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Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment 2018/2019 Annual Report

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How quickly can we transition to a low-carbon energy future? Making the Rapid Switch.

annual report for the academic year 2018 -2019


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mission+goals

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excel

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engage

inform

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Message from the Director

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Mission + Goals

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Research Areas

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Selected Events Timeline 2018-2019

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Excel

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The Andlinger Community Thrives

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Rapid Switch

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New Research

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Investing in Cutting-Edge Research

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Faculty Award Highlights

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Engage

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Annual Meeting

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E-fďŹ liates Retreat

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E-fďŹ liates Member Highlights

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Engaging Practitioners

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Inform

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Educating Undergraduates

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Summer Internships

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Graduate Spotlight

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Educating the Public

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Leadership

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Supporters


Our world is growing. Today, the global population is expected to rise by two billion in the next three decades,

Photo by Sameer A. Khan / Fotobuddy

and nearly the same number of people is expected to move upward out of poverty by 2040. Increasing access to energy and electricity is a key part of facilitating this social and economic mobility. Accordingly, global demand for energy is expected to grow by almost 30% by 2040. This is all against a backdrop of rising carbon emissions. Each year, we continue to put greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as we fuel economies and growth. This is not just in countries with newly booming populations or economies. In 2018, the United States emitted at a higher rate than we’ve seen in the last 10 years, signaling the need for a renewed, strengthened commitment to decarbonizing our world.

Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo Director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Professor in Engineering Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering

At the Andlinger Center, we are driven to find new, creative ways to fuel societies and economies while limiting carbon pollution. What technologies, policies, and changes will get us there, and what stands in the way, are the questions we are tackling with full force. In the past year, the Andlinger Center launched Rapid Switch, an international research collaboration that aims to determine a realistic pace of and practical pathways to decarbonizing energy systems around the world. To help inform this research, we have mobilized research institutions, corporations, and NGOs across China, India, and Australia to incorporate local perspectives into solutions for this global challenge. We are working to identify and resolve bottlenecks in anticipation of transitions to low-carbon economies, and bringing in voices from across the spectrum to include anyone who has a stake in understanding how changing energy landscapes and a changing climate will affect their lives and livelihoods. We are doing this in communities across the globe and in our local community. At our annual meeting, we welcomed New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy as the keynote speaker. He pointed to the critical role of universities in driving innovations that not only solve problems, but also create economic opportunities. We engaged with the N.J. Board of Public Utilities to advise on how the offshore wind industry could develop in the state, and hosted a meeting to explore ways to develop sustainable supply chains for industries in New Jersey. In each activity, we aim to amplify our impact by actively collaborating with our partners, and by seeking new ones, to broaden the avenues through which we translate ideas into action.

“We are building our capacity and adding to our academic arsenal of people and programs that will help yield solutions for a long-term energy and environmental future.”

We continue to grow our reach. Next year, we will host the second cohort of Young Global Leaders at our executive education module in partnership with the World Economic Forum. We will train today’s decision-makers on energy technologies, and on how to incorporate information about energy and environmental management into business strategies. We are building our capacity and adding to our academic arsenal of people and programs that will help yield solutions for a long-term energy and environmental future. As of Sept. 1, 2019, we welcomed Jesse Jenkins to our faculty, who brings a systems perspective to energy analysis, and two new Gerhard R. Andlinger visiting fellows, Harry Warren, an energy industry veteran, and Richard Moss, a top climate advisor to policymakers.

The pages that follow showcase the research and activities we are excited to undertake each day to move the needle on these complex and challenging global issues. More importantly, they showcase the power and importance of community. I invite you to join us in our mission — attend a seminar, participate in our fellowship programs, ask our faculty questions, read our energy and environmental news, collaborate on research, and support the funding of our activities. We need everyone with us in this endeavor. We succeed with your continued support and engagement.

Welcome to our Andlinger Center community. 1


to develop solutions for our energy and environmental future 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 in a broad context be the leading center for information and advice

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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 grids with high renewables penetration

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 Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, individual and collective decision-making and economic analysis related to energy and environmental policy

Photo: Eyematrix / stock.adobe.com

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

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december

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) names Elke Weber a Fellow.

november

september

october

Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo participates in talk on “Entrepreneurship the Princeton Way,” at “She Roars” conference celebrating women at Princeton.

Chris Greig joins the Andlinger Center as a Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow in Energy and the Environment.

august

july

The Andlinger Center holds a two-day symposium of research talks with researchers from Princeton University, ExxonMobil, and Siemens on geophysics, computational science, and cyber-physical systems.

excel engage inform

The Andlinger Center hosts Princeton University’s first executive education module in partnership with the World Economic Forum for the Young Global Leaders.

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The Andlinger Center holds a public conference, Accelerating Climate Action and welcomes New Jersey First Lady, Tammy Snyder Murphy, as the keynote speaker.

N.J. Governor Phil Murphy delivers the keynote address during the Andlinger Center’s seventh annual meeting, sponsored by Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership.


The Andlinger Center honors Robert H. Socolow’s 40 year career dedicated to advancing energy and environmental research during a daylong symposium.

Princeton University promotes Barry Rand to associate professor of electrical engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.

Two research projects involving four investigators from the Andlinger Center receive funding to use the campus as a laboratory to test and develop new energy technologies.

The Andlinger Center and partners launch Rapid Switch, a five-year international research effort focused on decarbonizing the world’s energy systems, at the annual E-ffiliates Retreat.

Princeton University promotes Claire White to asssociate professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.

E-ffiliates funds two new research projects, one to determine the best locations for carbon storage and one to develop new materials for carbon capture.

The National Science Foundation awards Minjie Chen an NSF CAREER award.

The Andlinger Center publishes its fifth Energy Technology Distillate on emerging energy technologies, entitled “Wind Power.”

The Andlinger Center awards graduate student, Weitao Shuai, the 2019-2020 Maeder Fellowship in Energy and the Environment.

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation names José Avalos a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar.

july

june

may

april

march

february

january

The Andlinger Center appoints Barry Rand as associate director for external partnerships.

The Andlinger Center appoints Z. Jason Ren as associate director for research.

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A bioreactor, developed by Z. Jason Ren, professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, uses bacteria to clean wastewater and produce renewable hydrogen. See page 12 for more information on Ren’s work. (Photo by Sameer A. Khan / Fotobuddy) 6


excel Reducing greenhouse gas emissions while meeting increasing global energy demand is a task that requires knowledge across disciplines and integrated research. That’s why the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University supports projects across the sphere of energy studies and draws on wide-ranging expertise to develop tools and technologies to provide more energy using fewer resources. We take a holistic approach to understanding how to sustain global populations and economies, looking at the policy landscape, economics, the basics of electricity and fuel production, and the way people behave, to build practical solutions. Our goal is to help the world adapt to and mitigate the effects of a changing climate, and simultaneously meet the needs of growing societies and populations. To this end, we execute cross-cutting research — experiment with bacteria to clean water and produce useful fuels, test where carbon can be stored, create sensors that monitor energy use — to improve the quality of life and access to resources globally, while enabling a more environmentally sustainable world.

Photo by David Kelly Crow

“By creating a diverse academic community of researchers working on solutions across the energy spectrum, the Andlinger Center cultivates a wide set of technologies to meet the challenges of this century.” —Peter Jaffé, associate director for research at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, the William L. Knapp ’47 Professor of Civil Engineering, and professor of civil and environmental engineering

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n millio $6.7

+$600,000

+$ 3.4 mi llio n

+$500,0 00

+ $8 00 ,0 00

on illi m

+$1.8 million

research projects supported by the Andlinger Center, $6.5 million invested

+$2.7 million

n llio mi 4.5 +$

00 00,0 +$6

.5 $1 +

lion $1.9 mil

44

00 0,0 60 +$

55

external grants totaling $24 million

+$5 million

2013 2014

2014

2015

2015

2016

2016

2017

2017

2018

2018

2019

2019

11

91

+15

2019

+24

2018

+11

2017

+14

2016

+8

2015

+12

2014 2013

7

300

patent disclosures & applications

publications resulting from Andlinger Center seed fund support

graduate students & postdocs supported

2019

+0

2019

2018

+2

2018

+3

2017

+1

2016

+3

2015 2014

2

+82 +67 +82

2017

+13

2016

+19

2015 2014 2013

+18 19

Key to Andlinger Center Research Areas Built environment, transportation, and infrastructure Electricity production, transmission, and storage Fuels and chemicals Environmental sensing and remediation Decision and behavioral science, policy, and economics Environmental and climate science

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excel / engage / inform


And the Honor Goes to...

New Faculty

Photo by Frank Wojciechowski

As of September 1, 2019, Jesse Jenkins has been appointed assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Jenkins joins the Andlinger Center after his time as a Postdoctoral Environmental Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is an energy systems researcher with a background in renewable energy integration, strengthening the center’s focus on energy systems analysis and integration. He will collaborate with the Energy Systems Analysis Group, and plans to work with a diverse set of engineering and policy researchers across the University. With nearly 24,000 followers on Twitter and features in The New York Times, Axios, The Atlantic, and others, Jenkins engages with decision-makers and widely communicates his research to answer practical questions about energy transitions.

