The Strategic Energy Institute (SEI) and the Infrastructure & Sustainability (I&S) unit of the Georgia Institute of Technology signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on using campus as a living lab for deployment of clean energy technologies, reduce the campus carbon footprint, while also developing campus testbeds that can be research assets. 

With the recent passage of major federal energy and climate opportunities (both the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act), one of the focus areas of this MOU is to partner on capturing federal and state resources to achieve Georgia Tech’s Living Campus goals.

The projects undertaken within this plan will provide real-time data and examples of energy systems that benefit academic and research leadership and external partners in the energy marketplace. At the same time, by promoting best in class energy management practices, the projects will enable I&S to move towards achieving the campus energy and water reduction goals and the larger goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. This effort is being led by Joe Hagerman (NEETRAC), Scott Duncan (AE), Jung-Ho Lewe (AE), and Greg Spiro (I&S), who have started mapping federal funding opportunities to campus infrastructure development opportunities, as well as engaging with national labs to promote the Georgia Tech campus as a testbed for other research projects.

"By merging academics and research with campus spaces, we have a unique opportunity to form partnerships and provide real-world educational experiences,” said Maria Cimilluca, vice president of Infrastructure & Sustainability. “Leveraging our buildings and environment as a living campus is an exciting vision as we implement the strategic plans, goals, and initiatives that guide the direction of sustainability and resiliency for the Institute.”

The MOU articulates the long-established working relationship between the two units. Projects include the Georgia Tech microgrid located in Tech Square; campus spaces for air quality research; the student-led piezoelectric sidewalk; an actionable data repository for building sensors, meters, building automation systems; and external data streams that enable integrated analytics, as well as supervisory controls of GT campus buildings.

By enhancing this relationship, SEI will better serve I&S and the campus by providing leadership, oversight, and coordination of energy related stakeholders and will provide and recommend resources as needed.

In the near term, the team will start crafting a strategy to tap into the federal funding opportunities available to decarbonize and electrify our infrastructure and campus. They will identify priorities and strategies to collaborate with federal, state, and non-government partners and turn the Georgia Tech into a living campus — and to lead by example.

“SEI is excited to partner with I&S to lower the overall carbon footprint of our campus and design and utilize our campus facilities as a living learning lab,” said Tim Lieuwen, executive director of the Strategic Energy Institute. “As a part of strategic plan, this is a great opportunity to pilot research projects in our own facilities and work together to pursue facilities-focused federal and state funding opportunities.”

About the Strategic Energy Institute
The Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute (SEI) is one of Georgia Tech's ten Interdisciplinary Research Institutes. Founded in 2004, the Institute serves as system integrator for more than 1000 campus researchers working across the entire energy value chain. SEI is deeply engaged in building community, developing resources, and projecting thought leadership, all with the aim of marshalling the full resources of Georgia Tech around tackling the tough energy and environmental problems society faces – from generation, to distribution, to use. Whether it’s commercializing a technology to address a specific challenge or designing a roadmap for focusing resources, the team at SEI understand the systems, technologies, and context of the ever-evolving nature of energy production and use.

About I&S
Infrastructure and Sustainability (I&S) is comprised of more than 600 dedicated professionals throughout 15 departments who provide operational excellence via a framework of services for the Georgia Tech campus. I&S sets the standard for how to deliver an environment that is safe, sustainable, resilient, and innovative through the empowerment of our people and stewardship of our campus resources.

Batteries. They come in numerous shapes, sizes, and lettered designations; they power everything from telecoms satellites to children’s toys; your TV remote goes through them too quickly and a dead one in your car will have you asking strangers for help.

Like so many items of convenience we only register the impact batteries have on our day-to-day life when they begin to falter. On most occasions these failures are at worst a nuisance, but as the number of hybrid and fully electric vehicles on the market grows, and as more economies aggressively pursue alternative fuel sources, the reliability and longevity of batteries will play a dominant role in how we create, store, and use energy.

Researching new materials for the next generation of high-capacity batteries is Matthew McDowell, associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and director of the McDowell Lab. By understanding how these different materials react to numerous charging cycles, his team hopes to help lead the charge toward longer-lasting batteries.

