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News and Announcements

Ørsted Forms New Research Partnership with Rutgers University to Advance Technology for Protection and Conservation of Right Whales

Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind proudly announced an innovative partnership with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, the University of Rhode Island (URI), and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to launch the Ecosystem and Passive Acoustic Monitoring (ECO-PAM) project. The project will also feature the use of an unmanned glider that will be led by Rutgers to telemeter to shore in near real-time oceanographic data and detections of marine mammal vocalizations. “The environmental variables collected on these glider missions will be fed directly into national data systems that provide vital ocean information for improving the prediction of marine-driven weather, such as coastal storms,” said Joseph F. Brodie, Director of Atmospheric Research, Rutgers University Center for Ocean Observing Leadership.

Read more: Ørsted Forms New Research Partnership with Rutgers University to Advance Technology for Protection...

Synchronous Offshore Wind Power Courses Via Zoom offered by University of Delaware - beginning week of September 1

The University of Delaware (UD) Center for Research in Wind (CReW) is pleased to announce they will offer two of our innovative offshore wind power courses virtually this fall via Zoom. A third course will be offered beginning in February 2021. The courses are open to both UD and non-matriculated students.

This is an opportunity to study at UD, which has a leading interdisciplinary research and teaching program on offshore wind power, offering a graduate certificate in wind power science, engineering and policy; managing the Offshore Wind Power Skills Academy, which offers intensive soup to nuts professional skills training with a Danish partner; being selected to host the fall 2021 North American Wind Energy Academy (NAWEA)/Windtech conference, and partnering for 10 years with Gamesa (now Siemens-Gamesa) in the ownership and operation of a 2 MW wind turbine on its coastal campus. 

Fall 2020 Course Offerings

  • GEOG413/613.  Wind Power Meteorology (Cristina Archer, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
  • GEOL663. Geologic Aspects of Offshore Wind (John Madsen, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Spring (February) 2021 Course Offerings

  • MAST428/628. Offshore Wind Power (OWP) Science, Engineering and Policy

Enrollment in the graduate certificate program is not a prerequisite and courses may be selected individually, paired or taken as a group.  The Wind Meteorology course has both graduate (600 level) and undergraduate (400 level) sections, while for undergraduates, admission into the graduate section of the Geologic Aspects course is by permission of instructor. 

Format

Participation in Wind Meteorology can be synchronous (recommended) or asynchronous, while Geologic Aspects requires some synchronous participation (but is offered during the evening hours).

The courses are managed through a course content management system (Canvas), which you will be given access to, Zoom, and course recordings uploaded to the class Canvas website.

Fall Course Timing

  • Live classes will generally be offered beginning, September 1
    • Meteorology (T/Th, 3:30-4:45)
    • Geologic Aspects (W, 6:00-8:30)

Registration

  1. First, If you have never taken a credit course with the University or been a UD employee, please  complete the online form at www.udel.edu/quickbio  to establish a student record.  Once you complete the form, you will receive a UD student number, set a password, and your student record will be activated.   If you previously attended UD as a matriculated or non-matriculated student, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request activation and assistance with next steps. 
  2. Next, please complete and submit the registration request form at www.pcs.udel.edu/registration-forms/.  After your request has been processed, you will receive email confirmation, along with new student information.
  3. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have questions or need assistance with registration.

OSW CareerMatch Job Fair

The Network invites you to add your company to other industry powerhouses including Avangrid, Dominion Energy, Principal Power, and more at the OSW CareerMatch Job Fair, the first ever national offshore wind job fair.The Network invites you to add your company to other industry powerhouses including Avangrid, Dominion Energy, Principal Power, and more at the OSW CareerMatch Job Fair, the first ever national offshore wind job fair.

Now is the is time for the offshore industry to match state governments commitments by showing the country this is the job creating industry of the future. If you anticipate hiring within the next 6-12 months, I encourage you to sign-up for a virtual table at the CareerMatch Job Fair, and meet quality talent to fill positions from internships, port studies project managers, geophysicists, account managers, naval architects, mechanical engineers and more.

CareerMatch will take place virtually on August 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST as part of 2020 IPF. The cost for a booth is only $100 and will give you first access to quality candidates.

 The Network is committed to helping supply chain companies prepare for the future of offshore wind in the U.S.—and that includes growing the workforce. Show your support of the industry and register your company today.

