambitious decarbonization vision and goals for their operations, products, and global markets.
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SCOTT INSTITUTE HOSTS WORKSHOP ON DECARBONIZING IRON AND STEELMAKING
The workshop brought together representatives of over 15 companies with iron and steel production spanning six continents and representing roughly a quarter of global steel production.
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SCOTT INSTITUTE STRENGTHENS
PARTNERSHIP WITH NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORATORY
As the new director of the National Energy Technology Lab (NETL), Marianne Walck’s visit marked the start of a new chapter in what’s been a fruitful, decades-long history between NETL and CMU.
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SCOTT INSTITUTE SEED GRANT HELPS DEMYSTIFY HYDROGEN’S DAMAGING EFFECTS ON METALS
Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi and Ph.D. student Matthew Melfi have initiated large-scale atomistic simulations to understand how H interacts with various defect types in high-strength alloys.
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A HOMEGROWN STARTUP DRIVING NEXT-GEN MAGNETIC TECHNOLOGY
Thanks to patented technology created at Carnegie Mellon and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), the next breakthrough in cleantech could happen in Pittsburgh, courtesy of CorePower Magnetics.
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MAKING PITTSBURGH A GLOBAL LEADER IN GREEN AVIATION
Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis visited Carnegie Mellon to discuss potential collaborations with Scott Institute researchers to help drive her vision, and to deliver the latest installment of the Scott Institute’s Distinguished Lecture Series.
OCTOBER 2023
Scott Institute holds inaugural Workshop on Accelerating Green Steel with companies representing over one-quarter of global steel production.
2023
Executive Director Daniel Tkacik and other Scott Institute affiliates participate in COP28 in Dubai.
2024
Costa Samaras returns from the White House and joins Scott Institute as its new Director. Valerie Karplus assumes the role of Associate Director.
2024
Scott Institute hosts CMU Energy Week 2024, which brought hundreds to CMU to discuss decarbonizing transportation.
2024
Scott Institute awards nearly $400K in seed funding across four colleges at CMU.
SEPTEMBER 2024
NETL Director Marianne Walck visits CMU and the Scott Institute for the first time in her new role.
We address the world’s most important energy-related challenges by enabling collaborative research, strategic partnerships, policy outreach, entrepreneurship, and education. We support transformative work that advances innovation in the energy system and reduces the environmental and social impacts associated with energy production and use. We also catalyze the development of breakthrough technologies that will accelerate the transition to a sustainable, net-zero energy future.
• Electric vehicles and mobility
• Carbon management
• Energy storage
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning
• Energy production
• Emerging energy technologies
• Climate resilience & environmental impacts
• Grid and energy infrastructure
• Grid-interactive, high-performance, & electrified buildings
• Critical minerals & energy security
• Industrial decarbonization & efficiency
• Energy modeling
• Public policy & regulation
• Energy & community involvement
Dr. Costa Samaras returned to Carnegie Mellon University as the Director of the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation. From 2021-2023, Samaras had been on public service leave at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), serving as Principal Assistant Director for Energy and OSTP Chief Advisor for the Clean Energy Transition.
“I am so happy to be back home at CMU to lead the Scott Institute to new heights,” says Samaras, a professor in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “This is an absolutely critical time to accelerate the clean energy transition, and I am eager to help CMU and the Scott Institute play a lead role in creating the net-zero energy systems of the future.”
Samaras has more than two decades of experience working on climate and clean energy, and began his faculty career at CMU in 2014 as an Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Affiliated Faculty in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, and was promoted to Professor while on public service leave in 2022. He is the Founding Director of Carnegie Mellon’s the Power Sector Carbon Index and the Center for Engineering Resilience for Climate Adaptation. He was also previously a Senior Engineer at the RAND Corporation working on energy and climate security, as well as worked as an infrastructure megaprojects engineer in New York City. His research spans energy systems decarbonization, climate resilience, and the energy implications of emerging technologies such as AI and automation.
During his time at the White House OSTP, Samaras worked with the OSTP Director, the Deputy Director for Industrial Innovation, and Senior Leaders throughout the government in coordinating Federal technology policy to meet U.S. climate commitments. Dr. Samaras helped launch an effort to accelerate clean energy innovation to achieve a net-zero emissions economy no later than 2050, as well as President Biden’s Bold Decadal Vision for Fusion Energy. Samaras was part of the White House Delegation at the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference, and contributed to the President’s Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence. In addition, he led the conceptualization of a new forward-looking clean energy transition assessment capability, the White House ARPA-I Summit, the White House response to an Executive Order on the climate and energy implications of digital assets, and the assessment of newly announced clean power investments enabled by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. Samaras holds a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon, a Master’s of Public Policy from New York University, and a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from Bucknell University.
A study by Jeremy Michalek (EPP) and Erica Fuchs (EPP) analyzed how much impact the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is likely to have on incentivizing vehicle electrification and reducing supply chain vulnerabilities.
LITSTER CHOSEN AS SUBAWARDEE WITH $50M OF DOE FUNDING ACROSS FIVE PROJECTS
Shawn Litster (MechE) is a sub-awardee on five projects with a total of $2.5 million going to his lab over the next three years. The DOE announced $750 million in support of 52 projects to bolster the country’s clean hydrogen industry.
HUBS: A STEP TOWARDS A HYDROGEN FUTURE?
Research from associate director Valerie Karplus (EPP) and former director Granger Morgan (EPP) analyzes hydrogen hubs from economic and environmental perspectives. The study emphasizes that while hydrogen has many benefits, it’s not a panacea for a net-zero future.
A study led by Destenie Nock (EPP) examined how energy use behaviors changed throughout the pandemic. The results suggest that lower-income groups, who were already most affected by energy poverty, were dispropor tionately negatively affected by the pandemic.
BLACK CARBON AROUND THE GLOBE AT NEARLY NO COST
Albert Presto (MechE) and his team collect data from glass-fiber filter tapes installed at U.S. embassies around the globe. From the particles collected on these tapes, they can monitor pollutants and advise policymakers about the air quality in the region.
Microwave synthesis produces MXene 25x faster than traditional methods while using 75 percent less energy, according to research from Reeja Jayan (MechE).
A team of researchers including Greg Lowry (CEE) use lessons from nanomedicine and digital twin technologies to address food insecurity and climate change.
According to research from a team including Akshaya Jha (Heinz), high levels of air pollution have led to significant increases in the number of vet visits for both cats and dogs.
SAWYER AWARDED DOE ENERGY FUTURE GRANT
Azadeh Omidfar Sawyer (Architecture) received a $500k Energy Future Grant from the DOE for the Larimer Build 100 project. The project, a collaboration between Allegheny County, CMU, Duquesne Light, and the Larimer Consensus Group, aims to develop a national model to transform disadvantaged communities through clean energy home ownership.
Yuvraj Agarwal (Computer Science) and Zico Kolter (Computer Science) will lead the first CMU project of the NSF’s Expeditions in Computing Program involving five institutions with the aim to develop sensing technologies to better track carbon footprints in computing. The second project, a collaboration between CMU, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania will focus on reducing computing’s greenhouse gas emissions.
CHOSET RECEIVES ARPA-E FUNDING
TANG IDENTIFIES HOW TO SAVE ENERGY AND MAXIMIZE COMFORTABLE TEMPERATURES IN BUILDINGS
A team of researchers led by Pingbo Tang (CEE) published a study that balances energy savings with maximizing comfortable temperatures in a building. The study, published in Building and Environment, advances machine learning strategies for HVAC systems in buildings.
INTERDISCIPLINARY
Howie Choset’s (Robotics) Biorobotics Lab has developed a robot that can enter a pipe and scan it for issues, even repairing the pipes by applying a resin coating. The project is sponsored by the U.S. DOE through its Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). Since natural gas currently fuels over 75 million homes and over five million commercial businesses, having a robot to inspect and repair pipelines can be a game changer.
