Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment 2021/2022 Annual Report

Claire Gmachl

Interim Director

Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering, Head of Whitman College

Since August 2021, I have been privileged to lead the Andlinger Center as interim director. This has been a year of unprecedented disasters: record heat waves, wildfires, extreme drought, and historic floods that punctuate the massive changes in earth’s climate caused by increased atmospheric greenhouse gases.

On top of this is a persistent energy crisis in Europe, the war in Ukraine, and supply chain issues reverberating from the COVID-19 pandemic. We are an institution pledged to solving some of the world’s most pressing—and often intertwined—energy and environmental problems, and the stakes have never been higher. Three areas of work put the Andlinger Center in a special position to offer solutions.

First, our researchers are tackling fundamental questions to improve humanity’s relationship with the environment. The faculty find synergies, with each other and with external partners, identifying solutions to aid in the global energy transition. Befitting the multidimensional nature of these questions, their research spans all scales, from the microbial realm, where José Avalos designs sustainable approaches to biofuels and chemicals, to energy systems, where Jesse Jenkins models technological pathways towards emissions goals, to the societal level, where Elke Weber identifies policy directions to address climate change. As we build on our strengths, we have also grown our cross-disciplinary impact with the addition to our faculty of Kelsey Hatzell, an expert in energy storage materials. And our research funding programs continue to support innovative collaboration through co-mentored distinguished postdoctoral fellows, and grants to inter-disciplinary research teams exploring new materials for energy storage, carbon capture, and sustainable electronics.

This past year saw exceptional growth in external partners, connecting our students and researchers to real-world problems they

are hungry to solve. Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership (E-ffiliates) has been growing steadily and strategically. We targeted key areas that diversify E-ffiliates, strengthen our collaborative research, and ensure our perspective and knowledge base is robust. We deliberately expanded membership from the financial sector, and we increased opportunities for cooperation between members, academics, and other stakeholders in addressing global energy challenges. This strong engagement of practitioners is invaluable; it underscores the vibrancy of the Center and the relevance of its work.

Since its inception, the Center has built a powerful network of educational and career development paths focused on energy and environment. With increasing interest, undergraduate students are enrolling in certificates programs and participating in weeks-long summer internships. Working alongside graduate student and postdocs, they are also showcasing their award-winning research at conferences, then transitioning to top companies and institutions after graduation, like Sydney Hughes, recipient of our Senior Thesis Prize, now a Princeton Sachs Global Fellow at the Technical University of Munich.

The Andlinger Center is playing a pivotal role, on campus and globally, in finding solutions to society’s most complicated problems. I am proud of our staff and faculty for their creativity, resilience, and determination, which has us poised for even greater future impact.

mission + goals research areas

+ accelerate innovation through funding, infrastructure, and intellectual discourse

+ foster a vibrant and interdisciplinary community

+ partner with industry, not-for-profit, government, and peer institutions

+ train the next generation of leaders

+ be the leading center for information and guidance

Photo: Princeton University, Office of Communications, (Photo by S. Bola Okoya, Primo Supremo Photography (2018))

built environment, transportation, and infrastructure

Smart infrastructure, resilient cities, building efficiency systems and retrofits involving faculty from the School of Architecture; microgrids and networks, green cements, cleaner burning combustion engines, electric vehicles, and water desalination technologies

electricity production, transmission, and storage

Emerging technologies to harvest wind and solar power, nuclear fusion, power electronics and superconducting materials that enable more power transmission, grid-scale electricity storage, and modeling of power grids with high renewables penetration

our mission is to develop solutions for our energy and environmental future

six interacting research areas form the heart of the center’s focus.

fuels and chemicals

Advanced fuels and chemicals from engineered microorganisms and artificial photosynthesis, development of catalysts with abundant elements, and technoeconomic and lifecycle assessments of advanced biofuel production systems

environmental sensing and remediation

Sensors to detect emissions of carbon and nitrogen cycle gases to the atmosphere from the energy, water and food sectors; carbon capture and storage; and wastewater treatment and soil remediation technologies using nanoparticles and microorganisms

decision and behavioral science, policy, and economics

In partnership with faculty and researchers at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, individual and collective decision-making and economic analysis related to energy and environmental policy

environmental and climate science

In partnership with faculty and researchers at the High Meadows Environmental Institute, environmental monitoring and modeling of Arctic sea ice, carbon dioxide absorption by oceans, extreme weather, and coastal impacts

2021

July August September October November December

Anu Ramaswami leads a study that examines energy use in urban areas and offers a roadmap for cities to create equitable solutions.

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Claire Gmachl becomes interim center director after Lynn Loo steps down to join the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation in Singapore as its first chief executive officer.

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Holly Caggiano and Fernando Temprano-Coleto join as Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellows to work on the social barriers to deploying clean energy projects and novel remediation techniques for tiny microplastics, respectively.

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The Andlinger Center awards Christos Maravelias the Grant for Innovative Research in Energy and the Environment to develop new energy system models.

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The Andlinger Center holds the 2021 Annual Meeting focusing on corporations in the race to net-zero emissions with keynote speaker Thomas Thune Andersen of Ørsted.

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Princeton University releases the final report of its Net-Zero America study and a digital tool that gives state-level policymakers access to the data to inform local decisions.

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Google discusses the impacts of 24/7 carbon-free electricity procurement, the topic of a report published by the ZERO lab led by Jesse Jenkins  

José Avalos, Minjie Chen, and Kelsey Hatzell discuss net-zero carbon emissions in the transportation sector, during the 2021 Princeton Engage conference.

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The Water Research Foundation awards Z. Jason Ren the 2021 Paul L. Busch Award for his major contributions in the water quality industry.

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The Andlinger Center welcomes NV5, an infrastructure engineering firm, and ClearPath, a nonprofit advancing clean energy innovation, to Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership (E-ffiliates).

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2022

January February March April May June July

Emily Carter, the former dean of engineering and the inaugural director of the Andlinger Center, returns to the Princeton University faculty and takes science advisor role at PPPL.

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Energy conglomerate, GE, and GAF, the largest roofing and waterproofing manufacturer in North America, join E-ffiliates

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Princeton University names Claire Wayner, sustainable energy certificate student, co-winner of the 2022 Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, the highest general distinction conferred on an undergraduate.

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Deloitte, the largest professional services organization in the world, joins E-ffiliates.

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E-ffiliates welcomes Google, Siam Cement GroupChemicals, the chemicals business of an integrated petrochemical company in Thailand, and Orion Industrial Innovation, an industrial transformation firm.

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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine appoints Emily Carter to chair a study on how to turn carbon from a pollutant into a useful commercial product.

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Z. Jason Ren and Harry Warren lead a hydrogen workshop, Opportunities in Hydrogen RDD&D, bringing together academics, government, and industry to explore collaborative research interests.

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ECP, a leading investor across energy transition, electrification, and decarbonization, joins E-ffiliates.

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Program for Sustainable Energy undergrad, Sydney Hughes, receives Senior Thesis Prize for her research relating to carbon capture.

  Emily Carter engages alumni during Princeton Reunions with her talk, “Transforming Carbon Dioxide for a Sustainable Future.”

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The ninth annual E-ffiliates Retreat, hosted by the Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership, focuses on how the science of decision-making could be harnessed to accelerate corporate action.

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2022-2023 Maeder

Graduate Fellows named: Shannon Hoffman, who will use specially engineered yeast in sustainable meat production, and Joanna Schneider, who will study how to use nanoparticles to clean water.

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The Andlinger Center holds its second Young Global Leaders education module, “Advancing the Global Energy Transition.”

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Andlinger Center Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellows present their research during the seminar series, New Light: Rising Stars in Energy and the Environment

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The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University is especially equipped to address these difficult issues. Within a robust research program that is cross-disciplinary, collaborative, creative, and nimble, researchers push the frontiers of science and engineering while also producing actionable knowledge that will lead to practical, deployable tools and techniques. Our researchers are advancing new energy sources and technologies, striving to make materials chemistry more sustainable, modeling green and resilient energy systems, leading the push to decarbonize infrastructure, studying behavioral science to overcome societal barriers, exploring environmental impact from man-made phenomena, developing impactful policy and strategies, and more. All this activity is aimed to mitigate the impact of climate change, renew our environment, and secure the future for coming generations.

The challenges in energy and the environment require employment of a multitude of solutions and technologies because the issues from rising global temperatures and an environment under stress from a growing global population are complex, interwoven, and touch every facet of modern life.

Z. Jason Ren, Associate Director for Research at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Photo: At Lynn Loo’s lab, a record-setting design has highlighted the durable potential of perovskite solar cells, especially as a way to push solar cell technology beyond the limits of silicon. (Photo by Bumper DeJesus)

excel growing our scholarly community

New Faculty

Emily A. Carter, former dean of Princeton University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and founding director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, rejoined Princeton, effective January 2022. She holds the Gerhard R. Andlinger ’52 Professor in Energy and the Environment and is professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and applied and computational mathematics. In addition to her Princeton professorships, Carter also assumed the newly created role of senior strategic advisor for sustainability science at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Previously, Carter had served as the executive vice chancellor and provost at the University of California, Los Angeles. In December 2021, Carter received Materials Research Society’s Materials Theory Award for research leading to the fundamental understanding of materials’ structure and behavior.