Recruiting company benefits:

  • Video chat room enables you to meet face-to-face with potential job seekers
  • Upload company information for attendees to learn more about you – from a video, one-pager, and more 
  • Download resumes from qualified candidates for positions you have open now or anticipate in the next 12 months
  • Post open positions available now to recruit top candidates

Solar Job Opportunity at the U.S. Department of Energy


Solar Energy Technologies Office 

 

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) is hiring a full-time management and program analyst to serve as the National Community Solar Partnership program lead.This role is a federal supervisory position at the GS-14 level.

Responsibilities include managing complex, multi-partner technical assistance programs; coordinating a team of solar energy technical experts to plan and carry out these programs; developing concepts for new programs and funding mechanisms aimed at reducing the non-hardware, or soft, costs of solar; and more.

Apply by August 12.

National Offshore Wind Job Fair

First Ever National Offshore Wind Job Fair!

You have seen the news: $400 million New Jersey Port Investment, 2500 MW New York solicitation and port investment (in addition to last year’s 1,700 MW), and the first federal project in the water off of Virginia. All proof the U.S. offshore wind is resilient and growing.

Now is the is time for industry to match state governments commitments by showing the country this is the job creating industry of the future. If you anticipate hiring within the next 6-12 months, I encourage you to sign-up for a table at the first ever national offshore wind job fair, CareerMatch, and meet quality industry talent – whether it’s an intern, an entry level position or a seasoned technician, this is the perfect time to introduce the industry and your company to qualified candidates.

CareerMatch will take place virtually in conjunction with 2020 IPF on August 18 beginning at 8:30 a.m. EST. The cost for a booth at the inaugural offshore wind job fair is only $100 and will give you first access to quality candidates.

The Network is committed to helping supply chain companies prepare for the future of offshore wind in the U.S.—and that includes growing the workforce. Show your support and register your company today.

Rutgers Awarded: DOE ARPA-E grant for advancing "Computationally Efficient Atmospheric‐Data‐Driven Control Co‐Design Optimization Framework with Mixed‐Fidelity Fluid and Structure Analysis (ATLANTIS)"

REI members Ruo-Qian Roger Wang (Civil Engineering) and Travis Miles (Marine and Coastal Sciences), are a part of a multi-university team led by Onur Bilgen has been awarded a DOE ARPA-E grant for advancing "Computationally Efficient Atmospheric‐Data‐Driven Control Co‐Design Optimization Framework with Mixed‐Fidelity Fluid and Structure Analysis (ATLANTIS)"

Read more: Rutgers Awarded: DOE ARPA-E grant for advancing "Computationally Efficient Atmospheric‐Data‐Driven...

Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board Visits Rutgers University

The Rutgers Energy Institute hosted ten delegates from the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) in October this year, for a tour of Rutgers University. BREB is a government owned and operated company responsible for rural electrification. BREB’s headquarters are located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Beginning with a walkthrough of facilities at Richard Week Hall of Engineering, REI Director Frank Felder provided the group of delegates an overview of U.S. Energy Policy.

Read more: Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board Visits Rutgers University

NASA Video: Technology Developed at Rutgers Could Enable Humans to Live on Mars

Today NASA posted its promotional video outlining its CO2 Challenge quest to enable Mars exploration by humans. Martians need food, and NASA believes the best way to get it is to make sugars from plentiful CO2 and water that is used to grow bacteria that make complex foods.

Rutgers start-up, RenewCO­2, is featured in NASA’s new video as a first prize seed winner to extend technology developed at Rutgers to enable making sugars from CO2 and water by electrolysis. Two of Rutgers employees from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, graduate student Karin Calvinho and research associate Anders Laursen, are featured in this video. 

Read more: NASA Video: Technology Developed at Rutgers Could Enable Humans to Live on Mars

Rutgers Student Delegate for the Consortium for Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Education (CABLE)

Representing Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, in CABLE this year is Student Delegate, Preethy Thangaraj, and Faculty Mentor, Dr. Serpil Guran. They were among over 50 Student Delegates, Faculty Mentors, and Leadership Team members who attended the BIO World Congress 2019 conference in Des Moines. Now in its third year, CABLE is a nationwide organization of 20 universities focused on training students to pursue leadership positions in bioeconomy-related careers. The Ohio State University leads the program and oversees a $2.8 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA).