A CMU team published a study presenting a benchmarking tool that can predict building energy and carbon emissions in cities throughout the U.S. The team included Vivian Loftness (Architecture), Azadeh Omidfar Sawyer (Architecture), and Pingbo Tang (CEE).
In late 2023, the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation launched the Grand Challenge Partnership Program to establish a growing family of Grand Challenge Partners — a select group of organizations with an ambitious decarbonization vision and goals for their operations, products, and global markets. First came the Engineering Resilience for Climate Adaptation Fund, established by alumni Yeming and Aaron Rankin. In 2024, Trane Technologies became the second Grand Challenge Partner and the first private sector company to join the program to support the development of clean, electrified home heating and cooling solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It’s no surprise when successful collaborations drive remarkable outcomes at Carnegie Mellon, but there is something extraordinary about the partnership with two generous alumni working to help their alma mater advance its impact in climate adaptation research.
Yeming and Aaron Rankin have made a generous commitment to establish the Engineering Resilience for Climate Adaptation Fund. The new fund will support initiatives focused on engineering resilience for energy and climate adaptation and the associated Ph.D. student-led projects that will be overseen by faculty in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Scott Institute.
Burcu Akinci, who heads the Civil & Environmental Engineering department, said, “The Rankins’ generous commitment will enable teams of researchers to develop and deploy a suite of novel methods, tools, and analyses needed to improve the resilience of engineering infrastructure designs and communities, and provide critical resources needed to support the establishment of a center of excellence and a well-trusted source in this area.”
Greg Lowry, the Walter J. Blenko, Sr. University Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Director of New Initiatives, aims to grow this formational gift into an externally funded interdisciplinary center on Engineering Resilience for Climate Adaptation.
“We are thrilled to champion Carnegie Mellon’s innovative and interdisciplinary research in the much-needed area of climate resilience and adaptation. As alumni, we know the blend of drive and pragmatism woven into the fabric of Carnegie Mellon’s culture, which leaves no doubt in our minds that this initia-
tive will translate to impactful results,” remarked Yeming Rankin.
Resilience is the key to proactively reduce and withstand the impact of climate change on people, infrastructure, and ecosystems. And CMU researchers are integrating climate change modeling with the development of effective and equitable climate adaptation solutions. The result is a holistic approach within which nature, built environments, and societies are able to thrive.
RESILIENCE IS THE KEY TO PROACTIVELY REDUCE AND WITHSTAND THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON PEOPLE, INFRASTRUCTURE, AND ECOSYSTEMS.
“We are fortunate that the Rankins’ desire to invest in a more climate-secure and sustainable future aligns so well with our strengths in energy and climate change research and its translation to practice,” said Valerie Karplus, a professor in the department of Engineering and Public Policy.
Karplus said she is especially pleased that in recognition of their transformative gift, the Rankins will be inaugural Grand Challenge Partners of the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, where she serves as associate director.
Yeming Rankin earned her B.S. degree in Computer Science at the School of Computer Science in 2005. Aaron Rankin earned his B.S. degree in Information Systems at the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and his M.S. degree in Information Systems Management at the Heinz College in 2004.
Together they invest in climate tech, energy transition, and sustainability through their family office, Rankin Ventures. The foundation arm of Rankin Ventures supports philanthropic causes related to sustainability and health, as well as community and economic development in the Greater Chicago area.
The College of Engineering is pleased to recognize the Rankins as founding members of a center of excellence focused on engineering and resilience for climate adaptation, which will continue to evolve and thrive thanks to their generosity.
In the United States, the burning of fossil fuels for heating, hot water, and cooking in the residential and commercial sectors account for 13 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. As the electricity grid gets cleaner, if natural gas and petroleum heating systems in homes and businesses were replaced with efficient electrical heating and cooling systems, the amount of greenhouse gas emitted from our homes and commercial facilities could drop dramatically.
Global climate innovator Trane Technologies (NYSE: TT) is working to advance clean, electric-powered climate control solutions that dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in homes, buildings, and industry, as part of its ambition to decarbonize the built environment and cold chain for a more sustainable world. The company’s vision strongly aligns with the ambition of Carnegie Mellon’s Scott Institute for Energy Innovation to accelerate decarbonization.
The result: Trane Technologies is the first private sector company to join the Scott Institute’s new and growing family of Grand Challenge Partners – a select group of organizations with an ambitious decarbonization vision and goals for their operations, products, and global markets. The multi-year collaboration will study the maximum penetration
of electrified residential heating and cooling systems that can be expected across the U.S., given existing distribution infrastructure and household electrical capabilities.
“Trane Technologies is at the vanguard in its efforts to transform global business models to advance deep decarbonization,” says Costa Samaras, director of the Scott Institute and a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “We are fortunate to partner with them on this high potential opportunity to decarbonize the residential sector.”
“Accelerating decarbonization and dramatically reducing global greenhouse gas emissions means not only developing leading-edge solutions, but also understanding the impact of those technologies at scale,” said Ken Schoeneck, vice president of Engineering and Technology at Trane Technologies. “We are honored to collaborate with the talented minds at the Carnegie Mellon Scott Institute for Energy Innovation to study the potential for electrified residential heating and cooling in a complex and increasingly electrified world. This important body of work will help us more effectively advance adoption of energy-efficient technology, creating more resilient communities and a more sustainable future for us all.”
Trane Technologies’ collaboration with the Scott Institute is the latest example of how the company is bringing its purpose of “challenging what’s possible for a sustainable world” to life. Through bold, industry-leading action and innovation, Trane Technologies is advancing its 2030 Sustainability Commitments, which include the Gigaton Challenge to reduce customer emissions by a billion metric tons – and its pledge to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The company is first in its industry with near- and long-term emissions reduction targets externally validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).
As we transition to sustainable energy systems, each of the Scott Institute’s Grand Challenges addresses a cross-disciplinary question that must be answered to advance deep decarbonization and resilience of our energy systems, drawing on expertise from science and engineering, infrastructure, policy design, and workforce and community engagement.
“The Grand Challenges represent a growing family of big, system-level questions facing energy systems that must be tackled to achieve our mid-century climate goals,” says Valerie Karplus, associate director of the Scott Institute and professor of Engineering and Public Policy.
Part of the challenge and promise of electrified residential heating is that today, these systems will not completely eliminate greenhouse gas emissions because much of our electricity still comes from fossil fuels. However, as decarbonized sources of electricity become ubiquitous in line with national commitments, electrified residential heating will enable many regions to increasingly tap into electricity sources that emit little to no CO2, such as nuclear or renewable sources like wind, solar, and even geothermal in some places.
“Carnegie Mellon already has a very strong portfolio of energy systems research that spans our campus, from fundamental science to engineering to architecture to sustainable business to public policy,” says Karplus. “We are very fortunate to work with a visionary leader such as Trane Technologies to catalyze new thinking, cutting-edge research, and translation to practice –ultimately resulting in transformative impact.”
Grand Challenge Partnerships are part of the Scott Institute’s strategy to grow research in key areas on some of the most challenging questions facing the net-zero, climate-resilient energy transition.
The Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) advances the development of technologies, systems, and policies that will accelerate the transition to a sustainable, net-zero emissions future. With more than 160 CMU Faculty Affiliates and 15 Energy Fellows, the Scott Institute is driving the future of clean energy and climate tech at CMU. Since the Scott Institute’s founding in 2012, a core initiative has been the Seed Grants for Energy Research program. With this funding, researchers across the university receive important early-stage support for developing cutting-edge energy research.
Now in its twelfth year, Scott Institute Seed Grants have provided over $4.6 million in funding to 82 research teams, which resulted in an additional $26 million in follow-on funding from government and external funding sponsors. Receiving more than $4 in additional research funding from external sources for every $1 invested by the Scott Institute demonstrates the strength of CMU’s faculty and their ideas in energy innovation.