Congratulations! Barry Rand has been promoted to associate professor of electrical engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Claire White has been promoted to associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Naveen Verma has been promoted to professor of electrical engineering. In addition, Alejandro Rodriguez and Kaushik Sengupta in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Mengdi Wang in the Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering, and Mohammad Seyedsayamdost in the Department of Chemistry, have been promoted to associate professor.

Leadership As of July 1, 2019, Barry Rand has been appointed the associate director for external partnerships and Z. Jason Ren has been appointed the associate director for research at the Andlinger Center. Rand oversees external partnerships and Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership. Ren, professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, oversees the research portfolio at the center.

Paul Chirik, the Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Chemistry, has received the Advanced Environmental Solutions award, one of three annual energy innovation awards from Eni, a transnational energy company operating in 67 countries, for his research in the field of catalysis. Chirik develops ways for nontoxic common metals to replace rarer — and far less environmentally friendly — metals in the catalytic reactions that produce medicines and consumer products. He recently discovered that the iron catalysts he developed can recycle butadiene, paving the way for future developments in mitigating the environmental impact of traditional plastics. Elke Weber, associate director for education at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, was named a Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Weber, the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and professor of psychology and public affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, is known for her work on behavioral decision science and psychological theory. Her work focuses on measuring and modeling the behaviors of individuals and groups in response to uncertainty and tradeoffs in business decisions and how such choices impact the environment. (continued on page 17 )

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Making the Rapid Switch: Decarbonizing the World’s Energy Systems How quickly can the world’s energy systems become low-carbon? The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment has launched an international five-year research collaboration that aims to determine the pace at which the global energy sector can be decarbonized. The effort looks to frame a realistic global response to climate change that accounts for massive economic development in countries, including India and China. The project, called Rapid Switch, seeks to identify more viable decarbonization pathways that acknowledge massive ongoing investments in high-emitting energy systems and looks for existing technologies that can reasonably scale to have the greatest positive environmental impact. A core research team based at universities and think tanks in India, China, the United States, Australia, and Europe will deliver a series of special reports that identify roadblocks and unintended consequences — technological, economic, social and political — that could slow the deployment of more sustainable technologies with an eye to anticipate and address these potential bottlenecks before they arise.

“It is impossible to address the global decarbonization agenda without thinking about the impact of India and China — both how carbon mitigation strategies will affect growth in those countries and how the growth will affect climate action.” Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo Director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

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Three Rapid Switch projects are already underway. One, involving researchers from India, the United States, and Australia, is examining low-carbon growth strategies for India. The project explores the techno-economic and socio-political hurdles of solar expansion, energy efficiency investments and productivity improvements, and the challenges the incumbent coal sector faces in the country. The second, led by the Andlinger Center’s Energy Systems Analysis Group, is examining how changes to the power grid and market in the mid-Atlantic states could promote wind, solar, and other low-carbon energy sources. A third project at Princeton, led by investigators at the Andlinger Center and Princeton Environmental Institute, is critically assessing the cost and execution schedule risks of various pathways to achieve a net-zero-carbon economy in the United States by mid-century. Chris Greig, a Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow in Energy and the Environment, who is also the director of the Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation at the University of Queensland in Australia, is a convener of this research endeavor. Eric Larson, senior research engineer and head of the Energy Systems Analysis Group, co-leads this project. In addition to Princeton University, early partners include researchers at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, the Indian Institutes of Technology in Delhi and Mumbai, and Tsinghua University in Beijing. “Many previous climate strategies have focused on the critical goal of keeping the planet below a certain degree of warming and working backwards to generate scenarios for decarbonization,” said Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo, director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, the Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Professor in Engineering, and professor of chemical and biological engineering. “Rapid Switch differs from and complements existing models because we’re starting with the technologies and the realities on the ground now and asking how rapidly we can effect a transition. Then we can ask: How close does that get us to the climate goals, and what can we do to get there faster?” said Loo, a co-principal investigator on Rapid Switch. In addition to the Andlinger Center, supporters of the research projects include Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership, the Carbon Mitigation Initiative, the University of Queensland, and Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies.


Chris Greig presents during the Rapid Switch workshop at the Andlinger Center in June 2019. (Photo by Bumper DeJesus) BELOW

Anthony Ku, director for advanced technologies at the National Institute for Clean and Low Carbon Energy, Beijing, speaks about decarbonizing the Chinese energy sector at the 2019 Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership retreat. BELOW RIGHT

Eric Larson, a senior research engineer at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and Lynn Loo attend the poster session awards during the 2019 Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership retreat. (Photos by Tori Repp / Fotobuddy)

“The intensive collaboration with local stakeholders and decisionmakers and the laser-sharp focus on what can be done today sets this project apart.” Chris Greig Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow in Energy and the Environment, and director of the Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation at the University of Queensland in Australia

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ABOVE

Z. Jason Ren speaks about the energy-water nexus during the advisory council meeting in June 2019. (Photo by Tori Repp / Fotobuddy)

Pulling Hydrogen from Wastewater Using Sunlight Hydrogen is a critical component in the manufacture of thousands of common products from plastic to fertilizers, but producing pure hydrogen is expensive and energy-intensive. A research team led by Z. Jason Ren has harnessed sunlight to isolate hydrogen from industrial wastewater.

ABOVE RIGHT

Z. Jason Ren and Lu Lu adjust a reactor that uses artificial photosynthesis and microbes to clean water and produce fuel in Ren’s Water and Energy Technologies Lab. (Photo by Bumper DeJesus)

The team ran the wastewater through a newly designed chamber, used a lamp to simulate sunlight, and watched the organic contaminants break down and the hydrogen bubble up. The technique uses a speciallydesigned chamber with a “swiss-cheese” black silicon interface to split water and isolate hydrogen gas. The process is aided by bacteria that generate electrical current when consuming organic matter in wastewater; the current, in turn, aids the water splitting process. The process allows for simultaneous wastewater treatment and fuel production. The researchers said the technology could appeal to refineries and chemical plants, which typically produce their own hydrogen from fossil fuels and face high costs for cleaning wastewater. Historically, hydrogen production has relied on oil, gas or coal, and an energy-intensive method that involves processing the hydrocarbon stock with steam. Chemical manufacturers then combine the hydrogen gas with carbon or nitrogen to create high-value chemicals, such as methanol and ammonia. The two are ingredients in synthetic fibers, fertilizer, plastics, and cleaning products, among other everyday goods. According to the researchers, this is the first time actual wastewater, not lab-made solutions, has been used to produce hydrogen using photocatalysis. The researchers said they will likely experiment with producing larger amounts of hydrogen and other gases in the future, and look forward to moving this technology to industry. “It’s a win-win situation for chemical and other industries,” said Lu Lu, the first author on the study and an associate research scholar in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “They can save on wastewater treatment and save on energy use through this hydrogen-creation process.”

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Smaller Components Could Mean Big Savings for Data Centers

ABOVE

Minjie Chen is shown holding the ultra-

Power converters are devices that change the flow of electricity to fit the needs of electronics. While they are often unseen inside laptops and LEDs, coverters are nearly ubiquitous in everyday life, and play a big role in keeping the lights on and electronic devices running. In data centers, where rows of computers and servers are constantly processing information, substantial power is lost during this conversion process, which can dramatically impact the amount of energy needed. Minjie Chen, assistant professor of electrical engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, has developed a new type of power converter called an ultra-efficient Energy Processing Unit (EPU), paving the way for data centers to consume less power, while making a key electronic component much smaller. The approach uses a modular design with reconfigurable parts, allowing the converters to be physically smaller as well as electronically more sophisticated than the older versions. Chen’s design combines aspects of single- and mutli-stage converters to create a new type called a “merged multi-stage power converter.” The new design is less expensive than the multi-stage converter and is more energy-efficient.

efficient power converter. The compact design would enable three times the number of servers to fit in a data center compared to conventional converters. (Photos by Frank Wojciechowski) RIGHT

The ultra-efficient power converter was

Data centers are large power consumers and their demand is growing. With Chen’s technology, data centers could fit up to three times the number of existing servers. The researchers estimate their technology would decrease wasted energy by 25% compared to leading commercial equipment, and that wide adoption of the system could save more than $500 million annually in U.S. electricity consumption. In terms of fossil fuel consumption, that same figure represents the equivalent to taking one million cars off the road each year.

designed by researchers at Princeton and MIT to reduce power losses, and is especially useful for data centers, which have large energy footprints.

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lovelyday12 / stock.adobe.com

For Hydrogen Power, Mundane Materials Might Do the Trick

Creating Fuels from Plant Stalks Using Light Bioinspired Light-Escalated Chemistry (BioLEC) is a new Energy Frontier Research Center created at Princeton University and funded by the Department of Energy, led by Gregory Scholes, the William S. Tod Professor of Chemistry. Its mission is to use bio-based materials like plant stalks and light to make chemicals that go into everyday goods, which are typically derived from fossil fuels. These include chemical feedstocks for plastics, fertilizers, styrofoam, and other commonly used materials. Manufacturing the primary chemicals that go into these plastic precursors accounts for 5% of global CO2 emissions due to the energy-intensive process of extracting and altering fossil fuels. The researchers intend to use sunlight or light from LEDs to drive chemical reactions that would not have enough energy to happen otherwise, breaking molecules in plant stalks to generate the base molecule of the desired chemicals. The Andlinger Center provides strategic management of BioLEC and supports the research collaboration by investing in postdoctoral researchers.