Leadership and Growth

Craig B. Arnold, the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was named Princeton University’s Vice Dean for Innovation, effective July 1, 2022. He served for seven years as director of the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials. As vice dean, Arnold is tasked with leading Princeton Innovation, whose mission is to encourage a culture of innovation on campus and engage with various external partners from industrial practitioners to technology investors.

José Avalos was promoted to associate professor of chemical and biological engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, effective July 1, 2022. Avalos is a leading expert on synthetic biology and metabolic engineering for clean energy and sustainable manufacturing. He joined Princeton in 2015 and is also affiliated with Princeton’s Department of Molecular Biology and the High Meadows Environmental Institute. Elke Weber, the associate director for education at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, was named the director of Princeton University’s Fung Global Fellows Program. Weber, also the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and professor of psychology and public affairs, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, assumed the two-year

position at the program, effective July 1, 2022. Under Weber’s directorship, international research scholars will convene around the topic of “sustainable futures.”

David Gates, principal research physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), assumed the position of senior research scholar at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, as of February 1, 2022. Gates, head of PPPL’s Advanced Projects Department, is a leading researcher on stellarators, a nuclear fusion device with external magnets that coil around and confine plasma.

Photos: (Top) Emily A. Carter, Craig B. Arnold (Photos by David Kelly Crow)

Study ranks best chemicals to make using biomass

Valuable chemicals can be sustainably derived from biomass instead of fossil-based feedstocks. But at issue is which chemical to target first for conversion to biomass and what would the impact be on greenhouse gas emissions? To that end, a computational analysis of 25 common chemical products usually derived from petroleum, such as benzene, was published October 2021 in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. The paper’s principal investigator was Christos Maravelias, the Anderson Family Professor in Energy and the Environment and professor of chemical and biological engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. The research team found that 24 out of the 25 products would have a lower environmental footprint if produced using biomass instead of oil, provided that some key technology targets are achieved. The researchers calculated and ranked emissions from the production of each chemical product, with numbers for both biomass or oil sourced, and determined that biomass-derived products would slash emissions between 88% and 94%. In the paper, the team proposed that engineered microbes would feed on corn stover, leftover stalks from harvesting, and produce the desired chemical product. The team developed simulation and optimization models to calculate the amount of energy that would be needed to produce the chemicals from corn stover to reach their conclusions.

Americans unaware of the popularity of climate action

Just after the U.S. Congress passed landmark legislation aimed at battling climate change, Princeton researchers found that the average American dramatically underestimates how much their fellow citizens support substantive climate policy. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications by Elke Weber’s Behavioral Science for Policy Lab, found that while 66-80% of Americans in different states of the union support climate action, the average American believes that number is 37-43% in their home state.

According to the paper, supporters of climate policies outnumber opponents two to one, but Americans falsely perceive nearly the opposite to be true. People with conservative beliefs underestimated national support for climate policies to the greatest degree, but liberals also believed that a minority of Americans support climate action. Misperception was the norm in every state, across policies, and among every demographic tested, including political affiliation, race, media consumption habits, and rural vs. suburban residents. Gregg Sparkman, formally a postdoctoral researcher in Weber’s lab and first author of the study, said that this underestimation of support is problematic because people tend to conform to what they think others believe, and assuming such low support by others would would weaken actual support for such policies.

Photos:

Christos Maravelias

Ground-breaking advance in solar technology

A Princeton University team made an important advance in solar technology by developing the first perovskite solar cell (PSC) with a commercially viable lifetime of around 30 years. The team, led by Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo, the Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Professor in Engineering and former director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, detailed the device and a new accelerated testing process for PSCs in a paper published on June 16, 2022 in Science.

Perovskites, crystalline semiconductors that are able to convert solar power into electricity, hold unique qualities. They can be manufactured at room temperature, whereas silicon requires lots of energy to manufacture. Perovskites can be flexible and transparent, while silicon is stiff and opaque. It is because of these special qualities that PSCs can be used in forms other than solar panels.

But perovskites are more fragile than silicon and early PSCs lasted seconds to minutes. Before the advent of this new PSC from Loo’s team, the record for PSC durability was set in a 2017 paper that showed a device lasting a year of constant illumination at room temperature.

Loo’s team developed an accelerated aging protocol to test PSC durability. This new method speeds up what would happen over years of outside exposure by blasting the device with both light and heat. By using this new testing method, analyzing data, and performing conversion metrics, researchers determined that the device could perform outside for 30 years.

Photo: Xiaoming Zhao, a postdoctoral researcher in Lynn Loo’s lab, looks at a highly stable perovskite solar cell under magnification during an accelerated aging process that helps researchers forecast the extended lifetimes of advanced designs.

(Photo by Bumper DeJesus)

Lynn Loo (Courtesy of Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation)

excel investing in cutting-edge research

Andlinger Grant for Innovative Research in Energy and the Environment

Systems methods for sustainable electronics

Minjie Chen is leading a team of researchers to enable a systematic understanding of the opportunities and challenges for sustainability in the electronic industry. Chen is assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment (ACEE). The team aims to identify bottlenecks in producing sustainable electronics and develop materials and designs that minimize the environmental footprint of e-waste. The overall goal of the project is to establish a systematic design method for sustainable electronics, ranging from materials and circuits to whole systems, such as computers.

Technologies for above-ground carbon storage

Claire White is head of an interdisciplinary research team creating a new biocement that avoids emissions and acts as a CO2 sink. White is associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and the ACEE. The team will use bacterial methods for creating cement precursors from non-carbonate materials and then convert them into carbonates via a reaction that takes CO2 out of the air and into the final cement. The researchers will investigate the fundamental nature of the key reactions, engineer bacteria that are capable

One Year Later

Energy Models Under Uncertainty

of enhanced reaction rates, and explore novel additive manufacturing processes for deploying biocements in construction

Inexpensive, low-waste, low-carbon cathode manufacturing

Yiguang Ju is leading a team of researchers in a new project to develop technologies for manufacturing low-cost, low-carbon emission, and high-performance cathode materials. Ju is the Robert Porter Patterson

Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. The research team will focus on developing ways for the battery manufacturing industry to keep pace with rapidly growing demand. This research, which applies novel methods to direct complex reactions towards specific structures, could be a potential game changer in manufacturing energy storage materials by enabling new methods that are energy-efficient, low-waste, and low-carbon.

Funding for the Andlinger Center grant for Innovative Research in Energy and the Environment was provided by: Addy/ISN North American Low Carbon Emission Energy Self-Sufficiency Fund; Gerhard R. Andlinger Innovation Fund; John E. Cross ’72 and Mary Tiffany Cross; de Carvalho-Heineken Family Fund for Environmental Studies; High Meadows Foundation’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment Director’s Fund; Lewis W. van Amerongen ’62 Fund for Energy Research; and anonymous gifts.

In the past year, the project, awarded to Christos Maravelias and his team in 2021, has:

• Developed a programming model for long-term capacity planning to understand how uncertainty in cost reductions of emerging low carbon technologies affect carbon emissions.

• Demonstrated how early investments in low carbon technologies lead to cost decreases.

• Collected preliminary results illustrating that optimization models incorporating uncertainty lead to planning solutions with improved cost and emissions outcomes.

BioLEC renewal expands sustainable manufacturing research

Princeton University’s Energy Frontier Research Center, Bio-Inspired Light-Escalated Chemistry (BioLEC), received another four years of funding, totaling $12.6 million, from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Gregory Scholes, the William S. Tod Professor of Chemistry, established the center in 2018 in the Department of Chemistry with $10.75 million of DOE funding. BioLEC’s mission is to accelerate photoredox catalysis research for scalable applications in sustainable chemical manufacturing. Recent progress has already led to the discovery of new reactions, such as highly efficient routes to key manufacturing starting materials, and new spectroscopic techniques to observe photocatalytic reactions in unprecedented detail. With the new round of funding comes an exciting expansion, including adding both computational and X-ray spectroscopy capabilities. Princeton faculty include Paul Chirik, the Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Chemistry, Robert Knowles, professor of chemistry, and David MacMillan, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor.

Regional partnership helps plan for coastal adaptation

A Princeton team will model impacts from extreme heat and hurricane hazards for an ambitious regional partnership, the Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH). MACH aims to develop a robust, equitable, and replicable planning process that can guide climate resilience and adaptation decisionmaking in coastal communities around New Jersey, New York City, and Philadelphia. The research team at Princeton is led by Ning Lin, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and includes Michael Oppenheimer, the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs and the High Meadows Environmental Institute; and Guy Nordenson, professor of architecture and structural engineering. MACH, a five-year multiinstitutional project funded through NSF Coastlines and People Program and led by Rutgers University, brings together different disciplines and professions such as natural scientists, social scientists, civil engineers, coastal stakeholders, and key decisionmakers. Central to this effort is research examining the interplay between coastal climate hazards, landforms, and decision-making processes that shape policy choices. Richard Moss, Andlinger Center non-resident fellow, serves on MACH’s executive advisory board.

Growing Startups at the Andlinger Center

Princeton NuEnergy has a novel, direct recycling process for lithium-ion batteries to produce battery materials. The startup was cofounded by four Princeton researchers: CEO Chao Yan, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; CTO Xiaofang Yang, a former associate research scholar in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; and technology advisors, Yiguang Ju, and Bruce Koel, professor of chemical and biological engineering.

