Letter from the (Interim) Director

Welcome to the spring 2021 edition of the EMS Energy Institute (EI) newsletter. This edition showcases faculty research in several topical areas, introduces new faculty, and highlights the honors received by our students, faculty, and staff.

The research, education, and outreach efforts of the institute continue to focus on energy and energy-related environmental effects and involve researchers in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and the College of Engineering, along with collaborators worldwide. Current research projects cover the production and use of energy along with carbon dioxide capture, storage, and utilization, and the recovery of critical materials from various feedstock streams. In 2019 and 2020, 224 proposals were prepared by the Institute resulting in seventy-two newly funded external research projects, supported by nearly $18 million in funding.

As you know, this last year saw many changes and was extremely trying. We received notice on a Friday afternoon in mid-March that all laboratories had to be closed down within days following a specific protocol and checklist. IT personnel worked quickly so that the faculty and staff could work remotely. Faculty pivoted from in-person learning to remote learning over spring break week. March flew by like a whirlwind. Many levels of pandemic-related planning were performed over the next several months for safe return to research, safe return back to work, and many more action items. The staff performed wonderfully during this era of the unknown. Limited back to research started in May/June, and all faculty research was on-going by summer. The staff and faculty continue to work remotely if they are able in order to limit personnel on campus until everyone can be fully immunized for COVID-19.

While all of this was occurring, Chunshan Song, director of EI since 2007 retired June 30, 2020 and accepted a deanship at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. We all wish him well in his new position. A national search is underway for a new director with a start date goal of July 1, 2021. We also saw the departure of Grace Choi, financial assistant, who moved to another position within the college.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all EI faculty members, research staff, students, and visiting scholars whose ideas and hard work have advanced energy science and engineering research, especially in these difficult times. I also want to thank our staff members whose hard work supports our faculty-driven research efforts. The staff has done a phenomenal job working during this unprecedented time. They have dealt not only with an entirely new mode of work, but have done so while the University forged ahead with some major enterprise changes. I am so proud of how the staff has handled the pandemic and has continued to work efficiently, accurately, and productively. I want to specifically acknowledge Ronnie Wasco for his herculean safety and facilities efforts, starting with closing down forty labs (half over a single weekend, half with faculty and student help over the next several days) followed by endless planning and safety issues along with getting the labs operational. I want to acknowledge Ron Nargi for making sure that the staff could work remotely within a week’s time. And I want to acknowledge Kelly Rhoades for her leadership of the administrative staff to ensure continued EI proposal and research support.

Bruce G. Miller 
Interim Director and Research Professor, EMS Energy Institute