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A research team led by Bruce E. Koel, professor of chemical and biological engineering, has opened a door to finding far cheaper alternatives to using platinum as catalysts in the process of electrochemically splitting water to produce hydrogen for use as fuel. In a recent study, the researchers reported that a chemical compound based on hafnium is about 60% as effective as platinum-based catalysts, but at about one-fifth the cost.

A research team led by Bruce Koel aims to find alternatives to platinum as a catalyst for water splitting. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

China’s Complex Air, Water, and Carbon Emissions Goals The fruits of Fabian Wagner’s labor during his tenure as a Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Professor in Energy and the Environment in 2014-2015 are still flourishing. With colleagues in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Wagner recently published research that warned that the use of coal-based synthetic natural gas would increase carbon emissions and water demand, especially in regions of China that already have high per-capita carbon emissions and water scarcity. The researchers found that switching from coal to natural gas does produce air, carbon, and water co-benefits when methane leakage is well-controlled. However, they found that there are trade-offs when it comes to degree of improvements for air quality and water scarcity, depending upon the sector in which the natural gas is used as a substitution for coal.

A New Way to Measure the Stability of Next-generation Magnetic Fusion Devices Scientists seeking to bring to Earth the fusion that powers the sun and stars must control the charged plasma, a state of matter composed of free-floating electrons and atomic nuclei that fuels fusion reactions. For scientists who confine plasmas in magnetic fields, a key task is mapping the shape of the fields, which indicates the stability of the plasmas. “Electron Cyclotron Emission” (ECE) and fast-camera imaging are both well-known diagnostic tools for determining the shape of the fields. At the Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), researchers have developed a method with which the information gathered from these diagnostic tools can be combined to determine the shape of the field. Unlike alternatives, this technique works in high-neutron environments and is particularly useful for next-generation reactors for which standard mapping tools cannot be used. The method was developed by Andrew Nelson, a graduate student in plasma physics at PPPL, and his advisor Egemen Kolemen, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and PPPL.


Andlinger Center Grant for Innovative Research in Energy and the Environment Two of the most pressing energy and environmental challenges facing cities and countries today are adapting urban water systems to handle increasing rainfall, and removing CO2 from the atmosphere. The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment has awarded two research teams 2019 grants to address these critical issues. The research projects span seven departments across Princeton University and include 12 investigators.

Mengdi Wang and Andrew Bocarsly were awarded the 2019 grants.

“Bringing Data Science and Machine Intelligence to Water and Energy Research,” led by Mengdi Wang, will apply big data techniques to water management to enable urban water utilities to predict how floodwaters will move through their jurisdictions, and help prevent catastrophic failures of large systems from increasingly intense storms. “A Hybrid Bioelectrochemical Approach to the Synthesis of Organic Feedstocks from CO2,” led by Andrew Bocarsly, professor of chemistry, will develop a specially-designed reactor using microbes and electrochemistry to turn CO2, pulled from the atmosphere, into molecules useful for fuel and chemical production. 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; de Carvalho-Heineken Family Fund for Environmental Studies; High Meadows Foundation’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment Director’s Fund; Parallax Fund for Energy and the Environment; Renee and Mark F. Rockefeller ’89 Fund for the Environment; Sustainability Fund; and anonymous gifts.

TWO YEARS LATER

ONE YEAR LATER

ONE YEAR LATER

Ammonia as a Sustainable Liquid Fuel

Investigating Impacts of High-Intensity Wind

Decarbonizing the World’s Energy Systems

Since receiving the grant, the research team:

Since receiving the grant, the research team:

Since receiving the grant, the research team:

• made strides in reversing the HaberBosch process to generate hydrogen and nitrogen using visible light with the end goal of producing ammonia;

• oversaw construction of the new wind tunnel;

• launched an international research collaboration spanning four continents to determine possible pace and top strategies for decarbonization. For more information on the project, please see pages 10 and 22.

• published on how proton-coupled electron transfer is preferred over hydrogen atom transfer in Chemical Communications; and • published on how ammonia production in a manganese nitride is facilitated by light-driven proton-coupled electron transfer in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

• began developing a multidisciplinary review paper to explore the different research opportunities that can leverage the wind tunnel; and • organized grant proposals demonstrating how research conducted using the tunnel may help to inform policy for building sustainable cities.

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Andlinger Center Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellows Luis Ceferino was selected as an Andlinger Center Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow starting September 1, 2019. He is working with Ning Lin, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Warren Powell, professor of operations research and financial engineering and director of the Program in Engineering and Management Systems, on reducing risks from power outages after hurricanes using microgrids and distributed energy systems. Ceferino joins a cohort of fellows. Rebecca Ciez is investigating public policies that impact electricity generation technologies and electric vehicle transportation. Bastien Wild is combining in situ x-ray studies of green cements at Argonne National Lab with molecular dynamics computational tools to elucidate the degradation of silicate materials. Kian Wee Chen is developing algorithms, IoT sensors, and virtual reality features to aid in the design of more energy-efficient built environments. Tapomoy Bhattacharjee is developing novel fabrication approaches to control and optimize biofilms in the remediation of contaminated water. BELOW

Luis Cefernio was selected as an Andlinger

Center Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow. (Photo by Bumper DeJesus)

Growing Startups at the Andlinger Center Hearth Labs / Measuring the Missing Half of Thermal Comfort Forrest Meggers, assistant professor of architecture and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and co-director of the Program in Architecture and Engineering, co-founded the company to commercialize sensor-based technologies that can better measure occupant comfort and reduce energy consumption in buildings. In the last year, the company was accepted into the HAX startup accelerator program to work on hardware development, and developed a second technology, the Cube, in addition to the SMART sensor. The Cube calculates the mean radiant temperature and any asymmetry in the radiant heat, and can measure indoor air conditions. The company is also led by researcher Nicholas Houchois, co-founder and CEO, and Eric Teitelbaum, a graduate student in architecture, who serves as Chief Scientific Officer. Meggers serves as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Hearth Labs.

HiT Nano Inc. / Rethink Energy Storage Yiguang Ju, the Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and director of the Program in Sustainable Energy, founded the battery company to produce low cost, high performance batteries for electric vehicles based on a combustion process. In the last year, the company augmented a patent for a second proprietary combustion process for producing cathodes, the positive electrodes of batteries. The company also signed an exclusive license for the underlying technology and raised a seed round of $1M.

Andluca Technologies / Smart Windows Untethered Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo and Nicholas Davy, a graduate student in chemical and biological 16 excel / engage / inform

engineering, co-founded the company to commercialize a self-powered smart window that controls the amount of light and/or heat coming through the window. Broad patent coverage of their core technology was approved in the last year following development efforts supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Technology Transfer grant and angel funding from University alumni. The company also partnered with Princeton students to test Andluca’s solar-powered smart windows on campus buildings via the “Campus as Lab” program.

Cultivated at the Andlinger Center– Undergraduate Startups Flux Marine / Where Performance Meets Sustainability Founded by Ben Sorkin ’17, CEO, and Jonathan Lord ’18, CTO, the company designs and manufactures zero-emissions, high performance, electric outboard boat motors. In the last year, Flux Marine established office and manufacturing spaces in Boston, MA and Narragansett, RI. The company also developed a fully operational prototype for recreational and military applications.

WellPower / Powering Source-to-Door Clean Water Delivery The company aims to increase clean water access in developing countries with a solarpowered water filtration system and an on-demand smartphone app for clean water delivery. Todd Baldwin ’20, Noah Schochet ’21, and Bethwel Kiplimo ’21 are leading the company, which operates in two cities in Kenya. In the last year, the company raised pre-seed investment from Nate Faust, COO of Jet.com, and released an on-demand smartphone app for clean water delivery on the Google Play Store.


And the Honor Goes to...