• Developed a less expensive and more sustainable way to make new battery materials from used cellphone, laptop, and electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries

• Built a pilot plant to scale up production to help mitigate security and supply chain issues around importing from foreign sources key ingredients such as cobalt in lithium-ion battery cathodes

Co-founder Xiaofang Yang holds mechanically shredded batteries at the Princeton NuEnergy facility in Bordentown, N.J. (Photo by Bumper DeJesus)

Flux Marine builds zero-emissions, high-performance electric outboard boat motors. CEO Ben Sorkin, Class of 2017, and chief technology officer Jonathan Lord, Class of 2018, both graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton.

• Raised $15.5MM to further marine electrification

• Plans to expand the team and production capacity

HiT Nano Inc. develops low-cost, high-performance lithium-ion batteries and energy storage materials using novel high-temperature nanotechnologies and was founded by Yiguang Ju

• Awarded $75,000 in funding through N.J.’s Clean Tech Seed Grant Program

excel the andlinger community thrives

Andlinger Center Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellows

During 2021-2022, the Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment had four researchers join as Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellows, a program that aims to foster strongly interdisciplinary approaches to advance emerging research in energy and the environment. Holly Caggiano and Fernando Temprano-Coleto joined in Fall 2021, and Aniruddh Mohan and Lara Tomholt joined in 2022.

Caggiano is studying social barriers to clean energy implementation in Appalachia with a view towards designing policy choice environments that can speed adoption of renewable energy. She brings expertise in designing projects to address community concerns in solar and wind farm planning and development. Caggiano is collaborating with Elke Weber and Chris Greig, the Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Senior Research Scientist at the Andlinger Center. Caggiano is also working with John Pickering, chief behavioral scientist of E-ffiliates member Evidn, an international behavioral science company.

Temprano-Coleto is developing a technique to remediate microplastics pollution in water and aims to create low-energy processes to identify and characterize small plastic particles which often go undetected in water treatment systems. He is working with Howard Stone, the Donald R. Dixon ‘69 and Elizabeth W. Dixon Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Temprano-Coleto is also working with Sujit Datta, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, and Z. Jason Ren

Photo: Fernando Temprano-Coleto and Holly Caggiano (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Aniruddh Mohan Lara Tomholt

Mohan is analyzing how emerging technologies such as electric and automated vehicles, energy storage, and direct air capture can play a role in achieving net-zero emissions. As an engineer and public policy expert, he will contribute to the growing body of policy-relevant research outputs from Andlinger Center’s Rapid Switch, an initiative investigating how to accelerate decarbonization efforts globally. Mohan will work with lead researchers of Princeton’s Net-Zero America study, Eric Larson, senior research engineer at the Andlinger Center, and Jesse Jenkins, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.

Inspired by the geometry of plant leaves, Tomholt aims to develop ceramic systems that are thin enough to allow heat transfer when used in building components and manufacturing processes. A researcher on bio-inspired sustainable building technologies, she is exploring new materials design and manufacturing processes for thinner, thermally efficient ceramics and how to incorporate them into buildings. Tomholt will work with Reza Moini, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, as well as Forrest Meggers, associate professor of architecture and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.

Launch Pad

And the Honor Goes to...

José Avalos was recognized by the American Chemical Society’s Biochemical Technology division with its 2022 Young Investigator Award. Avalos was singled out for his research on engineering microbes, such as yeast, to have desirable traits in order to address issues in energy, sustainable manufacturing, the environment, and human health. The award is meant to recognize a young, active member of the organization who has made noteworthy research in the field.

Z. Jason Ren, a leader in water-energy nexus research, received Water Research Foundation’s 2021 Paul L. Busch Award. He was recognized by the foundation due to his novel, data science-driven approach to measuring carbon emissions at water facilities, and his development of tools and web applications for utilities to modernize and reduce emissions.

Minjie Chen received the Lawrence Keyes, Jr. / Emerson Electric Co. Faculty Advancement Award from Princeton University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. The award recognizes assistant professors for excellent teaching and research. Chen studies advanced power and energy systems for the future, which enable emerging applications such as smart power electronics at grid edge and power electronics for robotics, EVs, and data systems.

Our past Presidential Postdoctoral Fellows are taking their expertise to the next stage. Here is where they have landed after their fellowships:

Kofi Christie Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, assumes an assistant professorship in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Louisiana State University.

Melissa Ball Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, is an associate director of technology at Energy Impact Partners in New York City.

Issues we face are multi-faceted and thus require a synergistic approach with many stakeholders and a diversity of perspectives. The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University does just that by forging connections between our research community and external experts and leaders through many exciting initiatives. Forums, seminars, briefings, workshops, and conferences – all events are held with the goal of igniting insightful discussions that will lead to innovations in science, engineering, and policy, and the betterment of society. A big part of this push is the Center’s corporate membership program, Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership, which gives our researchers opportunities to collaborate and share knowledge across many sectors and help solve today’s pressing problems in energy and the environment.

In order to spark new solutions for a more sustainable future, we must have a collaborative process that draws in not just researchers from academia, but also professionals in sectors such as industry, government, and the nonprofit world.

Chris Greig, Acting Associate Director for External Partnerships, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Senior Research Scientist at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment (Photo by University of Queensland)

Photo: Q-lieb-in (Yevgen S.) stock.adobe.com

2021 Andlinger Center Annual Meeting: Corporations and Industry in the Race to Net-Zero

Sponsored by Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership

The importance of businesses’ role in thwarting climate change was the central theme at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment’s 2021 Annual Meeting on October 27.

Driving home that point was Thomas Thune Andersen, chair of Denmark’s largest energy company, Ørsted, who gave the keynote in which he highlighted how his firm, formerly known as oil and gas company DONG Energy, made a landmark shift from selling petrochemicals to wind and other renewable electricity. Now Ørsted is among the world’s largest offshore wind developers and is moving to be carbon neutral by 2025. Andersen said that moving the company to clean energy not only was good for the planet but also good for business.

In conversation with Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo, former Andlinger Center director and current chief executive officer of the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation, Andersen spoke to the challenges involved in divesting from oil and gas but said that it created value in the long term. He added that their shareholders and leadership team were on board with the shift, which was critical to bringing it to fruition.

Following the keynote, a panel session brought together academics and industry leaders about traditional hydrocarbon industries, featuring ExxonMobil, Dow Inc., and Occidental Petroleum. Senior executives discussed how their firms are investing in low-carbon technologies and their work in reducing emissions. On a panel about technology disruptors, CEOs from three clean energy and electrification companies spoke about big batteries, climate science, and U.S.-based solar manufacturing.

In a panel on facilitators of energy transition, executives discussed how to enable industry towards the clean energy transition. Scott Corwin, the U.S. lead for sustainability and climate change at Deloitte, emphasized that collaboration within industries was critical and traditional competitors will need to work together and faster on projects aligned with climate goals.

Claire Gmachl, interim director of the Andlinger Center, noted that companies must play a substantive role in delivering a clean energy transition. Gmachl, also the Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering, emphasized that the center’s initiatives are ways to bring stakeholders together to develop and implement clean energy solutions.

Annual Meeting Poster Awards

Worley Postdoctoral Researcher Poster Award

Bastien Wild / “Optimizing net-zero emission technologies: Insights from fluid-mineral interfaces” – Advised by Claire White, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and Ian Bourg, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and the High Meadows Environmental Institute

Siemens Undergraduate Poster Award

Evan Dogariu, Class of 2024 / “Machine learning-based magnetic core loss modeling platform” – Advised by Minjie Chen, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

NEC Labs Undergraduate Poster Award

Callie Zheng, Class of 2024 / “Using polymers to clean up contaminated groundwater sources” – Advised by Sujit Datta, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering

American Tower Graduate Poster Award

Karina Alventosa / “Non-destructive analysis of temperature-induced microstructural changes in sustainable cements and impact of fiber and particle reinforcement” – Advised by Claire White

Community Energy Graduate Poster Award

Zhaojian Xu / “Voltage-induced halide segregation in perovskite materials and devices” – Advised by Barry Rand, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Deloitte Graduate Poster Award

Aaron Leininger / “Doubling down on food waste: co-use as codigestion substrate and biochar feedstock enhances food-energy-water circularity” – Advised by Z. Jason Ren, professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

ExxonMobil Postdoctoral Researcher Poster Award

Xi Chen / “Sustainable off-grid desalination of hypersaline waters using Janus wood evaporators” – Advised by Z. Jason Ren

Thomas Thune Andersen (Image courtesy of Ørsted)

engage princeton e-ffiliates partnership

Danielle Fugere listens to Valerie C. Smith during a panel discussion on how investors and shareholders influence corporate climate action.

(Photo by Bumper DeJesus)

2022 E-ffiliates Retreat: Behavioral Science Insights for Corporate Action

The Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership (E-ffiliates) ninth annual retreat was held on June 1. The focus was on how companies can harness insights from behavioral science to mitigate climate change.

The retreat drew panelists from industry, non-profit, academia, and government. Participants were treated to wide-ranging discussions that explored private sector behavior, decision-making, communications, and new behavioral science tools and techniques.