In 2024, there were 35 Scott Institute Seed Grant submissions, requesting nearly $2.2 million in funding. This year’s seven awardees will receive a total of nearly $400,000. Five of these awardees will receive funding to initiate research that tackles issues related to decarbonization, energy equity, and resilience. The final two awardees will receive funding to update and repair essential laboratory equipment to conduct experiments that advance the world’s
understanding of climate change and decarbonization.
This year’s awardees span four colleges at CMU – the Mellon College of Science, the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, the College of Fine Arts, and the College of Engineering.
“Innovation is in Carnegie Mellon’s DNA. We are excited to support these seven awards spanning our whole campus, because all of them show a high potential to grow and lead to substantive impact on clean energy and climate innovation,” said Costa Samaras, Director of the Scott Institute.
Two Scott Institute Grand Challenge Partnerships are contributing a combined $100,000 in funding to this year’s Seed Grants. The first partnership comes from CMU alumni Yeming and Aaron Rankin of Rankin Ventures. The second partnership is with Trane Technologies. The Scott Institute is excited to work with these organizations as we continue to grow our Seed Grant program.
“Grand Challenge partnerships enable the Scott Institute to accelerate innovation and its impact on decarbonization and energy system resilience,” said Valerie Karplus, Associate Director of the Scott Institute. “We are proud to work with these visionary individuals and organizations to help enable the transformative climate change solutions envisioned by this year’s seed awardees.”
Professor of Materials Science and Enginee ring and Director of the EST&P Program
Paul Salvador and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Mohammad Islam were awarded seed funds for their project, “Assessment of MOF-Decorated SWCNT Aerogels as Sorbents for Direct Air Capture via Electrothermal Swing Adsorption.” Com bining Energy Science, Technology & Policy
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Stefanie Sydlik and Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Gerald Wang were awarded seed funds for their project, “Decarbonizing Plastics through the Development of Polymer-Functional-Graphene-Oxide Nanocomposites.” Their research aims to help decarbonize plastics by diverting end of life waste to be used in anti-corrosion coating for energy infrastructure.
and Materials Science and Engineering expertise, this project will involve property characterization, prototype development and an analysis of the aerogels as potential technologies for the direct air capture of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Assistant Professor of Architecture Azadeh Omidfar Sawyer was awarded seed funds for her project, “AI-Driven Building Energy and Carbon Emissions Benchmarking for Decarbonization and Climate Resilience.” This research addresses the need to reduce carbon emissions and energy use in buildings across the country. Sawyer will use artificial intelligence to better model and benchmark building energy consumption to identify ambitious and achievable decarbonization targets.
Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy Edson Severnini and Professor of Economics and Public Policy Karen Clay were awarded seed funds for their project, “Access to Credit and Energy Transitions: Insights from the Shift in Home Heating from Coal to Natural Gas and Electricity.” Severnini and Clay will study the socio-economic, environmental, and technological dimensions of past energy transitions – specifically the transition from coal to natural gas and electricity for home heating – to help inform future policy decisions.
Thomas Lord University Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy Neil Donahue was awarded funding for an upgrade to the FIGAERO Gas and Aerosol Mass Spectrometer Inlet. The upgrade will increase the machine’s ability to detect specific particles at low temperatures in the upper troposphere, which are especially important to understanding climate change because they span vast areas over the oceans and affect how clouds reflect sunlight.
Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering S. Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi was awarded funding to repair a smallscale induction furnace melter. The device will help Taheri-Mousavi with her research studying mechanisms of how hydrogen affects pipelines and other materials, and it can be used more broadly in trials for new materials for decarbonization like aluminum alloys.
Professor of Engineering and Public Policy and Electrical and Computer Engineering and Hamerschlag
University Professor of Engineering and Public Policy and Electrical and Computer Engineering Granger Morgan were awarded seed funds for their project, “Improving Electric-Power Resilience.” Their project will model how planning and operational deci-
sions in the electric power sector can help to mitigate the impact of electric power supply disruptions, such as outages due to severe storms expected to increase in frequency and duration with climate change.
TORRES EARNS NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION CAREER AWARD FOR RESEARCH IN CIRCULAR
Ana Inés Torres (ChemE) was awarded an NSF CAREER grant, a prestigious award for faculty with great potential to be leaders of research and education at their university. The grant will fuel Torres’s work to analyze circular economy networks. Torres hopes to redesign networks through circular economy strategies to reduce waste and pollution and to use fewer resources.
Two alumni, Olivia Dippo (MSE 2015), co-founder of Limelight Steel, and Dylan Lew (MSE 2021), CEO and co-founder of Ecotone Renewables, were announced as the winners of the “Recent Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award” from the College of Engineering.
Faculty affiliate Carlee Joe-Wong (ECE) was awarded the prestigious Early Career Program Award from the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science to support her project on designing algorithms that can schedule and place specific computing workloads in heterogeneous supercomputing clusters.
Carnegie Mellon University recognizes faculty across the university every year for excellence in teaching. This year, Reeja Jayan (MechE) and Gerald Wang (CEE) were both recognized with Teaching Innovation Awards.
KUMAR RECEIVES ROCKSTAR AWARD FROM SIGMOBILE
Swarun Kumar (ECE) was recently awarded the 2024 SIGMOBILE Rockstar Award for his work in designing new techniques to expand the range of low-power networks and to develop technology for wireless energy delivery.
MEDEMA WINS 2024 TEPPER RECENT UNDERGRADUATE ALUMNI AWARD FOR ENERGY CAREER
Todd Medema (TPR ‘14) received the Tepper Recent Undergraduate Alumni Award at the Tepper Alumni Awards Ceremony at Acrisure Stadium. Since gradua ting ten years ago, he has co-authored a best-selling book, co-founded Fabricate.io, and pursued a career in clean energy at Uber, Tesla, and a range of startups. Currently, Todd is a fellow at Climatebase.
JHA WINS 2024 HICKSTINBERGREN AWARD
Energy Fellow Akshaya Jha (Heinz) won the 2024 Hicks-Tinber-gren Award for his co-authored paper about nuclear phase-out in Germany.
CMU Engineers without Borders won TechSpark’s Best Design Award for their design of a biogas digester project for a school in Zimbabwe. The design aims to mitigate the health hazards associated with breathing in harmful air produced from cooking with firewood.
From March 19-21, 2024, The Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation hosted its eighth annual Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Energy Week. The event brought leaders and learners from a variety of academic, industry, government, and nonprofit sectors together for important conversations about the opportunities and obstacles to decarbonizing transportation around the globe.
“We all got here in different ways today. Some of us drove here, some of us used rideshare, some of us took the bus, some of us walked or rode bikes in. Every second of every day, people and freight are moving from one place to another,” said Daniel Tkacik, executive director of the Scott Institute, during his welcoming remarks.
“Our vision for today is to have productive discussions about how we can reimagine the ways in which we are moving people, moving things, and moving equitably in an increasingly decarbonized energy future. Our goal from these discussions is to catalyze new ideas into new collaborations to drive action toward decarbonizing the transportation sector.”
• Over 600 registered attendees from over 120 organizations
• Over 25 speakers from academic, government, industry and nonprofit backgrounds
• 10 sponsors
• 13 investors and 19 startups at the CMU Energy + Cleantech Investor Forum & Startup Pitch Showcase
• Dozens of faculty and students sharing their research in the student poster competition and the research exhibition
CMU Energy Week 2024 began with Energy Career Day. Employers filled Rangos Ballroom to speak with students about careers in the energy industry. The event was followed by a happy hour for students to continue networking with employers.
CMU Energy Week officially kicked off on Wednesday, March 20 with a welcome from Executive Director Daniel Tkacik and a morning keynote from Deputy Director of the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation Rachael Nealer.