(continued from page 9)

José Avalos, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, has been named a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar “for spatial and dynamic control of engineered metabolism for microbial chemical production.” The award is given to chemical scientists and engineers in the first five years of their academic careers who have demonstrated a deep commitment to education and who have an outstanding independent body of scholarship. Minjie Chen, has received an NSF CAREER award for his work on granular power electronics at the grid edge. Chen’s work focuses on the design of emerging power electronics that seek both higher performance and greater energy efficiency, while advancing toward a more distributed model of energy production and storage. Luc Deike, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Princeton Environmental Institute, has received an NSF CAREER award to study how bubbles break up in moving fluids, or turbulent flows, such as ocean water. The breakup of bubbles in turbulent flows is important in many environmental and industrial situations, including oil-spill cleanup and the exchange of gas and particles between the ocean and atmosphere. Deike, who specializes in fundamental fluid dynamics,

plans to develop a series of advanced numerical and experimental studies to examine the fragmentation of bubbles in turbulent flow under realistic conditions. Nat Fisch, associate director for academic affairs at PPPL, and professor of astrophysical sciences and director of the Program in Plasma Physics at Princeton University, has received a Distinguished Career Award from Fusion Power Associates (FPA). The award recognizes Fisch, whose research has opened new paths in the study of controlled fusion energy and plasma science, for his dedication to plasma science and for advancing the prospects for fusion power. Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo, was selected by the Institute for Defense Analyses and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to participate in the Defense Science Study Group, a program of education and study that introduces outstanding science and engineering professors to the United States’ security challenges and encourages them to apply their talents to these issues.

recognition of Smith’s work conducting extensive research into rainfall and floods around the United States. Most recently, he has been involved in NSF’s Urban Water Innovation program, for which his team has examined urban modification of rainfall climatology and the changing hydrologic response of urbanizing watersheds to extreme rainfall. Claire White, has received the 2019 Gustavo Colonnetti medal from the International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures. The Paris-based organization recognized White for her contributions to the development of sustainable construction materials, specifically low-CO2 formulations of concrete. White was recognized for uncovering and controlling the chemical mechanisms responsible for formation and long-term degradation of alternative cements. The list of awards and awardees represent select highlights from the past year and do not reflect all of the achievements of our faculty and affiliated faculty.

James Smith, the William and Edna Macaleer Professor of Engineering and Applied Science and professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been awarded the American Meteorological Society’s 2019 Hydrologic Sciences Medal. The award, one of the highest granted in the field of hydrology, was issued in

17


Kian Wee Chen, a Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, presents his research to E-ffiliates members during the 2019 annual E-ffiliates Retreat. (Photo by Tori Repp / Fotobuddy) 18


engage Creating and implementing solutions that help to ensure the long-term global energy and environmental future requires input from a broad range of stakeholders. External partnerships are key to leveraging creativity and technological solutions that ideate at the Andlinger Center. Expertise from industry helps quickly deploy and scale solutions intended to cut the global carbon footprint and move the world toward an environmentally sustainable future. The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University is a portal for policymakers, and business and investment decision-makers to access cutting-edge research. The Andlinger Center administers Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership, a corporate membership program, through which academic experts engage with practitioners to advance innovations in the technological, socioeconomic, and policy realms. Partners that engage with the Andlinger Center provide insight on where and how technologies can be scaled and bring an industrial perspective on technology development to students and researchers.

Photo by Tori Repp / Fotobuddy

“Engaging with our partners, stakeholders in industry, government, and NGOs, helps us identify the most challenging questions and urgent problems to bring to our labs and classrooms, and enables us to make critical discoveries that the world requires for today and tomorrow.� — Mark Zondlo, associate director for external partnerships at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering

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70 illion .7 m +$4

faculty, researchers, and students benefitted from E-ffiliates +17

m ill io n

2019

+ $2 .1

$9.5

+8

2018

+15

2017

+9

2016

+3

2015

+11

2014

7

2013

million

+$ 21 3,9 +$ 86 30 4,2 16 +$2 99,5 00 $282,29 8

cumulative funding for all research projects via Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership

+$1.6 million

44

collaborations formed as a result of all E-ffiliates research

2013 2014 2015

+10

2019

+4

2018 2016

2016

2018

2015

2019

+14

2017

2017

+7 +1 +5

2014 2013

3

Key to Andlinger Center Research Areas Built environment, transportation, and infrastructure Electricity production, transmission, and storage Fuels and chemicals Environmental sensing and remediation Decision and behavioral science, policy, and economics Environmental and climate science

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2018 Annual Meeting Poster Awards PSEG Undergraduate Poster Award Saira Reyes ’21 / “Optimizing the Metabolic Pathway of Yeast Cells for the Production of Isobutanol” Advised by José Avalos, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

“It’s meetings like these where ideas can be pulled from the air and shaped into real-world solutions, where challenges are identified and then they are answered.” —Phil Murphy, Governor of New Jersey

American Tower Graduate Student Poster Award Karina Alventosa / “The Effects of Calcium and Activator Solution Chemistry on Alkali-Activated Metakaolin Pastes” Advised by Claire White, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

ExxonMobil Graduate Student Poster Award Nancy Lu / “Controlling Flow Pathways by Reshaping Porous Media” Advised by Sujit Datta, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering

ExxonMobil Postdoctoral/ Researcher Poster Award Tapomoy Bhattacharjee / “Bacterial Communities in ThreeDimensional Porous Media” Advised by Sujit Datta

ABOVE

Governor Phil Murphy gives the keynote address at the annual meeting of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the

Environment at Princeton University. (Photo by Denise Applewhite, Office of Communications)

LEFT

Phil Murphy poses with

Princeton University students and researchers, including Amber Lin, Jonathan Lu, Saira Reyes, and Rebecca Ciez. (Photo by Denise Applewhite, Office of Communications)

2018 Andlinger Center Annual Meeting Sponsored by Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership Declaring that clean energy is central to New Jersey’s economic future, keynote speaker, N.J. Governor Phil Murphy, sketched his plan to bring a range of new technologies to the state, including offshore wind, at the Andlinger Center’s annual meeting on Friday, November 9, 2018. Murphy emphasized the importance of creating an innovation economy to drive simultaneous environmental and economic progress in the state, and highlighted the role of higher education in developing new methods for identifying and solving problems. The meeting featured panel discussions on research breakthroughs and on the challenges of developing low-carbon alternatives to fossil fuels for power supply and transportation. Topics included using microbes, such as yeast, to produce useful fuels, developing less polluting and quicker-curing cements, and creating ammonia for transportation. Along with Princeton University faculty, panelists also included representatives from ExxonMobil, Lanzatech, Harvard University, and the National Institute of Clean and Low-Carbon Energy, the research arm of China Energy Investment Corporation.

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Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership 2019 Retreat E-ffiliates 2019 Retreat Poster Awards ExxonMobil Postdoctoral/ Researcher Poster Award Alicia Cooperman / “Local politics, collective action, and policy implementation” Advised by Elke Weber, associate director for education at the Andlinger Center, the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and professor of psychology and public affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs

PSEG Graduate Student Poster Award Yanhong Bian / “Wastewater treatment for carbon capture and utilization” Advised by Z. Jason Ren, professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and associate director for research at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership, a membership-based program, offers corporations a unique opportunity to engage in close collaborations with academic experts to pursue transformational innovations. Through industry partnerships, E-ffiliates targets critical research needs and supports initiatives that move solutions quickly from lab to market. At the E-ffiliates annual retreat in June 2019, E-ffiliates members delved into the transformational innovations necessary to decarbonize the global economy. E-ffiliates members, including ExxonMobil, Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), and Siemens, discussed the political, social, and economic barriers to transitioning the world’s energy systems to run on low-carbon resources. The day launched Rapid Switch, an international research collaboration that aims to identify viable decarbonization pathways, which acknowledge massive ongoing investments in high-emitting energy systems, and to frame a realistic global response to the climate challenge. E-ffiliates members were joined by participants from Dow Chemical, St Baker Energy Innovation Fund, The World Bank and Mercator Partners. Together the corporate stakeholders and international researchers discussed both the details and logistics of how a transition of the world’s energy, transportation, and industrial systems could occur, with keynotes by Peter Trelenberg, manager of environmental policy and planning for ExxonMobil Corporation, and Ambuj Sagar, the founding head of the School of Public Policy at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Trelenberg spoke of the dual challenge of increasing energy access and lowering carbon emissions through 2040, and Sagar, of the challenges of “leapfrogging,” or skipping generations of outdated and often highly polluting strategies, to move countries to sustainable energy systems as they develop.

American Tower Graduate Student Poster Award Maria Curria / “Synthesis and characterization of monolayer Ca(OH)2 for CO2 physisorption” Advised by Claire White

Ambuj Sagar, keynote speaker of the E-ffiliates 2019 Retreat, discusses ideas for energy transitions at the lunch breakout sessions with Atul Kohli, professor of international affairs at Princeton, during the retreat. (Photos by Tori Repp / Fotobuddy)

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A group of more than 100 experts from academia, government and industry convened to begin a five-year project called Rapid Switch, which aims to accelerate decarbonization of global energy systems. (Photo by Tori Repp / Fotobuddy) BELOW

Graduate student, Eric Teitelbaum, tests a SMART sensor technology developed at the Andlinger Center. (Photo by Molly A. Seltzer)

E-ffiliatesFunded Projects Since Inception 15 projects funded $2 million total funds allocated for projects

In addition to Princeton, early partners of the Rapid Switch project include researchers at The University of Queensland, the Indian Institutes of Technology in Delhi and Mumbai, and Tsinghua University in Beijing, who also participated in the retreat.

E-ffiliates Funds Research on Carbon Capture and Storage E-ffiliates funded two projects to advance carbon capture and storage technologies. One proposal aims to slash the energy intensity and cost of carbon capture from industrial emissions, and the other seeks to identify the ideal managed landscapes to increase carbon storage in soils. Claire White leads a project to develop a more energy-efficient material to capture carbon from complex industrial emissions. Lars Hedin, the George M. Moffett Professor of Biology, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and the Princeton Environmental Institute, and chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, heads a project focused on identifying conditions and areas across the globe that are best suited for carbon storage by applying intelligent land management.