Elke Weber, the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and professor of psychology and public affairs, presented her research, including a report titled, “Behavioral science tools to strengthen energy and environmental policy.” Tools included providing timely feedback and reminders, using multiple communications to inform, and reaching people at transitions when they are most likely to make more sustainable decisions. She also noted that corporations can frame their thinking about the changes required to mitigate climate change as an opportunity rather than a liability.

Cheryl Ginyard-Jones, group director for growth and performance in the Americas at Worley, emphasized that having company commitments to address climate change is important, but transforming company culture and moving beyond the customervendor relationship to one of partnership are critical.

Similarly, Erica J. Borggren, vice president of Customer Solutions at ComEd, an Exelon Company, said that reports comparing customer energy efficiency to their neighbors’ energy efficiency resulted in those customers acting to conserve energy.

Keynote speaker and partner of MCJ Collective, Jason Jacobs, talked about using his podcast to amplify diverse voices in the sphere of climate action and help broadcast lessons learned. Panelists shared more on company action related to climate change mitigation that yielded key best practices.

Valerie C. Smith, chief sustainability officer and managing director at Citi, noted that a shareholder proposal to commit to net-zero pushed them to make that commitment sooner. She shared how Citi investors had been working with panelist Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow, a non-profit that helps shareholders advocate for sustainable practices by companies in which they invest.

The gathering was organized by Chris Greig, who discussed how companies are thinking about their obligations and risks in responding to the call for net-zero emissions. He noted the retreat served as an important place to have conversations on making sustainable changes and learn how social and behavioral sciences will help companies make these transformations.

Behavioral science is an important tool for increasing the positive consequences of change.”

– Elke Weber

“

Top: Keynote speaker, Jason Jacobs, talks about using his podcast to amplify diverse voices in the sphere of climate action. (Photo by Bumper DeJesus)

Right:

Participants listen to a panel at the 2022 Retreat. (Photo by Kevin Birch)

Loïc De Weerdt, postdoctoral research associate at the Andlinger Center (Photo by Kevin Birch)

2022 E-ffiliates Retreat Poster Awards

Deloitte Postdoctoral Researcher Poster Award

Loïc De Weerdt, “Investment in Net-Zero Electricity Under Price Uncertainty” – Advised by Chris Greig and Eric Larson, senior research engineer at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

ExxonMobil Graduate Student Poster Award

Shannon Hoffman, “Sustainable Production of Animal Proteins Using Optogenetics in the Yeast Pichia pastoris” – Advised by José Avalos, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Worley Graduate Student Poster Award

Eric O’Neill, “An Agent-Based Network Optimization Framework for Supply Demand Matching in Production Systems” – Advised by Christos Maravelias, the Anderson Family Professor in Energy and the Environment and professor of chemical and biological engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

members

E-ffiliates Welcomes New Members

E-ffiliates promotes collaborations to advance innovative solutions in energy and the environment. Building on program success and expansion, goals for paced and strategic growth have been established and focus on attracting key companies needed to represent the entire energy sector.

ClearPath

ClearPath is a nonprofit that develops and advances policies to speed up innovations that reduce emissions in the energy and industrial sectors. The company intends to collaborate with Princeton faculty, researchers, and corporations that are focusing on scalable clean energy technologies.

Deloitte

Deloitte, the largest professional services firm, has advanced its membership and has increased involvement with Princeton faculty since they joined in 2021. They have engaged with researchers on emissions abatement in the chemical industry as well as the evolution of CO2 capture, use, and storage (CCUS) hubs. The company is also bringing together researchers and corporate representatives with a focus on decarbonizing the chemical industry.

ECP

ECP is a leading investor across energy transition, electrification, and decarbonization infrastructure assets based in New Jersey. The company’s investment and policy goals are closely aligned with the Andlinger Center’s research exemplified in the NetZero America study, and it intends to explore a deeper understanding of pathways to decarbonization.

GAF

GAF is a roofing and waterproofing manufacturer that joined E-ffiliates to develop innovative approaches to sustainability of their products. The company provides roofing for one in four homes in the United States and has 35 manufacturing facilities nationwide. With a strategic focus on developing products that promote a circular economy, such as sustainable building materials and incorporating renewable energy production in building products, the company intends to interact with faculty on products or systems that advance its mission around sustainability.

GE

GE is an equipment manufacturer with a broad portfolio of energy technologies, including on and offshore wind turbines, gas turbines, and advanced nuclear power. The company is also developing new technologies, such as hydrogen-fueled gas turbines, carbon capture solutions, offshore wind superconducting generators, and advanced nuclear with small modular reactors. Through these technologies, the company is looking to build collaborations across a range of topics, including securing the power grid.

NV5

NV5 is an infrastructure engineering firm that offers civil engineering services. The company works on infrastructure projects in the transportation, utilities, and building sectors. The work of NV5 and Princeton align in many areas, particularly in low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure. Shared interests include protecting natural resources and populations through utility fire mitigation and delivering energyefficient building systems and infrastructure.

Orion Industrial Innovation

Orion Industrial Innovation (OII) is a financial firm and part of the Orion Resource Partners Group, which specializes in institutional metals and mining investment strategies in the base and precious metals space. OII is establishing relationships with Princeton’s research groups to improve industrial processes in the energy and environment sector.

Siam Cement Group

Siam Cement Group (SCG) is a leader in sustainable advancement that is helping Southeast Asian countries reach net-zero emissions. Inspired by the Net-Zero America study, the company is working with university researchers to help Thailand establish and meet sustainability targets, focusing on how sustainable transportation fits within net-zero plans.

Siemens

Siemens is a global company focusing on electrification, automation, and digitalization that joined E-ffiliates in 2017. The newly advanced partnership builds on the company’s previous work as it intends to fund diverse research projects, including using computers to study the process of learning how to learn and the optimization of container packaging.

Highlighted Research

Research collaborations take many forms heading to net-zero

Princeton researchers in departments across campus, from Chemistry to Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, are working on research projects in collaboration with ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company Claire White and Catherine Peters, the George J. Magee Professor of Geosciences and Geological Engineering and Director of the Program in Geological Engineering, are jointly exploring the characteristics and mechanics of key geologies for storing CO2 in the earth, which will prove critical for the U.S. to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Yiguang Ju, the Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has worked on projects investigating the combustion properties, flame properties, chemistry effects, and sooting tendencies of fuels under different conditions. This work will help improve efficiency of traditional fuels and lead to insights about newer fuels like hydrogen. David Graves, professor of chemical and biological engineering, and associate laboratory director, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, has been working on reforming hydrocarbons by using heat from plasma for pyrolysis of natural gas to release hydrogen and solid carbon. Instead of being released as CO2, this carbon can be converted to valuable nanotubes.

Investigating production systems and vehicle emissions

NEC Laboratories America supports research conducted by Christos Maravelias The research aims to develop a multi-level modeling framework of interconnected multi-agent industrial systems. The framework separates the network structure from the underlying local agent models, and was used to show that collaborative planning among agents may lead to improved cost, energy, and environmental performance of the integrated system. This model can optimize behavior of agents that generate, consume, and

exchange materials, energy, and emissions globally.

NEC also sponsors Mark Zondlo, professor of civil and environmental engineering on laser-based optical gas sensing. This process identifies high emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants from vehicles using large datasets obtained by the Princeton Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment. The technology and data from this project will be useful for quantifying and understanding sources of emissions from vehicles, especially N2O, an important greenhouse gas that has not been studied as much as other greenhouse gases in the context of vehicle emissions.

Exploring elements of a net-zero infrastructure

Worley, a global provider of engineering, procurement, and construction services, has co-written a paper with Chris Greig. The paper draws upon Princeton’s Net-Zero America study to explore the practical changes required to develop and deliver the energy infrastructure needed to achieve net-zero ambitions. The paper’s focus is on supply-side energy infrastructure and outlines five shifts in thinking needed to deliver a net-zero transition. Worley also supported a collaborative Net-Zero Australia study to identify plausible pathways and detailed infrastructure requirements by which Australia can transition to net-zero emissions and be a major exporter of low-emission energy and products by 2050. The project report addressed critical questions, such as what physical plant infrastructure and societal changes are needed to decarbonize the Australian economy, including exports, by mid-century. It also considers how these changes impact natural environments, the economy, incumbent infrastructure, and communities. Worley is headquartered in Australia and provides services to private and public asset owners and operators in the energy, chemicals, and resources sectors around the world.

Making the switch to a net-zero mindset

As Princeton University undertakes its journey to net-zero campus carbon emissions by 2046, buy-in from the campus community is an integral component of its plan. Besides installing a system of energy-saving and combustion-free technologies powered by renewable energy sources, Princeton is assessing its campus culture around energy use. To this end, the University has engaged Evidn, an international behavioral science company. The company supports the design, delivery, and evaluation of energy-consumption-reduction initiatives to help Princeton reach its sustainability goals.

Evidn is collaborating with Princeton scholars to research factors inhibiting energy transitions and to devise interventions to encourage adoption of new energy technologies. Evidn also engages individuals within more than 25 campus departments and groups to think through energy use behavior and develop solutions.

John Pickering, chief behavioral scientist for Evidn and a non-resident fellow at the Andlinger Center, noted that Princeton can achieve approximately 80% of its campus carbon emissions goal through its current sustainability strategies. The remaining percentage rests on the behavior and decision-making of the campus community.