“We know that we need a lot of differing solutions to meet this challenge across the transportation sector,” Nealer said during her keynote. “But we also need to serve the needs of the country and ensure that everyone can get where they want to go reliably, safely, and affordably.”
The first panel of the day, “Moving People: Decarbonizing Community Transportation” discussed challenges and opportunities for transporting people in a variety of environments ranging from densely-packed urban spaces to widely-dispersed rural settings. Panelists included Sean Qian (CMU), Lauren Harper (LA Cleantech Incubator), Alan Jenn (UC-Davis), Amy Silbermann (Pittsburgh Regional Transit), and Erin RussellStory (NETL), and the panel was moderated by Karen Lightman (Metro21, CMU).
After Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Duquesne Light Company Brian Guzek gave a few remarks about the company’s commitment to driving decarbonization in the Pittsburgh region, CMU Energy Week took a brief lunch break. As part of this break, student research was highlighted in the Student Energy Research Poster Competition, where 20 students presented their projects to a panel of judges. Taking first place was Matthew Melfi whose poster was titled “Mitigating Hydrogen Embrittlement of Structural Alloys: Tracking H-dynamics on defects.”
The second panel, “Moving Things: Decarbonizing Freight Transportation,” featured Corey Harper (CMU), Craig Philip (Vanderbilt University), Michael Fetsko (Wabtec Corporation), and Carly Dobbins-Bucklad (Ford Motor Company) and was moderated by Chris Hendrickson (Traffic 21, CMU). The panel explored the state of decarbonization in the freight transportation space and potential future developments.
The final panel, “Moving Equitably: Decarbonizing While Ensuring Equity and Access,” investigated how we can move towards decarbonization solutions while prioritizing equitable access to technological and policy advancements. Moderated by Destenie Nock (CMU), the panel featured Kim Lucas (City of Pittsburgh), Chris Sandvig (Mobilify Southwestern PA), Joylette Portlock (Sustainable Pittsburgh), Ngani Ndimbie (PennDOT) and Vincent Valdes (Southwestern PA Commission).
To wrap up the programming, Valerie Karplus, Associate Director of the Scott Institute, moderated a fireside chat with Chelsea Sexton, ATVM Loan Program Officer of the Department of Energy Loan Programs Office. Sexton shared her perspectives on the biggest challenges and opportunities in decarbonizing transportation and how the Loan Programs Office strategizing its investments to
The afternoon concluded with a keynote from Sara Innamorato, County Executive of Allegheny County, in which she detailed her plans for decarbonization in the Pittsburgh region. County Executive Innamorato has been hailed as “the most powerful person in Southwestern Pennsylvania when it comes to public transit.” Following this keynote, Costa Samaras, Director of the Scott Institute, shared insight into what needs to happen with federal climate policy to get the United States to net-zero emissions.
Day 2 of CMU Energy Week wrapped up with an evening reception on campus. At the reception, Ken Schoeneck, VP of Engineering and Technology at Trane Technologies, gave remarks about the company’s climate and sustainability goals, and how its new partnership with the Scott Institute aims to address some of the biggest challenges in energy and sustainability related to heating and cooling the residential sector.
The final day of CMU Energy Week 2024 was all about emerging innovations in the energy space. The day began with a keynote from Christina Chang, Partner at Lowercarbon Capital.
“The real solutions to the carbon nightmare will win because they’re cheaper, better, faster, stronger, simpler, and just plain better than what’s available today,” Chang said during her keynote.
Following the keynote, Reed McManigle, Senior Manager in Business Development & Licensing at the Scott Institute, moderated an investor panel: “The Climate for ClimateTech Investment.” The panel featured Christina Chang, Nii Dodoo-Amoo (Osage University Partners), Batchimeg Ganbaatar (Nomadic Venture Partners), Kyle Teamey (RACM), and Jason Blumberg (Earth Foundry).
Before we took a break for lunch, we heard from Justine Russo, Director of Sustainability and Business Intelligence at PITT OHIO about the company’s climate and sustainability goals.
Nineteen startups from Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania took the main stage after lunch to pitch their energy technology innovations to a panel of investors and a public audience. After the pitches, companies and investors met one-on-one to discuss opportunities. We hosted over 50 one-on-one meetings during the event, with an additional 12 connections to new investors after the event concluded.
While investors and startups were meeting, the inaugural CMU Energy Research Summit began. Between the Power Talks, 10-minute overviews of energy research from the main stage, and the Research Exhibition, a more intimate session to talk to researchers about projects, faculty at CMU shared the breadth of energy innovation taking place on campus.
CMU Energy Week 2024 concluded with a cocktail reception co-hosted by the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business. The reception was a chance for students, faculty, entrepreneurs and anyone interested in the energy space to come together and talk through big ideas explored throughout the week.
We would like to extend a special “thank you” to this year’s sponsors: Trane Technologies, Duquesne Light Company, PITT OHIO, Peoples, Cordia, Safety21, United States Steel, RETI Consortium, Wabtec, and Westinghouse.
The Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation hosted a Research Workshop on Accelerating Green Steel at Carnegie Mellon University, which gathered experts on iron and steelmaking from around the globe on October 3, 2023. The workshop was co-hosted by the Center for Iron and Steelmaking Research (CISR) with support from Schmidt Futures. The workshop brought together representatives of over 15 companies with iron and steel production spanning six continents and representing roughly a quarter of global steel production. Participants discussed insights from research and practice, their organization’s climate targets and actions to implement them, and opportunities to accelerate the development of green steel in line with global climate goals.
CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY | PITTSBURGH, PA TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2023
DR. VALERIE KARPLUS, PROFESSOR, ENGINEERING & PUBLIC POLICY, WORKSHOP CO-CHAIR
DR. CHRIS PISTORIUS, PROFESSOR, MATERIALS SCIENCE & ENGINEERING, WORKSHOP CO-CHAIR
DR. DANIEL TKACIK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WILTON E. SCOTT INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY INNOVATION
To support the goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions in the United States by 2050 — a crucial step toward mitigating the effects of climate change — it is vital to establish clean energy alternatives to power the nation.
However, finding the clean technology that supports a net-zero future is only one part of the decarbonization equation. Another factor is establishing how quickly such technology will pop up in people’s homes — a question that’s best approached holistically, with particular consideration for economic factors.
“New technologies are high in upfront costs,” said Edson Severnini, an associate professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz College. This includes purchasing “greener” home appliances, buying a car that’s less pollutive, or upgrading to an HVAC system that’s more environmentally friendly.
With this in mind, Severnini and Karen Clay, the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Professor of Economics and Public Policy, are investigating the socio-economic, environmental, and technological dimensions of past energy transitions that might shed some light on how policies could accelerate the current net-zero push.Their ongoing project, “Access to Credit and Energy Transitions: Insights from the Shift in Home Heating from Coal to Natural Gas and Electricity,” is supported by a Scott Institute Seed Grant made possible by Trane Technologies, a Grand Challenge Partner.
“If everybody had access to technology, then why bother thinking about policies? Since we don’t see that happening, what are the barriers?” said Severnini.
As one example of an incentive-based policy, individuals can currently claim tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act for purchasing certain electric vehicles. Severnini and Clay are also analyzing the mid-twentieth
“I THINK CREDIT IS REALLY FUNDAMENTAL IF YOU WANT PEOPLE TO MOVE QUICKLY TOWARDS A LOW-CARBON FUTURE.”
Karen Clay, Teresa and H. John Heinz III Professor of Economics and Public Policy
century shift from coal to natural gas and electricity. To paint a picture, the researchers will digitize census data from the 1940s and 1950s that includes information about home heating sources. Data from 1960 forward that has already been digitized will also shape the analysis.