Since leaving Georgia Tech, Laura (Mast) Stoy, PhD EnvE 21, has continued to pursue her research, this time as an entrepreneur.

The environmental engineering graduate founded Rivalia Chemical Co. with her sights set on commercializing her work as a PhD student. Over the past two years, Stoy has been selected for a competitive business incubator and a prestigious fellowship for entrepreneurs.

Stoy and her advisor, Turnipseed Family Chair and Professor Ching-Hua Huang, discovered that by applying an ionic liquid directly to solid coal fly ash, rare-earth elements (REEs) can be successfully removed in a safe process that creates little waste.

REEs are a set of elements that are necessary to manufacture technology like smart phones and LED screens, and play important roles in clean tech applications like electric vehicles and wind turbines.

Professor Christopher Jones was selected as the recipient of the 2023 Institute Award for Excellence in Industrial Gases Technology from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. (AIChE).

Jones, the John F. Brock III School Chair of Georgia Tech's School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE@GT), will receive the award at the AIChE meeting in Orlando, Florida, this November. 

This award recognizes his contributions to ultra-dilute CO2 separations, such as the extraction of CO2 from air, also referred to as “direct air capture” or DAC. The Jones group has played a foundational role in developing materials and processes for CO2 removal from air, and in conjunction with the Lively, Realff, Sholl, and other groups in ChBE@GT, no academic institution has authored more publications on DAC than Georgia Tech. 

Professors Jones, Matthew Realff, and Ryan Lively are founding members of the Georgia Tech Direct Air Capture Center, or DirACC.

Akanksha Menon, assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, has been awarded $3 million in funding from the Department of Energy (DOE) as part of their Energy Earthshots™ Initiative to advance clean energy technologies within the decade. 

The initiative includes a total of $264 million in funding that will support 11 new Energy Earthshot Research Centers (EERCs) led by DOE National Laboratories and 18 university research teams addressing one or more of the specific Energy Earthshots™ that aim to accelerate affordable and reliable clean energy solutions to mitigate the climate crisis to reach a net-zero carbon goal in 2050. 

Menon's project, titled Thermo-Chemo-Mechanical Transformations in Thermal Energy Storage Materials and Composites, will bring together Matthew McDowell, associate professor in the Woodruff School, Claudio Di Leo, assistant professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, and Jeff Urban from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to provide a fundamental understanding of the coupled thermo-chemo-mechanical phenomena in thermal energy storage (TES) materials that will enable low-cost and stable storage.

Renewable energy production is increasing in the United States, but so is oil and gas production. Despite the escalating effects of carbon emissions on the climate, the U.S. set records for crude oil and natural gas output in 2023. 

Researchers say that accelerating the transition to renewable energy can help mitigate climate change, enhance energy security, and stimulate economic growth. Three such energy experts at the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts — an economist, a policymaker, and a historian — chart some of the challenges and opportunities on the path to a fully renewable energy grid in the U.S.

School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) faculty member Martha Grover has been named the College’s Thomas A. Fanning Chair in Equity Centered Engineering. Grover was selected for her efforts to educate engineers who approach their work with an intent to close societal gaps of wealth, power, and privilege by ensuring equitable access to opportunity.

The endowed position was established via the Southern Company Foundation by Southern Company, which has been regularly recognized for its efforts to promote an organizational culture that ensures representation of all groups. Fanning recently retired as chairman, president, and CEO.

Grover is a systems engineer whose work addresses the complexity of molecular organization and how it can solve complicated grand challenges. For instance, she has worked with the Department of Energy for 10 years to create processes for separation and immobilization of millions of gallons of liquid nuclear waste at the Hanford Site in Washington and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. She’s developed real-time process monitoring of nuclear waste slurries to increase throughput and enhance safety.

Grover’s research also focuses on the origins of life and understanding the essential role of diversity and cooperation. Her other work includes modeling and engineering the self-assembly of atoms and small molecules to create larger scale structures and complex functionality.