Evidn’s analysis zeroes in on three areas. One is the use of fume hoods in Princeton’s labs, which can use as much energy as one or more homes. Shutting down the apparatus when not in use can slash energy use on campus. Individual actions can also make a significant difference in event facilities. Enabling systems to run too early before an event or shut down too long afterwards wastes significant energy. Finally, changing individual personal habits offer additional community-achieved sustainability opportunities. Evidn aims to understand and influence those behaviors and decisions.

Research shows superiority of 24/7 carbon-free energy procurement

Google became the first major company to match 100% of its annual electricity purchases with renewable energy in 2017. They decided to go a step beyond carbon offsetting by matching electricity consumption with carbon-free energy generation on the same grids in real time— every hour, every day, everywhere— by 2030. This approach is known as 24/7 carbonfree energy (CFE) procurement. Jesse Jenkins, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and his research team, studied the impact of 24/7 CFE procurement on electricity systems and carbon goals. Their research confirmed that this approach surpasses 100% annual matching for transforming the electricity sector by driving early deployment of advanced clean, firm technologies and long-duration energy storage. Jenkins’ study also shows that if an organization stops at 95% CFE, it can still drive the deployment of local carbon-free power sources and lower costs. As Google strives towards a 24/7 CFE procurement goal, it contracts with carbonfree energy managers who provide a steady output of carbon-free energy at a predictable price.

John Pickering (Courtesy of Evidn)

Photo: As the University is taking steps to reach net-zero campus carbon emissions, it is seeking ways to reduce their energy consumption by encouraging researchers to shut fume hood sashes when they are not in use. (Photo by Denise Applewhite, Office of Communications)

strengthening the andlinger community

Planning for clean hydrogen market development

There is growing global interest in using hydrogen as a clean fuel, energy storage medium, and low-carbon feedstock as a tool to address climate change, and Princeton faculty are working on many frontiers of this technology. Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment non-resident fellow Harry A. Warren, MAE ‘79, envisioned and helped organize a full-day workshop entitled, Collaborative Opportunities in Hydrogen Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment, that brought together Princeton faculty, government officials, and corporate representatives to discuss the topic.

Princeton faculty shared their research on plasmas for hydrogen production, underground hydrogen storage, and the nexus with water resources. Faculty members included Emily Carter, the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and Senior Strategic Advisor for Sustainability Science at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Z. Jason Ren, Catherine Peters, the George J. Magee Professor of Geosciences and Geological Engineering, chair and professor of civil and environmental engineering, and several other Princeton University and PPPL researchers.

Outside participants included Sunita Satyapal, director of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), who discussed the Department’s priorities and programs, including the Hydrogen Shot Initiative and funding for Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs. Upendra J. Chivukula, commissioner of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, discussed the state’s support of clean energy deployment. Representatives of New Jersey Natural Gas and South Jersey Industries discussed utility demonstration projects and shared their companies’ short-term and long-term plans for hydrogen deployment.

The gathering led to several channels of continued engagement, such as joining a New York state-led Hydrogen Hub proposal, growing a relationship with the NREL hydrogen team to advise on geological storage of hydrogen, and consideration of a New Jersey project on hydrogen production from reclaimed wastewater.

Since his appointment as a Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow in 2019, Harry Warren has continued his involvement with the Andlinger Center as a non-resident fellow. Warren is president of CleanGrid Advisors, co-founder of the Center for Renewables Integration, and a senior consultant for the DOE Loan Program Office.

Harry A. Warren (Courtesy of Harry Warren)

A full-day workshop that centered around the topic of clean hydrogen was organized by non-resident fellow Harry Warren. (Photo by Bumper DeJesus)

Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellows in Energy and the Environment

the andlinger community

Charting a path for energy systems and energy transitions research

Douglas Arent joined the Andlinger Center in May 2022 as a non-resident fellow. Arent is an executive leadership team member and executive director of Strategic Public Private Partnerships at the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where he focuses on strategic public and private partnerships to transform global energy economies at speed and scale. Arent brings his extensive research and leadership experience in the energy sector to collaborate with researchers, including Jesse Jenkins, Eric Larson, Chris Greig, and Elke Weber, on developing a strategic roadmap for future growth of energy systems and energy transitions research at Princeton. His plans also include collaborative research on international net-zero efforts, with attention to fostering connections between NREL and Princeton that leverage their unique institutional strengths and can ground long-term working relationships.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions with microbial and electrochemical systems

Harold May joined the Andlinger Center in September 2022 as a Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow. May is professor emeritus of microbiology and immunology at the Medical College of South Carolina, where he directed wide-ranging research related to microbial applications for organic pollutant remediation, biofuels, and synthesis of fuels and chemicals from CO2. A fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, May is the founder of two companies focused on microbial production of fuels and chemicals. At Princeton, he will collaborate with Z. Jason Ren, on research to improve the efficiency and throughput of combined microbialelectrochemical methods for converting CO2 into fuels and chemicals, with the aim of developing scalable systems that can be used to capture CO2 To complement these efforts, May plans to organize a workshop at Princeton for the broader research community to identify key research challenges in microbial CO2 capture and foster new collaborations.

Novel plasma methods for energy generation

Tokamak

Jean-Marcel Rax joined the Andlinger Center in September 2022 as a Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow. Rax is a university professor at Université de ParisSaclay and École Polytechnique. Among his many accomplishments, Rax has served as technical advisor and scientific advisor to the French Atomic Energy Commission and as director of the Laboratory for Plasma Physics and Technology at École Polytechnique. At Princeton, Rax will collaborate with Nathaniel Fisch, professor of astrophysical sciences, on two projects related to plasma applications in fission and fusion energy. One project will examine reactors for rotating magnetized plasmas to enable efficient reprocessing of spent fuel from nuclear fission. The other project focuses on how injecting pulses of electrons into Tokamak fusion reactors can be used to control the plasma motion and improve reactor performance.

Convening Stakeholders

Over the last year, the Andlinger Center brought leaders in industry and government together with faculty to pursue innovative solutions in energy and the environment. Select highlights are listed below.

E-ffiliates Tech Talk: Vehicle to Grid Technology – August 11, 2021

Webinar: Google 24/7 with ZERO Lab – November 19, 2021

Meeting: PJM energy markets with Community Energy – November 29, 2021

Webinar: “Engage2021 – The Future of Mobility: Decarbonizing Transportation for Net-Zero 2050” – December 2, 2021

E-ffiliates Tech Talk: On Hydrogen – January 13, 2022

Workshop: ZERO lab Zero-Carbon Technology Consortium – January 21, 2022 and April 4, 2022

Meeting: New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) – Decarbonizing NJ and the PJM electric grid – April 13, 2022

Workshop: “Collaborative Opportunities in Hydrogen Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment” with Harry Warren – April 27, 2022

E-ffiliates Tech Talk: Direct Air Capture – July 21, 2022

Government Testimonies

Our faculty provided expertise and guidance to federal and state decision-makers in the past year.

Steve Cowley, director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), participated on a panel at the White House that emphasized the need for concerted effort by national laboratories, universities, and private industry to accelerate research in fusion energy, a virtually limitless source of clean electricity.

Peter Jaffé, the William L. Knapp ’47 Professor of Civil Engineering, told a joint hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives that the federal government could provide key assistance and guidance for scientists and policymakers seeking to better understand a class of environmental contaminants that have become known as “forever chemicals.”

At the invitation of Chairman Bob Smith, Jesse Jenkins presented to the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment a report that modeled pathways to meet New Jersey’s goal of achieving 100% carbon-free electricity by 2050.

Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership Members

Jessica Lambert ’22 collects water samples from Lake Talawanda in Oklahoma to investigate the public health impact of a local military facility on the water chemistry of the surrounding environment. (Photo courtesy of Valerie Lambert)

The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University takes this task seriously through a multi-pronged educational program that is cross-disciplinary and rigorous. In education, we break down silos and provide opportunities to learn different perspectives by drawing from the sciences, engineering, humanities, social science, architecture and other fields. This broad approach, provides our students with a deep well of knowledge to draw from so that they may uncover new insights and develop effective solutions. Educational initiatives at the center include two certificate programs, undergraduate and graduate courses, graduate fellowships, internships, student research funding, a public seminar series, and training for executives. This multitude of offerings is meant to not only educate people on the complexity of energy and environmental problems, but also shape well-rounded practitioners who will be well equipped to meet our rising challenges and leave our planet and society in a far better place.

Elke Weber, Associate Director for Education at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment, and professor of psychology and the School of Public and International Affairs (Photo by David Kelly Crow)

If we are serious about combating climate change and bettering our environment and society, training the next generation of leaders is an urgent imperative.

inform educating undergraduates Certificate Programs

Students from all majors and backgrounds can study multiple aspects of energy and the environment via two certificate programs. The Program in Technology and Society: Energy Track, administered by the Andlinger Center and the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education, offers a curriculum with a strong social science angle. Students delve into the intersection of technology and society and their impacts on energy technologies. For students who want to pursue graduate degrees or careers in technical fields, there is the Program in Sustainable Energy. This program offers the opportunity to learn about sustainable fuels, advanced energy conversion and storage systems, sustainable energy systems, and emerging innovations.

Andlinger Center Certificate Symposium and Class Day Celebration

Twelve undergraduate students, who earned certificates from the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, were lauded for their achievements at the annual Class Day ceremony on May 23, 2022.