Another key resource is a series of maps from the Home Owners Loan Corporation, a now-defunct federal agency that used its City Survey Program to rate the neighborhoods in more than 200 cities based on lending risks. It’s important to note that “redlining,” a discriminatory 1930s lending practice, could have influenced how neighborhoods were ranked. While housing age and price were supposed to be the attributes that determined credit access, “redlining” denied credit to areas based on neighborhood demographics, often affecting areas with predominantly African American residents.
“Our quasi-experimental analysis must address confounding factors to ensure valid inference, particularly concerning whether the maps merely reflected existing neighborhood differences or caused changes in credit access,” Severnini and Clay said in their project proposal.
They hope observations from previous energy transitions will inform policies that are meant to accelerate the current net-zero push.
“The past is not very encouraging in terms of thinking about what can happen, because I think there has been some adoption by some people who are generally very high-income. But we need everyone to adopt it,” said Clay.
“I think credit is really fundamental if you want people to move quickly towards a low-carbon future.”
On September 25, the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon welcomed Marianne Walck to campus for the latest installment of its Distinguished Lecture Series. As the new director of the National Energy Technology Lab (NETL), Walck’s participation marked the start of a new chapter in what’s been a fruitful, decades-long history between NETL and CMU.
Ed Rubin was among the very first faculty to collaborate with NETL.
“NETL HAS BEEN A WONDERFUL RESEARCH
PARTNER AND FUNDING SUPPORTER CONSISTENTLY THROUGHOUT THE YEARS.”
Grigorios Panagakos, Assistant Research Professor, Chemical Engineering, CMU
“From a long term perspective, working with NETL has been an evolution. The relationship started with a few faculty members with individual projects that were deemed successful and interesting,” said Rubin. Reflecting on the establishment and growth of this partnership, Rubin noted that energy first became a marquee issue in the 1970s against the backdrop of a national oil embargo and the resulting price hikes. National interest turned towards coal production as an alternative, kickstarting a wave of research and development.
One of the pioneering collaborations was a research project led by Rubin in 1983 to develop the Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM) – a unique and powerful computer modeling tool that continues to be used worldwide forty years later to analyze advanced low-carbon options for electric power and related industries, paying particular attention to variables like performance, emissions, costs, and uncertainties.
After establishing strong ties to CMU and other area universities, the NETL Regional University Alliance (RUA) was formalized in 2010 and also counted the University of Pittsburgh and West Virginia University among its partners. The RUA prioritized research in the areas like energy systems dynamics, materials science and engineering, and computational science and engineering.
“We had a five-year period under the RUA where we had an enormous growth in funding and the number of people who were involved in research,” said Rubin.
Andrew Gellman, co-director of the Scott Institute, also served as the RUA’s consortium director.
“Establishing the RUA made a vast difference to the NETL’s publication rate of technical papers. By the program’s last year, we had multiplied up to about 250 papers. There were a lot of good things that happened,” said Gellman.
Among the many achievements supported by the consortium, John Kitchin received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from the National Science Foundation in 2011, regarded as the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government for the field’s emerging professionals. Kitchin, a professor of chemical engineering, was lauded for research that he completed under the RUA, particularly his advances in electrochemical separations for carbon capture and in computational simulation of metal catalyst reactivity.
There’s also a strong pipeline between CMU and NETL, as many alumni have gone on to provide impact at a national level in professional roles. Among many examples, David Morgan, who earned his Ph.D. in engineering and public policy at CMU, has worked at the lab for nearly 15 years as a physical scientist.
Elsewhere, Joe Marriott and Hari Mantripragada, who also earned doctorates in engineering and public policy, now work for KeyLogic Systems — the site-support contractor that assists NETL. Additionally, Grigorios Panagakos was a research engineer at NETL before becoming an assistant research professor of chemical engineering at CMU. His involvement with the lab is ongoing.
“NETL has been a wonderful research partner and funding supporter consistently throughout the years,” said Panagakos.
“NETL’s social and scientific contributions are unique and transformative with direct impact for Pennsylvania and the greater region.”
Walck’s first visit to campus as director highlighted renewed efforts under her leadership to develop agreements with universities and increase student and faculty engagement through research, joint appointments, and internship and fellowship programs.
NETL’s workforce fosters interdisciplinary collaboration, a common trait with CMU. The lab’s roughly 1,900 employees include scientists, engineers, economists, postgraduates, and graduate and undergraduate interns, all of whom make impactful contributions.
“The fun is in making connections among researchers, which makes bigger things happen,” Walck said.
Hydrogen (H) is the smallest atom in the universe, yet it causes billions of dollars of damage to high-strength metallic alloys through a phenomenon called H embrittlement. The embrittlement leads to reduction in ductility, fracture resistance, and thus service life of these alloys. While some aspects of this phenomenon were understood, others remain elusive, such as the formation of localized plasticity bands under crack surfaces. This phenomenon leads to abrupt crack growth and premature failure of structural components and has
become more important as now H even is used as a fuel for many applications like jet engines. The main difficulty in understanding H embrittlement is that even at room temperature, H diffuses rapidly on different microstructural defects and its tracking is considerably challenging in experiments. Using and developing a unique numerical tool, S. Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi’s recent research project simulates H at a large polycrystalline scale with atomistic resolution, shedding light on these elusive parts of the phenomenon.
S. Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, was awarded funding for the project in the 2023 Scott Institute Seed Grants for Energy Innovation cycle. The 2023 Seed Cycle was the Scott Institute’s 11th annual year of this type of funding. Since Seed Grants began in 2013, 82 research teams have split a total of $4.6 million in funding. These initial seed grants have led to over $26 million in follow on funding. For the 2023 cycle, $230,000 was awarded across three faculty projects, including Taheri-Mousavi’s.
On a broader scale, this SEED grant aligns with the global goal set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. “This research is important because the production of metals contributes a significant portion of CO2 emissions, e.g., about 28% of industrial emissions just come from steels and aluminum productions,” said TaheriMousavi. “Even if we optimized everything in the production process, we still wouldn’t be able to hit the 2050 CO2 goal. The only way to achieve this goal is by reducing metal production, and H embrittlement is a hurdle as it is the most critical life limiting factor of high-strength metals.”
With funding from the SEED Grant, TaheriMousavi and Ph.D. student Matthew Melfi have initiated large-scale atomistic simulations to understand how H interacts with various defect types in high-strength alloys. Defects control plasticity in metals and their activities can be altered by the presence of H, thus changing the overall performance of these materials. By comprehending H-defects interactions, the research aims to enable improved metal designs that are more resistant to H embrittlement.
“THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT ASPECTS THAT CAN BE EXPLAINED BY EXPERIMENTS OR SIMULATIONS. BY COLLABORATING AND COMPARING THESE RESULTS, THE WHOLE PHENOMENON CAN BE BETTER UNDERSTOOD.”
Matthew Melfi, CMU Ph.D. student
“Working collaboratively with other researchers is highly important to see the whole picture,” said Melfi. “There are many different aspects that can be explained by experiments or simulations. By collaborating and comparing these results, the whole phenomenon can be better understood.”
Taheri-Mousavi stressed the importance of seeing the whole landscape. “This is a very challenging problem,” said Taheri-Mousavi. “No single element alone can give us all the answers—each one has an impact on the research. By understanding how various defect types contribute differently and in combination, we can form a more complete picture of the problem and develop strategies to mitigate its detrimental effects.”
The research is ongoing, but Taheri-Mousavi and Melfi have already begun sharing some results. At CMU Energy Week 2024, Melfi presented findings during the Student Poster Competition. Melfi’s poster won the first-place prize.
The Scott Institute recently announced the 2024 Seed Grant awardees. Taheri-Mousavi received a grant for equipment repair in this cycle.
Energy Fellow Paulina Jaramillo (EPP), who completed the ELATES at Drexel leadership development program in March 2024, was accepted to the 2024-2025 AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship, where she’ll continue her climate policy work in D.C.