American Water Corporation Joins E-ffiliates In December 2018, American Water, the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company, joined E-ffiliates, expanding the program’s reach into the water sector and building upon the Andlinger Center’s research capabilities at the nexus of energy and water. The announcement follows the addition of Z. Jason Ren to the center’s faculty in 2018, who specializes in resource recovery during wastewater treatment in his Water and Energy Technologies (WET) lab. The move is part of an effort by American Water to tap into the region’s strong academic landscape to accelerate technological advancement at the company. “American Water’s Technology & Innovation group is thrilled for our company to join Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership. Together, we will seek opportunities to partner in the identification and implementation of technology innovations that help ensure clean and affordable water for all,” said Mark S. Smith, vice president of technology and innovation.

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ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company at Princeton The Andlinger Center established a partnership with ExxonMobil in 2015 to align research initiatives with real-world problems and applications. Princeton faculty, researchers, and students work side-by-side with ExxonMobil researchers on a portfolio of collaborative research projects spanning 18 faculty research labs across eight departments, from work on climate science to sustainable energy technologies. To date, ExxonMobil has established 27 research collaborations through its pledge to contribute $5 million over five years and through additional project support.

KEY COLLABORATIONS “Being close to Princeton is an incredible benefit of our relationship. It means access to extraordinary talent and facilities. We can easily work together in microscopy labs, hold thought-provoking meetings, and host students on our campus, which deepens collaboration and accelerates advances.” —Heather Elsen, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company

Exploring the Use of Smoothed Particlehydrodynamics for Modeling Sea Ice in Fine-resolution Circulation Models for Prediction and Climate

Yiguang Ju, the Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and director of the Program in Sustainable Energy, with Sumathy Raman*

Alistair Adcroft, research oceanographer, and Olga Sergienko, research glaciologist, both in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, with Laurent White*

Elucidating Structure-Function Relationships of Semiconducting Polymers

Novel Data-assimilation Techniques for Seasonal Arctic Sea-ice Prediction Alistair Adcroft and Michael Winton and Mitch Bushuk, both of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, with Laurent White*

Oligomerization of Olefins by Transition Metal Catalysts

The Future of Carbon and Heat Uptake by the Ocean: Seeking Insight from Previous Warm Periods

Paul Chirik, the Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Chemistry, with Suzzy Ho*

Daniel Sigman, the Dusenbury Professor of Geological and Geophysical Sciences and professor of geosciences, with Bill Heins*

Block-Random Copolymer Approach to Ethylene-Diene Rubber Mixing

Nitrogen Isotopes in Porphyrins and Chlorins as a Paleoenvironmental Tool

Richard Register, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, with Thomas Sun*

Controlled Plasma-Catalytic Reactor for Conversion of Methane and CO2 to Methanol Using Vibrational Excitation

Development of Parcel-based Simulation Framework to Capture the Effects of Interparticle Forces, Particle Size Distribution and Tribocharging on Fluid-particle Flows

Egemen Kolemen, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, and

Sankaran Sundaresan, the Norman John Sollenberger Professor in Engineering and professor of chemical and biological engineering, with Timothy Healy*

Daniel Sigman with Meytal Higgins*

24 excel / engage / inform

Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo, director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, the Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Professor in Engineering, and professor of chemical and biological engineering, with August W. Bosse*


alice photo / stock.adobe.com

Low-temperature Atomic Force Microscope Identification of Hydrocarbon Structures in Complex Mixtures Nan Yao, senior research scholar at Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM), director of the Imaging and Analysis Center, and lecturer with the rank of professor in PRISM, with Yunlong Zhang*

High Efficiency, Easyto-Build Solar Cells Today, the efficiencies of perovskite hybrid organic-inorganic solar cells rival those of conventional silicon cells and can be made without the energy-intensive process of purifying and crystallizing silicon. Though they are much easier to produce, the thin films of metal halide perovskite semiconductors degrade quickly in environments outside of the lab. In partnership with ExxonMobil researchers, Barry Rand carries out fundamental studies of their surface and electrochemical properties to explain why such degradation occurs with hopes of improving the stability of cells for use in solar panels and electricity generation.

Processing, Semiconductor Physics, and Electrochemical Properties of Metal Halide Perovskites

Lubricant Effects on Low Speed Pre-Ignition Yiguang Ju with Jason Gao*

Molecular Simulation of Properties for Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells Athanassios Panagiotopoulos, the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, with Lucas Koziol*

Barry Rand, associate professor of electrical engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, with Heather Elsen*

Investigating High Performance Building Air Conditioning Using a Liquid Desiccant/Hydrophilic Membrane Separation System

Atomic Scale Studies of 2D Atomic Crystals and their Heterostructures Ali Yazdani, the Class of 1909 Professor of Physics and director of the Princeton Center for Complex Materials, with Yunlong Zhang*

Forrest Meggers, assistant professor of architecture and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and co-director of the Program in Architecture and Engineering, with Peter Ravikovitch*

Quantitative Analysis of Metabolic Flux and Thermodynamics in Atypical Microbes

Plasma-Assisted Ammonia Synthesis and Methane Reforming

Joshua Rabinowitz, professor of chemistry and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, with Meytal Higgins*

Sankaran Sundaresan and Bruce E. Koel, professor of chemical and biological engineering, with Hyung Woo*

Applications of Carbonate Fuel Cells in CO2 Capture

U.S. Low-Carbon Infrastructure Plan

Eric Larson, senior research engineer at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and head of the Energy Systems Analysis Group, with Tim Barckholtz*

Eric Larson with Bryan Mignone* *All collaborators listed with an asterisk are researchers at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company.

Understanding Atmospheric Ammonia and its Impacts on Air Quality and Climate Using Satellites and Models Mark Zondlo, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, with Cynthia Randles*

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NRG Energy (NRG) at Princeton NRG has supported research on strategies to achieve deep decarbonization of U.S. electric grids, in an effort cost-shared by Princeton University’s Office of the Dean for Research. Eric Larson and members of the Andlinger Center’s Energy Systems Analysis Group have ongoing discussions with the company about regulatory approaches and electricity market designs that may incentivize greater deployment of renewables and other low-carbon technologies.

American Tower at Princeton Researchers built and deployed a micro-scale solar array on the rooftop of the Andlinger Center where they collected data on how the panels produced electricity throughout the year and in different seasons. Andrew Kim, a graduate student in electrical engineering, oversaw the data collection and analysis. The company hopes the research will shed light on how to build self-sufficient communications towers with uninterrupted power supplies in various environments around the globe.

Siemens at Princeton Researchers in Forrest Meggers’ lab are working to use infrared sensing technology to help robots recognize objects in manufacturing plants in collaboration with Siemens Corporate Technology. Over the last year, the researchers have collected data used for machine learning. The team is experimenting with infrared sensing to train robots or machines to recognize objects that are hidden or may not be able to be seen using visible light on an assembly line, for example. Advancing infrared sensing is useful for building efficiency because the sensing technologies can also help to evaluate radiant temperature conditions and allow for better control of indoor air quality.

PSEG at Princeton

Kian Wee Chen stands in front of an infrared sensor used to detect radiant temperature conditions in environments. (Courtesy of Meggers’ lab)

Since joining E-ffiliates in 2011, Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), an N.J.-based diversified energy company, has continuously engaged in various forums with the Princeton University community, including through educational and recruitment activities. The company held an information session for undergraduates of various majors, including students of energy studies, and sponsored poster prizes at the 2018 Annual Meeting and the 2019 E-ffiliates Retreat. Nyema Wesley, a senior studying civil and environmental engineering, worked with Sigrid Adriaenssens, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering. During her undergraduate research, she studied the response behavior of Japanese timber pagodas subject to earthquake forces. Wesley used finite element analysis to assess whether the seismic energy dissipation of pagodas in Japan are primarily due to the mass damping of their central column or the frictional sliding of their wooden connections, collaborating with researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. In the summer and fall of 2018, Wesley leveraged her knowledge of structural engineering as an intern with PSEG in the Delivery Projects and Construction Group.

26 excel / engage / inform


Convening Stakeholders September 21, 2018 Accelerating Climate Action in Power and Transportation November 9, 2018 2018 Annual Meeting November 29, 2018 N.J. BPU Offshore Wind Supply Chain Networking Event March 20, 2019 Catalysis Society of NY Annual Symposium March 22, 2019 N.J. Wind Innovation and New Development (WIND) Institute April 1, 2019 Singapore National Research Foundation on Smart Grids April 15, 2019 Symposium in honor of Rob Socolow April 22, 2019 N.J. BPU Offshore Wind Roundtable on energy markets and transmission May 6, 2019 Building the Future: New Technological Frontiers in Cities

The Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellows Program The Andlinger Center’s Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellows Program is designed to attract distinguished visitors from industry, academia, government, and the nonprofit sector, to collaborate with faculty, scholars, and students to enrich the research and teaching at the center.