“Through their wonderful accomplishments, the Class of 2022 members of the Program in Technology and Society: Energy Track and the Program in Sustainable Energy have enriched themselves and the entire Princeton community,” said Claire Gmachl, the interim Andlinger Center director and the Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering. “The career paths of our 12 seniors are as diverse as the students themselves, and we hope that the knowledge they have gained here will inform and enrich their perspectives as they move forward in their careers.”

Eleven students earned the sustainable energy certificate, while one student earned a certificate in technology and society: energy track.

Sydney Hughes, a sustainable energy student, was recognized with the Andlinger Center Senior Thesis Prize in Energy and the Environment. Her research

looked at amino polymer adsorbents supported on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for carbon capture technology. She performed synthesis, characterization, and adsorption analysis to understand fundamental molecular interactions, while delving into engineering optimizations for the MOF-polymer composites. She identified strategies to improve the composites’ stability and enable their long-term storage for future industrial use.

Hughes’s thesis advisor was Michele Sarazen, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering. Yiguang Ju, the Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and director of the Program in Sustainable Energy, said that Hughes’s research can possibly lead to work making carbon capture more efficient.

The graduates were eager to tackle energy and environmental challenges as they head off for their next adventure. Hughes, a Princeton Sachs Global Fellow and Joseph Clifton Eligin Prize awardee, is working as a research assistant on fuel cell catalysis at the Technical University of Munich. Other seniors have enrolled in graduate school or are working in industry. Ben Henry is pursuing a Master of Engineering in Princeton’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, followed by a Master of Atmospheric Science & Meteorology at Penn State. Nadia Ralston is working in Brazil as a Fulbright Fellow in Engineering for Sustainable Development. Owen Engel is working for a Colorado-based renewable developer.

Above (Left to right):

Graduating seniors Caroline Adkins, Demetra Yancopoulos, Benjamin

Henry, Bryant Hall, Emiri Morita, Sydney Hughes, Danice Ball, Claire Wayner, and Owen Engel at the 2022 Class Day celebration.

Below: Sydney Hughes (Photos by Frank Wojciechowski)

summer internships

Andlinger Center Summer Internships

The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment awarded 18 undergraduates funds to support research on energy- and environment-related projects on campus and at organizations in the non-profit and government sectors.

The research is supported by the Peter B. Lewis Fund for Student Innovation in Energy and the Environment, and the Dede T. Bartlett P03 Fund for Student Research in Energy and the Environment.

The students’ projects are described below:

Built environment, transportation, and infrastructure

Sreeta Basu (MAT ’24) / Senior Research Engineer Eric Larson / Real Option Analysis for Decarbonizing New Jersey Transit (NJT) Rail Operations

Kaixing Chou (SPI ’23) / Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) / Vehicles Electrification

Helena Frudit (MAE ’25) / Senior Research Scientist Chris Greig / Exploring Resilient Net-Zero Energy Pathways Using Structured Risk Assessment

Lilianna Gittoes (ORF ’24) / Senior Research Engineer Eric Larson / Design of CO2 Capture and Storage Hubs

Electricity production, transmission, and storage

Pranav Avva (COS ’24) / Assistant Professor Minjie Chen / Machine Learning Platform for Power Magnetics Modeling

Stephen Jiang (ORF ’25) / Professor Ronnie Sircar / Quantifying Uncertainty in Electricity Generation

John Kim (ELE ’25) / Associate Professor Barry Rand / Conductivity of Organic Thin-Film Crystals

Frida Ruiz (MAE ’25) / Assistant Professor Kelsey Hatzell / Chemo-Mechanics in Solid-State Batteries

Fuels and chemicals

Janelle Arnold (CBE ’23) / Assistant Professor

Jonathan Conway / Engineering Plant Biomass Degradation in Extremely Thermophilic Bacteria

Jaehee Ashley (CBE ’25) / Associate Professor José Avalos / Microbial Engineering for Energy and the Environment

Darius Rudasingwa Ganza (CBE ’24) / Assistant Professor Michele Sarazen / Metal-organic Frameworks for CO2 Capture and Conversionn

Joshua Yi (PHY ’25) / Professor Yiguag Ju / Studies of Ferroelectric Plasma Catalysts on Chemical Synthesis

Environmental sensing and remediation

Ben Bobell (PHY ’23) / Professor Emily Carter / Dynamics of Carbonate Formation

Merry Hertan (CEE ’24) / Associate Professor Claire White / The Materials Science of Sustainable Cements

Decision and behavioral science, policy, and economics

Riti Bhandarkar (CEE ’23) / EDF / Energy Transition Analytics

Samir Bhojwani (ECO ’25) / Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) / Energy Markets Regulation

Zhaoran Chen (ARC ’24) / Professor Elke Weber / Coalition Building for Net-Zero Futures: Case studies in Appalachia

Environmental and climate science

Freddie Furia (COS ’24) / Senior Research Oceanographer Sonya Legg and Visiting Postdoctoral Research Associate Henri Drake / The Climate Impacts of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

Merry Hertan preps samples into capillary tubes. (Photo by Bumper DeJesus)

Top Honors

Claire Wayner was named a co-winner of the 2022 Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, the highest general distinction conferred on an undergraduate. She and Christian Potter were recognized at Alumni Day in February.

Wayner, from Baltimore, Maryland, is a civil and environmental engineering concentrator pursuing certificates in environmental studies and sustainable energy. Her time at Princeton has been dedicated to what she calls “solutions-oriented sustainability.” For her senior thesis, under adviser Jesse Jenkins, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Wayner conducted research related to the implementation of bioenergy as a sustainable, low-carbon resource as an extension of her work on the Net-Zero America project. Her research contributes to the goal of mapping out detailed routes for the United States’ transition to a carbon-neutral future. Established in 1921, the Pyne Honor Prize, is awarded to the senior who has most clearly manifested excellent scholarship, strength of character and effective leadership. Previous recipients include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the late Princeton President Emeritus Robert F. Goheen.

Supporting Our Student Community

The Andlinger Center continues to support student organizations and activities. In 2021, the Center provided planning assistance to the Princeton University Energy Association (PUEA) and its 3-day fall conference, “Charging Towards Net Zero” which explored how industry and technology can facilitate a rapid transition to net-zero emissions. One segment featured Arielle Rivera, co-director of community service and advocacy at the PUEA and a 2021 Andlinger Center summer intern who worked with the Environmental Defense Fund’s Puerto Rico team. Rivera interviewed C.P. Smith, the Executive Director of La Cooperativa Hidroeléctrica de la Montaña in Puerto Rico. This initiative aims to create sustainable energy projects in the region that can deliver clean, affordable, and reliable electricity to low-income communities across the island.

Writing Code for Energy System Modelling

Riti Bhandarkar, Class of 2023, is interested in developing energy technology and policy in order to fix “the root of the problem” that threatens the planet’s biodiversity. To further that work, the civil and environmental engineering major joined the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment’s summer internship program in 2021. For the internship, Bhandarkar joined the ZERO lab led by Jesse Jenkins Her work involved harnessing Python to compile massive data sets for energy system models that would generate technology deployment strategies for cleaning up the power grid. The data contained elements such as cost and source of electricity produced in each state and regional power grid, which ultimately could provide highly granular output. The research techniques were also used for the study Net-Zero America, which detailed pathways to reach net-zero emissions, for which Jenkins was co-author. Bhandarkar is also a contributor to Jenkins’ REPEAT project which produces rapid policy evaluation and analysis of proposed energy and climate legislation.

Riti Bhandarkar (Photo by Bumper DeJesus)

Claire Wayner (Photo by Denise Applewhite)

Humanity is in a dire position due to climate change, and I see my life’s work as trying to fix that.”

– Claire Wayner

“

Course Highlights

Renewable Energy and Smart Grids

This course was taught by Minjie Chen, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and explored the intermittency of renewable energy systems and its impact on the electric grid, together with its potential solutions: energy storage systems and demand response techniques. This course included experimental demo sessions in which students gained hands-on experience in understanding the fundamental principles of power conversion.

Biology, Electrochemistry, and Technology

Z. Jason Ren, the associate director for research at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, examined interdisciplinary microbial/electrochemical technologies used in remote sensing, remediation, renewable energy, wastewater treatment, artificial photosynthesis, and carbon valorization.

Human Factors 2.0 - Psychology for Engineering, Energy, and Environmental Decisions

In this course, Elke Weber covered recent theoretical advances in cognitive and social psychology, especially in human judgment and decision making, that are relevant for engineers and choice architects as they address technical and societal challenges related to sustainability. Students explored psychological theory that can be creatively applied to design decision environments that help people overcome present and status-quo biases and loss aversion.

Z. Jason Ren takes the driver’s seat of a hydrogen-powered car during a class trip to the Hydrogen House in Pennington, NJ.

Arielle Rivera delivers key points in her research during group presentations at Elke Weber’s Human Factors 2.0 class.

(Photos by Bumper DeJesus)

graduate spotlight

Maeder Graduate Fellowships in Energy and the Environment

Shannon Hoffman and Joanna Schneider, graduate students in chemical and biological engineering, received the Maeder Graduate Fellowship in Energy and the Environment, awarded to students who demonstrate potential to develop technical solutions to sustain our energy and environmental future.