Carnegie Mellon was awarded a $500,000 planning grant from the Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies (ARISE) to analyze the skills of the regional workforce and develop tools to match workers with jobs.
Valerie Karplus and Christophe Combemale (both EPP) are co-principal investigators. This project falls under the umbrella of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), an economic development partnership of the federal government and 13 state governments to support economic growth in Appalachia.
SAMARAS SPEAKS AT CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL
Costa Samaras visited the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in November 2024 to reflect on green industrial policy in the United States and engage on topics questions about emerging energy technologies, next-generation climate solutions, and low-carbon processes.
A new report from RAND published in May 2024 details how the Greater Pittsburgh Region can benefit economically from working towards a more sustainable ecosystem. The founding of the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at CMU is listed as a sustainability milestone in the region. One of the report’s recommendations is to “develop and build support for policies that create appropriate regulatory or market signals at local and regional levels, when possible.”
Ramteen Sioshansi (EPP) has been elected to a two-year term as president-elect of the Energy, Natural Resources, and the Environment (ENRE) section of INFORMS. ENRE “serves as a focal point for networking for researchers and practitioners working on issues in energy, natural resources, and/or the environment.”
Shawn Litster (MechE) is heavily involved in clean hydrogen research. In May 2024, Litster and members of his lab presented their research at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Program Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting, the 245th meeting of the Electrochemical Society (ECS), and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Energy Innovation Summit. The latter conference is attended by academic leadership, students, investors, and policymakers.
The Open Energy Outlook (OEO), a key initiative of the Scott Institute led by Paulina Jaramillo, has announced Plug Power Inc. as its founding corporate partner. The partnership will enable the OEO to continue working on Temoa, an energy optimization model that was applied in 2023 to evaluate
KARPLUS SHARES INSIGHT INTO CUTTING GREENHOUSE GASES WITHOUT CUTTING JOBS
Valerie Karplus wrote a commentary in Nature Sustainability about how to consider jobs and employment as we move to implement policies that promote reductions in carbon emissions. “Industrial firms will need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions dramatically for the world to reach its climate change mitigation goals. Now, analysis shows that the economic and employment impacts of these reductions can vary widely, depending on which firms are targeted,” says Karplus.
Now in its 14th year, SUCCEED — Summer Center for Climate, Energy, and Environmental Decision Making — continues to engage students by complementing what they learn in high school about energy and the environment. Over two days in August, students toured campus research facilities and met current CMU Ph.D. students to learn more about environmental research. A similar two-day workshop for teachers included presentations from faculty who study different components of climate change, including industrial decarbonization, how climate change impacts water resources, and the understanding and skepticism of climate change.
In July 2024, Valerie Karplus was among the faculty members who led a Summer Academy for Math and Science (SAMS) masterclass titled, “Global Climate and Local Environmental Impacts of Iron and Steelmaking Technology.” SAMS is a precollege program that for over twenty years has invited students to participate in a rigorous program via traditional classroom instruction, hands-on instruction, and engagement with world-renowned faculty and staff mentors. The SAMS Program was funded by the “Industrial Decarbonization, Analysis, Benchmarking, and Action Partnership”, supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
MBA student Serena Doa blogged about her summer internship at Living Carbon, whose mission is to responsibly rebalance the planet’s carbon cycle using the power of plants. She worked under the Chief Staff and focused on strategy, innovation, and scientific communications. She shadowed the science team to understand how to develop and grow a photosynthesis-enhanced poplar tree.
2 Engineering and Public Policy graduate students, Jon Gordon, Jaih Hunter-Hill, Anna Cobb, and Xiaohan Wu, and CMU Design student Dorthy Li, won Best Presentation on behalf of the NASA’s Gateways to Blue Skies: Clean Aviation Energy Competition. Their presentation was on “The Role of Hydrogen in Aviation Decarbonization.”
CMU students represented a team leading the charge on tackling climate change by designing high-performance, zero energy buildings as part of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® 2024 Design Challenge. The Design Challenge encourages collegiate student teams to create highly
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efficient, low-carbon building designs that address issues related to climate resilience, embodied carbon, existing building retrofits, community impact, and more. Teams presented their zero energy building designs at a virtual semifinal event in February 2024.
Power outages during CMU-Africa student Marshal Ruzvidzo’s childhood inspire him to pursue power system solutions. “I always wondered, ‘Why don’t we have enough electricity when we are paying so much for it?’” he says. Wanting to answer this question, he became passionate about electrical engineering and power systems.
Victor Soria, a Chemical Engineering master’s student, is from Spain and is studying at CMU on a Fulbright grant. Interested in both engineering and policy, he aims to create sustainable aviation fuels by converting methanol and green hydrogen by-products.
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Electrical and Computer Engineering Ph.D. student Jaylen Wang led a team of researchers on a project that would enable cloud servers to reduce its carbon emissions while maintaining its performance goals. The team utilized GreenSKUs, carbon-efficient server designs that minimize a cloud’s overall emissions.
“I want to solve real-world problems, not just study them,” says Ph.D. student
Hannah Morin. Working with Former Director Jay Whitacre and Faculty Affiliate Jeremy Michalek, Morin studies lithium ion battery degradation, particularly in regard to fast charging electric vehicles.
SEED Leader for Green Practices at CMU, Jessica Wu, attended the Climate Reality Project’s Climate Reality Leadership Corps Training after learning of the opportunity through the Scott Institute. “I got to hear from so many different voices on different topics, tackling what issue is most important to them. The most insightful session was on false technical solutions to climate and
energy and how the benefits are usually directed away from the communities most impacted. As a mechanical engineering major, this prompted me to think more deeply about the greater effect and focus of my work.”
Katie Hart, who graduated with majors in Civil & Environmental Engineering and Engineering & Public Policy, earned a Fulbright scholarship to receive a master’s degree in Amberg, Germany. Hart is interested in clean energy and Germany’s energy policies.
Matt Melfi (pictured) was the first place winner of the CMU Energy Week Student Poster Competition. Eighteen posters featuring student research were featured in the competition and $2750 in prizes were awarded.
The 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Conference of the Parties (COP), was held from November 30 to December 12, 2023 at Expo City, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The conference brings together political leaders and experts to discuss policies that can help the world adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. A major takeaway of this year’s conference was the agreement that all nations should transition away from fossil fuels as quickly and equitably as possible.
Carnegie Mellon University had great representation at COP28.
Paulina Jaramillo, Arthur Hamerschlag Career Development Professor of Engineering and Public Policy and Scott Institute Faculty Fellow, participated in a panel discussion in the Higher Education Pavillion titled “Revisiting SDG7: Challenges and Opportunities.” Jaramillo’s main message was that sustainable development goal 7 is ambitious, but it is not ambitious enough for it to help our climate situation.
Scott Institute Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Engineering & Public Policy Destenie Nock spoke on a panel about energy efficiency as a climate unifier at the America Is All In Action Center. The panel, co-hosted by the Business Council on Sustainable Energy, discussed how advancing energy efficiency can reduce emissions, help low income communities to save money, and support job growth.
David Rounce, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, served as an expert on mountain glaciers. Different predictions for global temperature scenarios translate to different outcomes for glacial melt. Rounce contributed to conversations by estimating how glaciers could contribute to sea-level rise, impact water resources, and change the lives of communities across the globe. In addition to giving a talk at the event, Rounce was able to have direct conversations with multiple political and climate leaders.
Scott Institute Executive Director Daniel Tkacik moderated a panel regarding what academic energy institutes should do differently to adapt to a global energy transition with a very tight timeline.
Jake Loosararian, Co-Founder and CEO of Gecko Robotics, a startup from CMU, spoke at COP28 about using software innovations to support a just energy transition. His panel was titled “Promoting the Use of Trading Systems to Scale Up Breakthrough Trade Technologies and Support a Just Transition.”