Over the last year, three fellows have enriched the Andlinger community in unique ways. Judi Greenwald, a 1982 alumna, is a former U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) executive with more than 35 years of policy experience working in government and the nonprofit sector. During her time as a resident fellow, she conducted research on autonomous vehicles, organized a conference headlined by New Jersey First Lady Tammy Snyder Murphy, and spoke to students about career opportunities in the energy and environmental sectors. She continues to contribute and collaborate with the Andlinger Center community as a non-resident fellow. Darren Hammell, a 2001 alumnus, is co-founder and president of Princeton Power Systems, a manufacturer of microgrid and battery solutions. He founded the company as an undergraduate at Princeton University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and, over the last year, has mentored several students on their theses and advised entrepreneurs on their startups, including Andluca Technologies, Hearth Labs, and HitNano. Hammell also developed and taught a new course “Energy Innovation and Entrepreneurship” on the challenges of commercializing clean energy technologies. Chris Greig is director of the Energy Initiative and the Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation at the University of Queensland. In the last year, Greig launched Rapid Switch, and convened the first Rapid Switch workshop on campus, with over 100 researchers from five countries, in June 2019. He also developed and taught a course of the same name, “Rapid Switch: The Transition Challenge to Low-Carbon Energy.” The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment has named Harry Warren (left), a 1979 alumnus and electric and gas industry veteran focused on increasing renewables deployment, and Richard Moss (right), a 1987 graduate alumnus and a senior scientist and climate adaptation expert focused on bringing climate science to practitioners, the newest Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellows in Energy and the Environment, beginning September 1, 2019.

June 11, 2019 Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership Retreat June 12-13, 2019 Rapid Switch Workshop

ABOVE RIGHT

Judi Greenwald speaks at the Accelerating Climate Action Conference. (Photo by Sameer A. Khan / Fotobuddy)

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(Left to Right) Undergraduate seniors Obinna Umeh, Erin Redding, Evan Wildenhain, and Neil Slighton tour the battery bank inside Alcatraz Island as part of a course trip over spring break in March 2019. (Photo by Jana AĹĄenbrennerovĂĄ) 28


inform How can the world move toward a low-carbon future? A key piece is preparing a generation of researchers, technologists, entrepreneurs, and policymakers to think holistically about and take action to effect energy and environmental challenges. The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University strives to create a generation that views clean power, air, and water, not as siloed environmental issues, but as core pillars of humanity. The center leads an interdisciplinary educational program that steeps students and stakeholders in engineering disciplines, social sciences, and public policy. Through certificate programs, education for executives, and public forums for dialogue, the Andlinger Center provides a suite of educational offerings to reach students of all levels. With undergraduate research and summer internship programs, graduate and postdoctoral fellowships, and news and media products, we strive to provide key information to all constituents on these critical issues. Our goal is to create leaders who serve with foresight and an understanding of how problems connect, and where solutions can be created.

Photo by Sameer A. Khan / Fotobuddy

“Solving complex challenges related to energy and the environment requires training in nearly every discipline. We teach our students to think critically across systems to foster the next generation of leaders who will make an impact.” —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 public affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs

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2012

64 58 40 11

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019 +12

Undergraduate Summer Interns

+8

+5

+7

+6

+6

+8

+11

Undergraduate Certificate Graduates

+12 +17 +12 +5

+2

Undergraduate and Graduate Courses

+4

+2

+4

+2

+2

Maeder Fellows

+2 +2

+1

+1

+1

+1

Key to Andlinger Center Research Areas Built environment, transportation, and infrastructure Electricity production, transmission, and storage Fuels and chemicals Environmental sensing and remediation Decision and behavioral science, policy, and economics Environmental and climate science

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The Andlinger Center offers two certificate programs that uniquely prepare undergraduate students for graduate studies or careers related to energy and the environment. Students can pursue the Program in Technology and Society: Energy Track or the Program in Sustainable Energy. As an interdisciplinary center, students learn about energy and the environment through a diverse set of lenses, with courses in engineering, architecture, policy, anthropology and geosciences, among others. The Program in Technology and Society is administered jointly with the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education, and offers a series of courses that explore the intersection of technology and society, and how their co-evolution affects innovation in energy technologies. The Program in Sustainable Energy offers a series of courses that explores the impact of energy systems and technologies on climate and the environment, and helps students quantitatively analyze and design these systems.

Andlinger Center Class Day Celebration On June 3, 2019, the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment recognized its graduating seniors who earned certificates in the Program in Sustainable Energy and the Program in Technology and Society: Energy Track at its Class Day celebration. The students completed the rigorous requirements of the certificate programs, completing coursework in technology, climate change, geoscience, policy, energy economics, and decision-making, among others. The students also conducted independent research related to energy and the environment. The students presented their senior theses earlier in May in a symposium that was open to faculty and all certificate students. Topics ranged from analyses of configurations in plasma physics, to wind turbine designs, to new technologies for tracking ozone precursors in the air. Z. Jason Ren, professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, who was acting director for education at the Andlinger Center in the spring of 2019, said some students will pursue graduate degrees in chemical engineering, climate science, and sustainable energy. Others will apply what they learned in their coursework to fellowships in carbon pricing analytics and clean air, and in consulting jobs.

Z. Jason Ren welcomes the certificate graduates and their families during the Class Day celebration at the Andlinger Center courtyard. RIGHT

(Left to Right) Graduating seniors Parker Kushima, Amber Lin, Alexandra Cavazos, Benjamin Taylor, Taylor Bacon, Teresa Irigoyen-Lopez, and Stephen Wong at the 2019 Class Day celebration. (Photos by Sameer A. Khan / Fotobuddy)

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Jet Fuel Assessment Takes Senior Thesis Prize in Energy and the Environment Taylor Bacon, a senior who graduated with a degree in chemical and biological engineering and a certificate in the Program in Sustainable Energy, was awarded the Andlinger Center Senior Thesis Prize in Energy and the Environment for her thesis, “Bio-jet Fuel Production via Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis: Process Simulation, Economics, and Scale-up Analysis,” which evaluates the carbon and energy lifecycles of a process used to create bio-based jet fuel.

Elke Weber presents the senior thesis prize to Taylor Bacon. (Photo by Sameer A. Khan / Fotobuddy)

Bacon assessed the viability of gasifying biomass using FischerTropsch (FT) conversion to create a jet fuel alternative from wood residue. After modeling several scenarios, Bacon found that using the fuel from biomass and capturing and storing carbon emissions during the production process resulted in a savings in carbon emissions of over 200% over the lifecycle of the fuel, compared to common crude oil-derived jet fuel. Her research also found that biofuels could provide nearly three quarters of jet fuel demand by 2040, with 250 biofuel plants, 30% of the available energy crops and agricultural residues, and a billion dollar investment in production infrastructure. The modeling work and simulations Bacon executed led to a holistic analysis of a complex chemical design process, which yielded results that could be valuable to energy policy. Bacon was selected to be a U.S. Clean Air Fellow at Environmental Defense Fund through Princeton University’s High Meadows Fellowship, and began the role in September, 2019 in Washington, D.C.

Supporting Students and Our Community RIGHT

Princeton students take part in the 2019 Earth Day 5k, sponsored by the Andlinger Center for Energy in the Environment. (Photo by Bumper DeJesus)

The Andlinger Center also supported a variety of activities including those of the Princeton Conservation Society, the Princeton Environmental Ideathon, Princeton Tonight (student TV station), Princeton University Science Olympiad Invitational, WellPower, and Princeton University Energy Association’s high school energy competition. The center supported individual undergraduates for the following trips and projects: Engineers Without Borders National Conference; ASLO Research Conference; Optical Fiber Lighting for Indoor Farming; Salinity Gradient Effects on Halogenation of and Halocarbon Emissions from Soil Organic Matter; and reOcean: An Alternative Approach to Remove Plastics from the Ocean. Additionally, the Andlinger Center continued support for the Princeton Parklet, a public installation built to transform curbside parking spaces outside of Small World Coffee into a beautiful, lively, healthy space for the community and to provide habitat for pollinators and various species. The Andlinger Center supported the Parklet’s construction in 2017 and continues to be involved in its activities.

32 excel / engage / inform


Alcatraz Island is Unlikely Place of Learning for Students of Energy Innovation The Andlinger Center offered a new course in the spring of 2019, “Energy Innovation and Entrepreneurship” that granted students an inside view of the challenges of commercializing energy technologies. The class was taught by Darren Hammell, president and CEO of Princeton Power Systems, who founded the battery company during his time as a Princeton University engineering undergraduate. Hammell taught the course as part of his tenure as a Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow in Energy and the Environment. “Before this class, I didn’t even know what the energy sector looked like,” said Diego Fierros, a senior studying mechanical and aerospace engineering. “It was a giant engineering conglomerate.” The course featured a spring break trip that took students to the front lines of Silicon Valley, from startups and incubators to multi-million-dollar solar and battery companies, including Tesla and SunRun, to see up close how entrepreneurs are commercializing new energy technologies. On Alcatraz Island, the students saw the microgrid that powers the island, composed of solar panels and batteries. Through case studies on existing companies and via collaborative discussions and presentations on company business models, the students learned many factors that affect how a technology is scaled up.