Hoffman, a graduate student in José Avalos’ research group, was recognized for her research on cultivating animal proteins in the lab by using light-controlled engineered yeast. She pioneered a tool that controls the yeast using light rather than methanol, further lowering the environmental footprint of cultivated meat alternatives. Hoffman hopes to extend the tool to produce dairy proteins that could eventually reduce human reliance on livestock for milk. Avalos is associate professor of chemical and biological engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.

Schneider was recognized for her project on developing a technique to target, degrade, and remove industrial waste from groundwater aquifers using specially designed nanoparticle mixtures. By combining experimental visualization, computational tools, and new approaches to engineer particles that safely spread through the aquifers as they clean them, she hopes to find a more viable solution to remediate contaminated water. Her advisers are Sujit Datta, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, and Rodney Priestley, vice dean for innovation (2020-22) and the Pomeroy and Betty Perry Smith Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

The graduate fellowships are supported by the Paul A. Maeder ’75 Fund for Innovation in Energy and the Environment

Previous Maeder Fellows – Where Are They Now?

2021-2022 academic year Tianran Liu (chemical and biological engineering) graduate student at Princeton University

2020-2021 academic year Suong (Su) Nguyen (chemistry) postdoctoral researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2019-2020 academic year Weitao Shuai (civil and environmental engineering) postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University

2018-2019 academic year Evan Zhao (chemical and biological engineering) CEO and co-founder of Revela, Inc, a startup based in Massachusetts

2017-2018 academic year Ching-Yao Lai (mechanical and aerospace engineering) assistant professor of geosciences at Princeton University

2016-2017 academic year Clark Chen (chemical and biological engineering) assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

2016-2017 academic year Ryan Edwards (civil and environmental engineering) manager of climate policy at Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum

Shannon Hoffman and Joanna Schneider (Photo by Bumper DeJesus)

Amit Mehra, a member of the winning team who works as a sustainability executive at the global technology firm, Accenture.

Young Global Leaders collaborate on advancing the energy transition

In June 2022, participants from 20 countries gathered at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment for a four-day executive education program titled “Advancing the Global Energy Transition.” The course was hosted by the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders and the Andlinger Center and was attended by executives, entrepreneurs, government officials, academics, and journalists.

The centerpiece of the event was a role-playing game that tasked participants with ramping up energy production to serve a growing population by 2050 without increasing net carbon emissions. The goal was to propose an energy mix to balance national and world clean energy goals with power reliability and affordability. Jesse Jenkins led the session and used as its reference point the Net-Zero America study he co-authored, which envisioned what it would take for the U.S. to achieve an economy-wide target of net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.

In addition to the game, the program featured panel discussions and substantive talks. Keynote speaker Martin Parkinson, chancellor of Macquarie University in Australia, noted the importance of building coalitions and partnerships across diverse sectors and communities, and of allowing firms to work more closely together. Wind energy is a key example. Madeline Urbish, head of government affairs and market strategy in New Jersey for Ørsted, the world’s largest developer of offshore wind power, stated that public policy will play a vital role in moving new technology forward. She emphasized that policymakers and industry must work together to meet the needs of the state.

The program was funded with a generous gift by Howard E. Cox, Jr. ʼ64, special limited partner of Greylock Partners.

People don’t remember if you lost the game; people remember if you destroyed the planet.”

“

Participants engaged in team-building activities including playing an energy planning game. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Reunions

Transforming Carbon Dioxide for a Sustainable Future

Emily A. Carter, the Gerhard R. Andlinger ’52 Professor in Energy and the Environment, held a talk titled “Transforming Carbon Dioxide for a Sustainable Future” on May 20 for Reunions 2022, and presented an overview of innovative research to repurpose carbon dioxide into useful products such as fuel and building materials. Carter is also senior strategic advisor for sustainability science at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and applied and computational mathematics.

Expanding Our Reach — Events and News

As the world grapples to understand the impact of climate change, the national and international media sought faculty and researchers at the Andlinger Center for their expertise in energy and the environment. Below is a selection of noteworthy moments.

Q Chris Greig was an authority on Bloomberg Green for the article and podcast “The U.S. Needs to Build More, Faster to Reach Net Zero.”

Q Kelsey Hatzell was a referenced expert on Energy Wire’s “Major Calif. Battery Outage Highlights Energy Storage Risks.”

Q Eric Larson was a keynote speaker at the Verge Net Zero event “Accelerating the transition to a Climate-Positive Future.”

Q Elke Weber spoke on air with NPR “Coping With The Reality Of Climate Change.”

Q Z. Jason Ren published the book “Pathways to Water Sector Decarbonization, Carbon Capture and Utilization.”

Q Jesse Jenkins was a featured guest on the Apple Original television program “The Problem with Jon Stewart.”

Highlight Seminar Series

Philip Krein (November 2021), University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign, “The Future of Electric Cars: How Do We Charge Them Up? Do They Really Bring Benefit?”

Anna Dyson (November 2021), Yale University, “Towards Ecosystem-of-Systems Research and Development in Architectural Sciences”

George Tynan (December 2021), UC San Diego, “How Might Controlled Fusion Fit into the Emerging Low-Carbon Electricity Markets of the Mid-21st Century?”

William Banholzer (March 2022) University of WisconsinMadison, “Perspectives on Separating Possible vs. Practical Sustainable Solutions for Energy and Materials”

Daniel Nocera (April 2022), Harvard University, “Sustainable and Renewable Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus Cycles for Fuel and Crop Production”

Yet-Ming Chiang (May 2021), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Storage to Enable a 100% Renewable Electric Grid”

Emily A. Carter (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Jesse Jenkins (Photo courtesy “The Problem with Jon Stewart”)

Leadership and Staff

Claire F. Gmachl

Interim Director, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering; Head, Whitman College

Chris Greig

Acting Associate Director for External Partnerships, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Senior Research Scientist at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Z. Jason Ren

Associate Director for Research, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Elke U. Weber

Associate Director for Education, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment; Professor in Psychology and Public Affairs, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

Diane Carlino

Executive Director for Administration

Victoria Cleave

Assistant Director, BioLEC

Bumper DeJesus

Visual Communications Specialist

Diana Dudash

Program Administrator for E-ffiliates and Events

Robert Eich

Program Administrator for Research

Vivian Fuhrman

Assistant Director for External Partnerships

Sarah Jackson

Administrative Assistant

Brenda Mikeo

Business Manager

Ashlee Prewitt-Crosby

Grants and Finance Manager

Moira Selinka

Program Manager, Education and Outreach

Molly Seltzer

Communications Specialist

Charlie Sharpless

Assistant Director for Research

Faculty and Researchers

José Avalos

Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Emily Carter

Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment; Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and Applied and Computational Mathematics; Senior Strategic Advisor for Sustainability Science at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)

Minjie Chen

Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

David Gates

Senior Research Scholar, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Managing Research Physicist, Advanced Projects Department Head, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

Christopher Greig

Acting Associate Director for External Partnerships, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Senior Research Scientist, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Kelsey Hatzell

Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Jesse Jenkins

Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Egemen Kolemen

Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and PPPL

Eric Larson

Senior Research Engineer, Energy Systems Analysis Group, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo

Chief Executive Officer, Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation; Theodora D. ‘78 and William H. Walton III ‘74 Professor in Engineering, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering (on leave)

Christos Maravelias

Anderson Family Professor in Energy and the Environment; Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Forrest Meggers

Associate Professor of Architecture and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Barry P. Rand

Associate Director for External Partnerships, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment (on leave); Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Z. Jason Ren

Associate Director for Research, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Elke U. Weber

Associate Director for Education, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment; Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

Claire E. White

Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

External Advisory Council

D. Michelle Addington

Dean, School of Architecture; Henry M. Rockwell Chair in Architecture University of Texas at Austin

Merrick G. Andlinger ’80

President Andlinger & Company, Inc.

Sally Benson

Director, Global Climate and Energy Project; Co-Director, Precourt Institute for Energy; Professor, Energy Resources Engineering Stanford University

Yet-Ming Chiang

Kyocera Professor of Ceramics Massachusetts Institute of Technology

David Eaglesham

Founder and CTO Electric Hydrogen Co.;

Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

Menachem Elimelech

Roberto Goizueta Professor of Environmental and Chemical Engineering; Director, Environmental Engineering Program

Yale University

Peter Green

Deputy Laboratory Director, Science and Technology; Chief Research Officer National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Jennifer Holmgren

Chief Executive Officer

LanzaTech

Catherine McVay Hughes

Ceres President’s Council

Ralph Izzo

Chairman, President, and CEO PSEG

Cheryl LaFleur

Independent System Operator of New England; Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Adjunct Senior Research Scholar, Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP)

Paul A. Maeder ’75

Managing General Partner & Founder Highland Capital Partners

Linda F. Nazar, FRS, FRSC, Order of Canada

Fellow of the Royal Society; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; Waterloo Distinguished Research Professor, Senior Canada Research Chair in Solid State Energy Materials; Department of Chemistry and the Waterloo Institute of Nanotechnology; University of Waterloo

Gregory H. Olsen

President

GHO Ventures, LLC

Geeta Thakorlal

Executive Group Director, Information & Digital Delivery, Worley

Matthew Tirrell

Dean and Founding Pritzker Director, Institute for Molecular Engineering University of Chicago