Thanks to patented technology created at Carnegie Mellon and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), the next breakthrough in cleantech could happen in Pittsburgh, courtesy of CorePower Magnetics. The startup is driving the development of next-gen magnetic components and electric motor technologies that can help EVs go farther, charge faster, and reduce energy needs for growing sectors like data centers.
In 2021, an intellectual property agreement was signed between all three entities. Sam Kernion, a materials science and engineering Ph.D. alumnus, was named company CEO. It
was a fitting choice since Kernion was one of the creators of the strain annealing technology that laid the foundation for CorePower’s mission to support electric vehicles (EVs) and the power grid.
“Working at a startup is a very refreshing process — you’re surrounded by people who are at the company because they feel passionate about its mission and they’re excited about what it can mean for the region,” said CEO Kernion.
Though Kernion worked in industry for several years immediately following graduate school, his entrepreneurial roots began in Mike
McHenry’s nanocrystalline alloys research group at CMU. During his studies, Kernion met Paul Ohodnicki, a recent CMU graduate from McHenry’s group who was now collaborating with CMU while working at NETL. Ohodnicki is CorePower’s co-founder and chief technology officer. Before his retirement, McHenry was also a company co-founder alongside Leah Ohodnicki and Kevin Byerly
Kernion describes developing the initial strain annealing technology as putting a novel metal tape into a furnace and pulling on it with a specific amount of force, which at first was accomplished with a simple pulley and weights. The combination of the material chemistry and process changed how the crystalline grains grew and the way the material magnetized, which made it better at filtering out unwanted electrical signals when incorporated into an inductor. From that point, Ohodnicki and Byerly figured out how to take it from the lab bench to a viable manufacturing process while at NETL and in collaboration with McHenry at CMU.
During a visit to CMU’s Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, one of the guiding questions that Kernion posed to a group of entrepreneurial-minded students was: “A company needs to provide value — what problem are you solving?”
The answer wasn’t immediately clear when Kernion completed graduate school in 2012. Kernion and Ohodnicki knew the strain annealing technology had produced promising results, but its applications largely didn’t exist yet. By the time the technology was patented in 2019, EVs and their charging needs formed a bigger part of the decarbonization conversation. The timing was right for CorePower to officially launch the following year.
“By 2019, Paul recognized there was value in the patent because EV charging and renewables were at a point where there was a stronger commercial need for the products,” said Kernion.
“THE GREATEST BREAKTHROUGHS HAPPEN AT THE INTERSECTION OF WHAT YOU KNOW AND WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS.”
Sam Kernion, CEO CorePower Magnetics
This plays into one of the other principles that Kernion emphasized: “The greatest breakthroughs happen at the intersection of what you know and what the world needs.”
To grow its capabilities, CorePower is currently raising Series A funding — the first round of external financing for startups after seed funding. The company has already received considerable support from the Department of Energy (DOE), including $20 million to develop a manufacturing facility in Pittsburgh for magnetic components and advanced metals that are currently produced by foreign supply chains. Another $1 million from the DOE is earmarked for rare earth-free electric motor development — rare earth elements are mostly sourced from China. Both DOE projects serve the goal of increasing domestic manufacturing of transformers, inductors, and electric motors.
CorePower Magnetics was one of the companies who participated in the Startup Pitch Showcase at the Scott Institute’s Energy Week 2024. Kernion noted that spinning a startup out of an academic setting has been a difference maker in how the company has expanded its network.
“I think a unique aspect about startups in general is that you think you’re going to be isolated, but there’s a tremendous network — and CMU has been a tremendous partner for us,” Kernion said during his visit to campus.
CMU CLEANTECH STARTUPS SHINE IN R&D 100
CMU startups Sensible Photonics and CorePower Magnetics have been awarded the prestigious 2024 R&D 100 Award. Sensible Photonics was recognized for its innovative Ultrasonic Photonics technology, and CorePower Magnetics was recognized for its innovative work on the Nanocrystalline Axial Flux Electric Motor, a breakthrough in electric motor technology.
NOCK AND LUCIA FEATURED IN PITTSBURGH STARTUPS TO WATCH IN 2024
Destenie Nock (EPP), founder of Peoples Energy Analytics, and Faculty Affiliate Brandon Lucia (ECE), who launched Efficient Computer Corp., were featured in Pittsburgh Business Times as two of the 10 Pittsburgh startups to watch in 2024.
PEARL STREET TECHNOLOGIES: STARTUP OF THE YEAR
Pearl Street Technologies, a company co-founded by Larry Pileggi (ECE), was named Startup of the Year by Mercom Capital Group, a global clean energy research and communications firm. Among roughly 50 applicants, Pearl Street stood out for its use of software automation to promote interconnection across the power grid.
COREPOWER MAGNETICS AWARDED DOE FUNDS FOR RARE EARTH-FREE ELECTRIC MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
CMU cleantech startup CorePower Magnetics has secured nearly $1M in funding from the Department of Energy (DOE) to spearhead the development of next-generation, rare earth-free electric motors.
CMU ARCHITECTURE ALUM WINS DOE RECYCLING PRIZE
Startup Doors Unhinged, co-founded by CMU Architecture alumnus Andrew Ellsworth, won $50k from the Department of Energy Re-X Recycling Prize. Doors Unhinged reuses doors from renovations as a material for new doors.
PEOPLES ENERGY ANALYTICS WINS $500K
CMU startup Peoples Energy Analytics, led by Destenie Nock (EPP), was awarded $500K by the Richard King Mellon Foundation’s Social-Impact Pitch Competition. The company identifies at-risk energy customers and helps connect them with assistance programs before they default on their bills.
POWER 3D WINS $75K IN DOE FUNDING
CMU spin out Power 3D was awarded $75,000 and is improving on their novel method of creating energy dense batteries using 3D printed electrodes. Such electrodes can build next generation wearable electronics that can last longer and charge faster than the products available today. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced awards for eight new designs for microbatteries, through phase 1 of the Microbattery Design Prize.
CONSERVATION LABS RAISES A $7.5M SERIES A FUNDING ROUND
Mark Kovscek, a CMU alumnus, founded Conservation Labs to improve sustainable water use. In February 2024 they announced that they raised $7.5 million in Series A funding. Now, they are using their Artificial Intelligence technology to reduce water waste and save energy in the built environment.
SEALION ENERGY WINS UP TO $1.6M IN ARPA-E FUNDING
SeaLion Energy, a battery engineering company that spun out of Energy Fellow Reeja Jayan’s (MechE) lab, received an up to $1.6 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to extend EV battery life and facilitate repair and reuse to reduce waste.
CMU ALUMNA’S STARTUP RECEIVES FUNDING FROM DOE TO DECARBONIZE IRON AND STEEL PRODUCTION
CMU alumna Olivia Dippo’s startup, Limelight Steel, is one of 13 projects earning funding as the U.S. Department of Energy announced $28 million in funding to decarbonize domestic iron and steel production. Limelight Steel’s estimated reductions in energy consumption are 46 percent for steelmaking and emissions should be reduced by 81 percent.
Costa Samaras spoke to Scientific American about the importance of maintaining the resilience of the power grid during dangerous heat waves.
Valerie Karplus spoke with The Hill about the growing demand for electricity and how that is bringing nuclear energy back into the energy scene.
Kate Whitefoot explained that using miles per gallon is not a good metric for fuel efficiency in an article in Vox.
Paulina Jaramillo was interviewed by PublicSource about whether or not the United States should be working to export natural gas.
Jeremy Michalek spoke to The Atlantic about the value of using adapters for nonTesla EVs to charge at Tesla stations.
Mario Bergés spoke to The Wall Street Journal about the potential benefits of battery-operated home appliances.