ABOVE

Graduate student Isla (Xi) Han

Course Highlights and Updates

takes a photo of the rooftop solar array on Alcatraz Island, which helps to power the historic prison. (Photo by Jana Ašenbrennerová)

“It’s important for students to understand not just the engineering aspects of energy projects and technologies, but also the policy and economic context.” —Darren Hammell

Rapid Switch: The transition challenge to low-carbon energy ENE 372 / EGR 372 / ENV 372 The course, taught by Chris Greig, a Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow in Energy and the Environment, and Eric Larson, a senior research engineer at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and head of the Energy Systems Analysis Group, challenged students to assess how quickly the world’s energy systems could become low-carbon. Students explored bottlenecks and constraints of decarbonizing systems globally to identify potential solutions and policies to maximize the pace of transition.

The Energy Water Nexus / CBE 335 / ENE 335 As part of the course, students toured a combined cycle natural gas power plant in Sewaren, N.J., owned and operated by E-ffiliates member PSEG. Offering class trips to power plants, wastewater treatment plants, solar farms, and other related facilities is one way the Andlinger Center encourages experiential learning.

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Summer Internships at the Andlinger Center The Andlinger Center supported 13 undergraduates for summer internships through 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 recipients spent the summer working under the guidance of a faculty advisor, or at national organizations. The students’ projects, described below, are aimed at providing solutions to energy- and environment-related challenges.

“Audrey’s work both helped advance the field and provides a launching point for graduate work and future scholarly endeavors. Enabling undergraduates to pursue meaningful research, learn about the research process, and even get their name in the literature is an incredible benefit of the Andlinger Center summer internship program.” —Elke Weber

Using Polymer Solutions for Water Remediation The last oily blobs in contaminated waterways are often removed using polymers, or chains of common molecules, that are mixed with water and flushed through aquifers to rid chemicals. But why polymers aid in this process, and exactly what happens when they are flowing through the rocks and water, is unclear, limiting industry confidence in using polymers for oil remediation. Rising senior Audrey Shih tackled this challenge as part of an Andlinger Center summer internship. Shih conducted research in the lab of Sujit Datta, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering. In her research, Shih modeled how the polymers behave in various environments to understand how they may work for water remediation. Shih created a new test environment to simulate porous rock formations such as underground aquifers. The model rock environment is similar to an enclosed, micro-scale Plinko board. Instead of dropping a coin down the board and seeing how it trickles through the ridges, she injected a mucus-like solution made of the polymer chains and water, and watched where along the ridges, or simulated pores, the polymers bent and collapsed. Flush outs of contaminated waterways can cost billions of dollars, or even more with the polymers. With stronger scientific understanding of how the polymers behave, Shih hopes her research will help to instill more confidence in using polymers for oil remediation. Shih is the second author on two papers based on her undergraduate research, which is important to pursuing a scientific research career.

“Being in this lab has allowed me to do research that advances the pure science of polymer behavior, but downstream is very applicable. One of the goals of the research is to help protect the environment, and that makes the work interesting and important.” —Audrey Shih

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Andlinger Center Summer 2019 Interns Valuing Energy Use in Real Estate Listings Celine Park ’21 worked at American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Washington, D.C. Datasets and Tools to Inform Meteorologists Jessica Fielding ’21 worked at Climate Central, Princeton, N.J.

Ellie Shapiro refined a process for building flexible magnetic cores, which significantly improves the performance of printed circuit board inductors. OPPOSITE

Audrey Shih preps a sample to be examined under a microscope while Christopher Browne, a graduate student, assists. (Photos by Bumper DeJesus)

Fast Charging Energy Storage Devices Cosmin Andrei ’22 worked with Howard Stone, the Donald R. Dixon ’69 and Elizabeth W. Dixon Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Ankur Gupta, postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Biotechnology for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Manufacturing Bryce Bickel ’21 worked with José Avalos, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment The Materials Science of Sustainable Cements and Materials for CO2 Capture Krystal Delnoce ’21 worked with Claire White, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Plasma-assisted Catalytic Synthesis of Ammonia Jarrad Li ’22 worked with Sankaran Sundaresan, the Norman John Sollenberger Professor in Engineering and professor of chemical and biological engineering Machine Learning Approach to Understanding the Underlying Principles of Fusion Reactions Alexander Liu ’22 worked with Egemen Kolemen, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and PPPL Sub-bandgap Absorption Setup for Photovoltaic Materials Keith Register ’22 worked with Barry Rand, associate professor of electrical engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment Design and Fabrication of Flexible Magnetic Components for Power Electronics Ellie Shapiro ’21 worked with Minjie Chen and Barry Rand Development of Fire-resistant Cathode Materials with High Energy Densities for Lithium Ion Batteries Jerry Xiang ’20 worked with Yiguang Ju, the Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and director of the Program in Sustainable Energy

Photocatalyst Development Andres Irribarra Ramirez ’20 worked with Gregory Scholes, the William S. Tod Professor of Chemistry Behavioral Components of Decarbonization Deniz Keles (visiting student, Smith College) worked with Elke Weber

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Maeder Graduate Fellowships in Energy and the Environment

NEW FINDINGS

Energy Policy for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage New research by Ryan Edwards found that with the right public infrastructure investment, the United States could as much as double the amount of carbon dioxide emissions currently captured and stored worldwide within the next six years. The researchers found that the new capture-and-storage network could prevent up to 30 million metric tons of human-made carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year, equivalent to removing 6.5 million cars from the road.

Weitao Shuai, a fourth year graduate student in civil and environmental engineering, received the Maeder Fellowship in Energy and the Environment for the 2019-2020 academic year. Shuai researches water treatment and methods for removing ammonium from water using bacteria under anaerobic conditions with advisor Peter Jaffé, the William L. Knapp ’47 Professor of Civil Engineering, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and associate director for research at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. She uses iron to aid bacteria in cleaning water similar to agricultural runoff. The new process could cut energy use at wastewater treatment plants, where ammonium is typically removed through an energy-intensive process of producing oxygen and then injecting it into the wastewater.

(Photo by Tori Repp / Fotobuddy)

Previous Maeder Fellows / Where They Are Now? 2019 / Evan Zhao (chemical and biological engineering) is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT. 2019 / Hongshan Guo (architecture) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University. 2018 / Ching-Yao Lai (mechanical and aerospace engineering) is a postdoctoral researcher in the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University. 2017 / Clark Chen (chemical and biological engineering) is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemistry at Northwestern University. 2017 / Ryan Edwards (civil and environmental engineering) was a William L. Fisher Congressional Geoscience Fellow in Washington, D.C. and is currently at Oxy Low Carbon Ventures.

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Weitao Shuai explains her research poster to Barry Rand.

2016 / Wenkai Liang (mechanical and aerospace engineering) is now a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. 2015 / Jennifer Obligacion (chemistry) is a senior scientist at Merck Research Laboratories. 2014 / Warren Rieutort-Louis (electrical engineering) is an engineering manager at Apple. 2013 / Josephine Elia (chemical and biological engineering) is a senior chemical engineer-refinery modeling specialist at Honeywell UOP. The graduate fellowships are supported by the Paul A. Maeder ’75 Fund for Innovation in Energy and the Environment.


2018-2019 Highlight Seminar Series Through the Highlight Seminar Series, the Andlinger Center hosts distinguished professors, researchers, government dignitaries, and practitioners from various institutions across the field of energy and the environment for a lecture series open to the public.

The Andlinger Center Speaks The Andlinger Center Speaks is a Q&A news series designed for expert faculty to comment on noteworthy topics in the news related to their research areas. Electric vehicles, their batteries, and the road to electric transportation with Yiguang Ju and Rebecca Ciez, an Andlinger Center Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow. The green new deal with Chris Greig, and Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo, director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, the Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Professor in Engineering, and professor of chemical and biological engineering.

Robbie Diamond (October 2018) Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE), “Self Driving: Are We on “Autopilot” to the Future?”

U.S. carbon dioxide emissions rise by 3.4 percent with Judi Greenwald, a Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow in Energy and the Environment, Michael Oppenheimer, the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs and the Princeton Environmental Institute, and Eric Larson.

Alireza Khaligh (October 2018) University of Maryland, “Advanced Power Electronics for Transportation Electrification”

Energy Technology Distillate: Wind Power

Richard Moss (November 2018) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Joint Global Climate Change Research Institute,“Science to Inform Adaptation and Mitigation: A New Model for Assessments”

The latest Energy Technology Distillate, Wind Power, was released in spring 2019. The executive summary highlights four key areas related to energy technology and its deployment: maturity, innovation, the offshore frontier, and operating the grid. The full distillate takes readers inside a wind turbine and explores the mechanical and engineering components that enable conversion of wind flow into electricity, and also covers topics such as worldwide deployment, policy incentives, and the future of the energy resource. The executive summary and full distillate are available for free digital download on the Andlinger Center website.

Rene Janssen (December 2018) Eindhoven University of Technology, “Polymer Photovoltaics: Status and Challenges”

The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment is grateful to the Nicholas Family, the Nomicos Family, and an anonymous donor whose gifts are helping to advance public understanding of critical issues related to energy and the environment through this Energy Technology Distillate.