Deputy Laboratory Director for Science Argonne National Laboratory

William H. Walton III ’74 P21

Managing Member and Co-Founder Rockpoint Group, LLC

Elizabeth Wilson

Professor of Environmental Studies; Director, Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society Dartmouth College

Executive Committee

Craig B. Arnold

Vice Dean for Innovation; Susan Dod Brown Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

René A. Carmona

Paul M. Wythes ’55 Professor of Engineering and Finance; Professor of Operations Research and Financial Engineering

Emily Carter

Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment; Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and Applied and Computational Mathematics; Senior Strategic Advisor for Sustainability Science at PPPL

Sir Steven C. Cowley

Director, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory; Professor of Astrophysical Sciences

Claire F. Gmachl

Interim Director, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering; Head, Whitman College

Chris Greig

Acting Associate Director for External Partnerships, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Senior Research Scientist at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Peter R. Jaffé

William L. Knapp ’47 Professor of Civil Engineering; Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Egemen Kolemen

Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Christos Maravelias

Anderson Family Professor in Energy and the Environment, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Denise Mauzerall

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Public and International Affairs, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

Forrest Meggers

Associate Professor of Architecture and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Anu Ramaswami

Sanjay Swani ’87 Professor of India Studies; Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, and the High Meadows Environmental Institute; Director, M.S. Chadha Center for Global India

Barry P. Rand

Associate Director for External Partnerships, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Z. Jason Ren

Associate Director for Research, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Jennifer L. Rexford

Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor of Engineering; Professor of Computer Science; Chair, Department of Computer Science

Gregory Scholes

William S. Tod Professor of Chemistry; Chair, Department of Chemistry

Sankaran Sundaresan

Norman John Sollenberger Professor in Engineering; Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Gabriel A. Vecchi

Professor, Geosciences Department and High Meadows Environmental Institute; Director, High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton University; Deputy Director, Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System

Elke U. Weber

Associate Director for Education, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Gerhard R. Andlinger

Professor in Energy and the Environment; Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs

Claire E. White

Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Mark A. Zondlo

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

andlinger center for energy and the environment

Supporters

The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University is grateful to the following supporters whose gifts help to realize the vision of the center. 2021-2022 donors are denoted with asterisks.

Gerhard R. Andlinger ’52 Founding Gift

Lisa Lee Morgan ’76 *79 to further the center’s mission*

Kent C. Simons ’57 to the David P. Simons Fund for Energy and the Environment*

Lydia B. and William M. Addy ’82 to establish the Addy/ISN North American Low Carbon Emission Energy Self-Sufficiency Fund to support innovative research, equipment, policy development, and teaching

Dwight W. Anderson ’89 to establish the Anderson Family Professorship in Energy and the Environment

Tia S. Barancik ’83 to establish the Class of 1983 Fund for Energy and the Environment

Solomon D. Barnett ’05 to further the center’s mission

James W. and Dede T. Bartlett to the Dede T. Bartlett P03 Fund for Student Research in Energy and the Environment

John E. Bartlett ’03 to establish the Dede T. Bartlett P03 Fund for Student Research in Energy and the Environment

Peter J. Bartlett ’77 and Erin T. Bartlett to further the center’s mission

Charles A. Bernheim ’57 to further the center’s mission

Erik C. Blachford ’89 to further the center’s mission

Patricia A. and Dante G. Bonardi to the David P. Simons Fund for Energy and the Environment

Howard E. Cox, Jr. ’64 to the WEF/Young Global Leaders Executive Education Module

John E. Cross ’72 and Mary Tiffany Cross to further the center’s mission

Nancy A. Curtin ’79 and John Stafford to establish the Nancy A. Curtin ’79 and John Stafford Research Innovation Fund

John O. Dabiri ’01 to establish the John O. Dabiri ’01 Family Fund for Excellence in Energy and Environmental Research

The de Carvalho-Heineken Family to establish the de Carvalho-Heineken Family Fund for Environmental Studies for faculty and student research

John P. Drzik ’83 and Ann L. Thorsell ’83 to establish the John Drzik and Ann Thorsell Fund for Innovation

A. Donald Grosset, Jr. ’54 in memory of John E. Stauffer ’54

High Meadows Foundation to establish the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment Director’s Fund

Kerry L. and William F. Holekamp for equipment

Thomas W. Horton Family for equipment

Fred W. Kittler, Jr. ’70 to further the center’s mission

Peter C. Klosowicz ’76 to establish the Peter C. Klosowicz ’76 Fund for Energy and the Environment for research and teaching

David T. Liu ’99 *04 to further the center’s mission

Sally Liu ’87 and Bay-Wei W. Chang ’87 to establish the Sally Liu ’87 and Bay Chang ’87 Fund for Energy and the Environment

David R. Loevner ‘76 and Catherine P. Loevner to support the Rapid Switch Initiative

Paul A. Maeder ’75 for construction of Maeder Hall and to establish the Paul A. Maeder ’75 Fund for Innovation in Energy and the Environment for graduate fellowships

Jay P. Mandelbaum ’84 to establish the Laurie and Jay P. Mandelbaum ’84 Fund for Energy and the Environment

William N. Neidig ’70 and Christy E. Neidig to further the center’s mission

Nicholas J. Nicholas, Jr. ’62 to establish the Nicholas Family Fund for the Environment to advance public understanding of important issues related to energy and the environment

Nicholas G. Nomicos ’84 and Kathleen Connor Nomicos ’84 to establish the Nicholas and Kathleen Nomicos Class of 1984 Fund for the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment to advance public understanding of important issues related to energy and the environment

Gregory H. Olsen to establish the Gregory H. Olsen Postdoctoral Fellowship Fund

Sarah Finnie Robinson ’78 and Jackson W. Robinson to further the center’s mission

Mark F. Rockefeller ’89 to establish the Renee and Mark F. Rockefeller ’89 Fund for the Environment for faculty and student research

Ernest H. Ruehl, Jr. ’85 to establish the Ruehl Family Fund for the Environment for faculty and student research

Elchin A. Safarov and Dilyara Allakhverdova to further the center’s mission

Patrick and Mary Scanlan to further the center’s mission

Gloria G. and Karl F. Schlaepfer ’49 to further the center’s mission and to establish the Schlaepfer Family Fund for equipment

Richard and Enika Schulze Foundation for research

Erika Simons to the David P. Simons Fund for Energy and the Environment

Tapesh Sinha and Sandra Jin to establish the Sandra and Tapesh Sinha P19 Fund

Alexander L. Smorczewski ’07 to further the center’s mission

Valerie Brown Stauffer to establish the John E. Stauffer ’54 Teaching Laboratories in the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Lewis W. van Amerongen ’62 to establish the Lewis W. van Amerongen ’62 Fund for Energy Research for equipment

Alex L. Volckhausen ’93, Sharon L. Volckhausen ’91, and Mrs. William A. Volckhausen W59 to support the Rapid Switch Initiative

William H. Walton, III ’74 and Theodora D. Walton ’78 to establish the Theodora D. ‘78 and William H. Walton, III ‘74 Research Scientist Fund

Maura Wong ’88 and Kenneth Chen ’87 to further the center’s mission

Anonymous gifts for construction of the Andlinger Center building

Anonymous gift for environmental policy research

Anonymous gift for the highest priorities of the center, including research, equipment, and a visitors program

Anonymous gift for research

Anonymous gift to establish the Peter B. Lewis Fund for Student Innovation in Energy and the Environment for student projects, particularly field work and laboratory research

Anonymous gift to establish the Sustainability Fund for student research

Anonymous gift for research in carbon sequestration, solar energy, and fusion energy

Anonymous gift to establish the Parallax Fund for Energy and the Environment for faculty and student research

Anonymous gift to support the Rapid Switch Initiative

DeJesus

Carlino, Robert Eich, and Michele Hujber

DeJesus, Vivian Fuhrman, Michele Hujber, Molly Seltzer, and Charlie Sharpless

Applewhite, Kevin Birch, Bumper DeJesus, David Kelly Crow, and Frank Wojciechowski

Copyright © 2022 by The Trustees of Princeton University

In the Nation’s Service and the Service of Humanity

Princeton University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. The Andlinger Center particularly invites applications from women and members of underrepresented minorities. For information about applying to Princeton and how to self-identify, please visit: https://dof.princeton.edu/academicjobs

Nondiscrimination Statement

In compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other federal, state and local laws, Princeton University does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, religion, national or ethnic origin, disability, genetic information, or veteran status in any phase of its employment process, in any phase of its admission or financial aid programs, or other aspects of its educational programs or activities. The vice provost for institutional equity and diversity is the individual designated by the University to coordinate its efforts to comply with Title IX, Section 504 and other equal opportunity and affirmative action regulations and laws. Questions or concerns regarding Title IX, Section 504 or other aspects of Princeton’s equal opportunity or affirmative action programs should be directed to Michele Minter, Vice Provost for Institutional Equity

Diversity, Princeton University, 205 Nassau Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544 or 609-2586110. Further, inquiries about the application of Title IX and its supporting regulations

also be directed

Secretary for Civil Rights, Office for Civil Rights,

Professor Forrest Meggers and Alexander Cox and Sophie Amiton, graduate students (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Yang Du, postdoctoral researcher (Photo by Bumper DeJesus)

Xiaoming Zhao, postdoctoral researcher; Rudolph Holley III, graduate student; and Quinn Burlingame, associate research scholar (Photo by Bumper DeJesus)