“WE DON’T SET HEALTH TARGETS ON WHAT’S REALISTIC OR WHAT’S POSSIBLE. WE SAY, ‘THIS IS WHAT’S GOOD FOR YOU. THIS IS HOW YOU’RE GOING TO NOT GET SICK.’”
Nick Muller was quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the economic advantages of the new EPA air quality rule for Allegheny County.
Granger Morgan discussed vulnerabilities to the power grid with USA Today.
Reeja Jayan spoke with MSN about solid-state battery technology and its important role in EV uptake in the coming years.
Christine Mondor discussed solar panels and net metering with U.S. News and World Report
Ramteen Sioshansi spoke to Scripps News about how people are becoming more and more dependent on electricity for everyday life.
Rachel Kurchin spoke to CNET about choosing which residential solar inverter makes sense for your home.
Chris Pistorius spoke with Canary Media about a new method of preparing iron using electricity rather than with fossil fuels.
Albert Presto discussed the extra exposure to air pollution that communities of color often experience with The Guardian.
“The aviation industry has set a big goal to decarbonize by 2050,” Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority (ACAA), said at a Scott Institute Distinguished Lecture. “That work starts here in Pittsburgh.”
Since becoming CEO of the ACAA in 2015, Cassotis has driven Pittsburgh International Airport’s transformation from former connecting hub to current center of research and development for greener aviation worldwide. Cassotis visited Carnegie Mellon to discuss potential collaborations with Scott Institute researchers to help drive her vision, and to deliver another installment of the Scott Institute’s Distinguished Lecture Series, providing key examples of how the airport is leveraging its 8,800 acres of land to meet global aviation challenges.
“THE AVIATION INDUSTRY HAS SET A BIG GOAL TO DECARBONIZE BY 2050. THAT WORK STARTS HERE IN PITTSBURGH.”
Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority
“Carnegie Mellon and the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation make great partners because they offer world-class research expertise that can change a global industry, while remaining invested in the creation of more efficient resources that benefit the Pittsburgh region,” said Cassotis.
The biggest project underway is the construction of a new airport terminal. The facility is expected to open in 2025 and will meet standards for LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Another innovation is the airport’s microgrid, launched in 2021, which generates all the power the airport needs, making the airport more resilient to electricity grid outages and clearing a path to integrate more onsite renewable energy.
One of Cassotis’ main priorities is for the Pittsburgh airport to eventually create sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at the airport to serve the needs of airlines coming in and out of Pittsburgh as well as the needs of airports regionally, nationally, and internationally.
“Do you know how sustainable aviation fuel gets to the US today? The sugar cane from Brazil is barged to Singapore. In Singapore,
they create the sustainable aviation fuel and then barge it to the US. So that’s what we’re disrupting,” said Cassotis.
Before the lecture, Cassotis met privately with Scott Institute leadership and several faculty members to discuss potential collaborations on both of these efforts.
“The Pittsburgh International Airport is leading energy innovation here in Pittsburgh that will influence an industry whose emissions have been called hard to abate, and we’re seeing Christina and her leadership team redefine what it means to be a sustainable airport in the 21st century,” said Costa Samaras, director of the Scott Institute.
In his opening remarks, Raj Rajkumar, director of the Metro21: Smart Cities Institute, said that CMU views the campus, the city of Pittsburgh, and Allegheny County as a living laboratory for addressing practical needs such as safe mobility, smart infrastructure, and net zero energy.
Many of the collaborations between CMU and ACAA are facilitated through Metro21, which owns a portfolio of over 60 projects. One example was a mobile application developed by Traffic21 researchers that makes long term parking more efficient by guiding passengers to the empty spots closest to their terminal entryways.
“I think in many ways an airport is like a city. Many of the issues it deals with, like transportation, parking, and wayfinding — are things that city communities are figuring out, too,” said Karen Lightman, Metro21’s executive director. “It’s almost like a testbed for the real world, and yet it is the real world.”
Lightman looks forward to pursuing more collaborative research projects.
“This partnership is a fantastic opportunity for students to get an understanding of how systems work, including those who study outside of engineering in areas like architecture, design, computer science, and policy,” she said.
Costa Samaras
Director, Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, Trustee
Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering and Public Policy (Courtesy), Heinz (Courtesy)
Valerie Karplus
Associate Director Professor, Engineering and Public Policy, Heinz (Courtesy)
Andrew Gellman Co-Director
Lord Professor of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry (Courtesy), Materials Science and Engineering (Courtesy)
Daniel Tkacik
Executive Director (Engineering 2012)
Reed McManigle
Senior Manager, Business Development and Licensing
Mentor-in-Residence, CMU’s Center for Technology Transfer and Enterprise Creation
Virginia Delaney
Senior Administrative Coordinator
Eliza McCarthy
Project Coordinator
Jackie Kulfan Director of Research Partnerships – Energy
Katelyn Haas-Conrad Assistant Director for Partnerships Giordana Verrengia Communications Manager
Kristen Whitlinger
Digital Communications Manager Teddy Mermigas Events Manager
Zach Hunley
Project Coordinator, Scott Institute and EPP
A special thanks to our interns Cody Januszko, Anthony Wallace, and Juliann Mathis.
Aristides S. Candris
(Ret.), President and CEO, Westinghouse Electric Co. Trustee, Carnegie Mellon University (Engineering 1974, 1978)
Jared L. Cohon
President Emeritus and University Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University Director Emeritus, Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation
Joseph “Joe” S. Hezir
Principal, Energy Futures Initiative (Engineering 1972, Heinz 1974)
Michael W. Howard
President and Chief Executive Officer, Electric Power Research Institute
Kathryn Jackson
Director, Energy & Technology Consulting, KeySource, Inc. (Engineering 1990)
Raymond J. Lane
Managing Partner, GreatPoint Ventures Partner Emeritus, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Trustee, Carnegie Mellon University
Kathleen A. McGinty
Vice President, Global Government Relations, Johnson Controls
J. Michael McQuade Board of Advisors Member Emeritus Vice President for Research, Carnegie Mellon University (Mellon College of Science 1977, 1978, 1983)
Oliver Morton Briefings Editor, The Economist
David L. Porges (Ret.), Chief Executive Officer, EQT Corporation Trustee, Carnegie Mellon University
Sherman A. Scott
President, Delmar Systems, Inc. (Engineering 1966)
Daniel S. Swanson
Software Systems Engineer, Lockheed Martin Corporation (Engineering 1985)
Susan Tierney Managing Principal, Analysis Group
Carol A. Williams (Ret.), Executive Vice President, Dow Chemical Company Trustee, Carnegie Mellon University (Engineering 1980)
Thank you to our generous supporters.
2023-2024 SCOTT INSTITUTE SUPPORTERS AND SPONSORS
Aaron and Yeming Rankin
Advanced Research Projects Agency- Energy (ARPA-E)
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
U.S. Department of Energy
American Made Challenges
U.S. Department of Energy
EnergyTech University Prize
United States Steel Corporation
PITT OHIO
Peoples Natural Gas
Duquesne Light Co.
Trane Technologies
Cordia Energy
West Virginia University Research Corporation
Wabtec Corporation
Westinghouse Electric Company
Sherman and Joyce Bowie Scott
The legacy of Wilton E. Scott, oil and gas geologist and energy industry leader, lives on through the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation. His son Sherman (Engineering 1966) and wife Joyce Bowie Scott (Fine Arts 1965) — pictured at left — established the Institute in 2012, providing support along with the Richard King Mellon Foundation to house it in the Sherman and Joyce Bowie Scott Hall.
WILTON E. SCOTT INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY INNOVATION
5000 FORBES AVENUE
5127 SCOTT HALL
PITTSBURGH, PA 15213 USA
T: 412-268-7434
E: scottinstitute@andrew.cmu.cdu
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CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY’S SCOTT INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY INNOVATION
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