Vivian Loftness (February 2019) Carnegie Mellon University, “Humans and Nature in the Loop: Integrating Occupants and Natural Conditioning Into High Performance Buildings” Timothy Donohue (March 2019) University of Wisconsin-Madison, “On the Road to Sustainable Production of Fuels and Chemicals From Biomass” Sally Benson (April 2019) Stanford University, “Energy Systems Integration for Deep Decarbonization”

Amplifying our Impact In 2018-2019 faculty and researchers affiliated with the Andlinger Center were referenced in various news sources. Below is a small sample representing a range of sources and topics: Andrew Bocarsly / NJ Biz, “Legislators explore fuel cell technology as alternative to fossil fuels” Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo / U.S. News & World Report, “New Technology Promises Natural Gas With No Emissions”

Forrest Meggers / Engadget, “How Dandelion is Making Geothermal Heating Affordable” Z. Jason Ren / NSF YouTube Channel, “Episode 28 of “Four Awesome Discoveries You Probably Didn’t Hear About This Week” Elke Weber / Financial Times, “How to Sell Climate Change and Save the Planet” For more information on our faculty and research in the news, follow @AndlingerCenter on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for our monthly newsletter on our website.

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andlinger center for energy and the environment / 2018-19 Leadership and Staff Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo Director, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Professor in Engineering; Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Peter Jaffé Associate Director for Research, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; William L. Knapp ’47 Professor of Civil Engineering; Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Z. Jason Ren Acting Associate Director for Education, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment (Spring 2019); Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment Elke 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, Woodrow Wilson School Mark Zondlo Associate Director for External Partnerships, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Diane Carlino Associate Director for Administration Mackenzie Barry Administrative Support Bumper DeJesus Visual Communications Specialist (beginning February 2019) Robert Eich Program Coordinator Jeffrey Fitts Research and Development Strategist Sarah Jackson Administrative Assistant Lisa Kraut Financial Assistant

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Brenda Mikeo Business Manager Moira Selinka Education and Outreach Coordinator Greta Shum (through August 2018) Digital Communications Specialist Molly Seltzer Communications Specialist

Z. Jason Ren Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment Daniel Steingart (through January 2019) Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Faculty and Researchers

Elke 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, Woodrow Wilson School

José Avalos Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

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

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

The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment thanks and honors Thomas Kreutz for his 40 years of service and commitment to excellence at the center.

Charmaine Smiklo Faculty and Program Assistant

Jesse Jenkins Assistant Professor Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment (beginning September 2019) Egemen Kolemen Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Thomas Kreutz Energy Systems Modeler, Energy Systems Analysis Group Eric Larson Senior Research Engineer, Energy Systems Analysis Group Forrest Meggers Assistant Professor of Architecture and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment Barry Rand Associate Professor of Electrical 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 A. Paul Alivisatos Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost; Samsung Distinguished Professor of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, University of California, Berkeley Merrick G. Andlinger ’80 President, Andlinger & Company, Inc. Sally Benson Director, Global Climate and Energy Project; Co-Director, Precourt Institute for Energy; Professor of Energy Resources Engineering, Stanford University Yet-Ming Chiang Kyocera Professor of Ceramics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology


David Eaglesham Entrepreneur in Residence, Breakthrough Energy Ventures Ralph Izzo Chairman, President, and CEO, PSEG Peter F. Green Deputy Laboratory Director for Science and Technology; Chief Research Officer, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (beginning July 2019) Paul A. Maeder ’75 Managing General Partner & Founder, Highland Capital Partners Linda F. Nazar, O.C. Senior Research Chair in Solid State Energy Materials; Waterloo Distinguished Professor; Waterloo Institute of Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo (beginning July 2019) Gregory H. Olsen President, GHO Ventures, LLC Mark F. Rockefeller ’89 Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Rockefeller Consulting Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall Distinguished Professor of Practice, Georgia Institute of Technology; Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School Vijay Swarup Vice President of Research and Development, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company 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 Maura Wong ’88 Founder, The IDEA

Executive Committee Craig Arnold Director, Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials; Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Rene Carmona Paul M. Wythes ’55 Professor of Engineering and Finance; Professor of Operations Research and Financial Engineering Michael Celia Director, Princeton Environmental Institute; Theodora Shelton Pitney Professor of Environmental Studies; Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Paul Chirik Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Chemistry Peter Jaffé Associate Director for Research, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; William L. Knapp ’47 Professor of Civil Engineering; Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo Director, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Professor in Engineering; Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Denise Mauzerall Professor of Environmental Engineering and International Affairs Athanassios Panagiotopoulos Chair, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Susan Dod Brown Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Stewart C. Prager Professor of Astrophysical Sciences Barry Rand Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment (beginning February 2019) Z. Jason Ren Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment

Gregory Scholes William S. Tod Professor of Chemistry Daniel Steingart (through January 2019) Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment Sankaran Sundaresan Norman John Sollenberger Professor in Engineering; Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Elke 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, Woodrow Wilson School David Wilcove Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs and the Princeton Environmental Institute Mark Zondlo Associate Director for External Partnerships, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

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. 2018-2019 donors are denoted below with asterisks. Gerhard R. Andlinger ’52 P80 P91 g21 Founding Gift Sally Liu ’87 and Bay-Wei W. Chang ’87 P21 P23 to the Sally Liu ’87 and Bay Chang ’87 Fund for Energy and the Environment* Gregory H. Olsen to establish the Gregory H. Olsen Postdoctoral Fellowship Fund* Kent C. Simons ’57 to the David P. Simons Fund for Energy and the Environment*

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andlinger center for energy and the environment / 2018-19 Supporters (continued) Alexander L. Smorczewski ’07 to further the center’s mission* William H. Walton, III ’74 and Theodora D. Walton ’78 P21 to further the center’s mission* Lydia B. and William M. Addy ’82 P14 P19 to establish the Addy/ISN North American Low Carbon Emission Energy Self-Sufficiency Fund to support innovative research, equipment, policy development, and teaching

Charlene L. de Carvalho-Heineken P09 P14 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 High Meadows Foundation to establish the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment Director’s Fund Kerry L. and William F. Holekamp P14 for equipment

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 P19 to establish the Ruehl Family Fund for the Environment for faculty and student research Elchin A. Safarov and Dilyara Allakhverdova P15 to further the center’s mission Patrick and Mary Scanlan F52 to further the center’s mission

Thomas W. Horton Family P15 for equipment

Gloria G. and Karl F. Schlaepfer ’49 P85 to further the center’s mission and to establish the Schlaepfer Family Fund for equipment

Tia S. Barancik ’83 P19 to establish the Class of 1983 Fund for Energy and the Environment

Fred W. Kittler, Jr. ’70 P08 P19 to further the center’s mission

Richard and Enika Schulze Foundation for research

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

Peter C. Klosowicz ’76 P19 to establish the Peter C. Klosowicz ’76 Fund for Energy and the Environment for research and teaching

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

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

James W. and Dede T. Bartlett P03 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 P09 P10 P14 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 F57 to the David P. Simons Fund for Energy and the Environment Howard E. Cox, Jr. ’64 for 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 P18 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

David T. Liu ’99 *04 to further the center’s mission 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 P17 P20 P22 to establish the Laurie and Jay P. Mandelbaum ’84 Fund for Energy and the Environment Lisa Lee Morgan ’76 *79 for research in renewable energy William N. Neidig ’70 and Christy E. Neidig P08 to further the center’s mission Nicholas J. Nicholas, Jr. ’62 P83 P00 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 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 Sarah Finnie Robinson ’78 and Jackson W. Robinson to further the center’s mission

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Tapesh Sinha and Sandra Jin P19 to establish the Sandra and Tapesh Sinha P19 Fund Lewis W. van Amerongen ’62 P06 to establish the Lewis W. van Amerongen ’62 Fund for Energy Research for equipment Maura Wong ’88 and Kenneth Chen ’87 P20 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


Where to Find Us Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment 86 Olden Street Princeton University Princeton, NJ 08544 Email acee@princeton.edu Phone 609-258-4899 Web https://acee.princeton.edu Twitter @AndlingerCenter Facebook @andlingercenter Youtube @AndlingerCenter

Writer and Editor Molly A. Seltzer Contributing Writers John Sullivan, Scott Lyon, Alden Hunt Visuals Editor Bumper DeJesus Project Manager Robert Eich Design Phillip Unetic, UneticDesign.com Photographers Jana Ašenbrennerová, Bumper DeJesus, Sameer A. Khan, Tori Repp, Molly A. Seltzer, Frank Wojciechowski Research Areas Icon Design Neil Adelantar Back cover: Participants listen in to a keynote talk at the E-ffiliates 2019 Retreat.(Photo by Tori Repp / Fotobuddy)

Copyright © 2019 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 Center particularly invites applications from women and members of underrepresented minorities. For information about applying to Princeton and how to self-identify, please visit: http://web.princeton.edu/sites/dof/ applicantsinfo.htm. 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, 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 the Office of the Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity, Princeton University, 205 Nassau Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544 or 609-258-6110.


86 Olden Street, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 / acee.princeton.edu


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