Read more: Rutgers Student Delegate for the Consortium for Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Education (CABLE)

NYT: Betting on a New Way to Make Concrete That Doesn’t Pollute

Richard Riman, a Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Rutgers School of Engineering and member of Rutgers Energy Institute, founded a technology that cuts carbon emissions of cement-making and concrete-solidification by up to 70%. The cement industry is the leading source of industrial CO2 emissions and accounts for about 7% of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions annually. Thus, a 70% reduction in CO2 emissions could reduce annual emissions by an amount approaching 3 gigatonnes per year. Solidia Technologies in Piscataway, NJ, understands that change is essential in the concrete-making process to diminish the environmental impacts along the supply chain.  Rutgers University and Solidia collaborated in the process for commercialization of the technology based on the core research of principal inventor Riman and contributions from Rutgers post-docs and co-inventors: Vahit Atakan, Surojit Gupta, and Qinghua Li.

The technology offers a promising solution for the cement industry’s mass GHG emissions problem and promotes an optimistic future for negative-emissions concrete materials. Read more about the energy-efficient technology and its applications by clicking HERE.

Frank Felder Speaks at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

felderThe Geographical Sciences Committee (GSC) at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, is a standing committee at the National Academies that provides scientific, technical, and policy advice and recommendations to society and to government at all levels using the methods of spatial analysis and representation. Rutgers Energy Institute director Frank Felder speaks at NASEM, offering insight on climate change, coastal flooding, and the electric power grid.  Frank Felder is a Rutgers research professor and director of the Center for Energy, Economic & Environmental Policy and the Public Informatics program at Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. 

View the presentation here.

Vulnerability of U.S. Energy Infrastructure to Coastal Flooding

Solar Energy Innovators Program - Application Deadline Sept 15, 2018

The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Research Participation Program is designed to provide opportunities for students, postgraduates, established scientists and faculty to participate in programs, projects, and activities that support the mission of the EERE. Participants will hold appointments at the Department of Energy (DOE)-EERE Headquarters, EERE field offices, and other EERE-approved sites. Participants will receive hands-on experience that provides them with an understanding of the mission, operations, and culture of EERE.

The purpose of the Solar Energy Innovators Program is to enable selected applicants to conduct practical research on innovative solutions to the challenges faced by electric utilities, energy service providers, and electric public utility commissions as the levels of solar energy, as well as other distributed energy resources (DERs), increase on the electrical grid.

The program is administered by Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) and is currently accepting application until the September 15, 2018 deadline (https://www.zintellect.com/Opportunity/Details/DOE-EERE-RPP-SETO-2018-2108). Those selected will receive an annual stipend, allowances for health insurance and research-related expenses, and limited reimbursement for relocation expenses. For more information you can direct prospective applicants to: https://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/fellowships-and-research-opportunities  

Rutgers Energy Institute Energy Contest Plans Reduce Energy on Campus

REI 2018 energy contest web

Energy Institute Innovation Contest winners

L-R: REI Associate Director Kevin Lyons and 2018 contest winners Maya Robles, Emily Cheng, Stephen Petrides, Zijun Xu, Swati Modhwadia, Evan Lutz and Emily Nanneman.

 

Each year, the Rutgers Energy Institute (REI) challenges Rutgers undergraduates to develop innovative and implementable plans for reducing energy consumption on the New Brunswick campus through its Energy Innovation Contest, now in its eleventh year. Winners of the 2018 contest were announced during the spring semester at the Rei Annual Symposium by its associate director Kevin Lyons, an associate professor of supply chain management with the Rutgers Business School.

 REI 2018 contest 1st place

First place winners, who shared a $2,500 prize, were Emily Cheng (Environmental Policy, Institutions and Behavior major, minor in Economics) and Maya Robles (Environmental Policy, Institutions and Behavior major, minor in Spanish and Cultural Anthropology) for their proposal, “The Collegiate Carbon Exchange.

 

REI 2018 contest 2nd placeWinning the second prize of $1,500 was the team, Students for Environmental & Energy Development-SEED, which comprised Evan Lutz, Emily Sukenik, Zijun Xu, Stephen Petrides and Swati Modhwadia, for its proposal, “Savings Found from Reforming Laundry Room Habits and Installing New Clothes Dryers at Rutgers_New Brunswick.”

 

 The $1,000 third-place prize was claimed by Kyra Frank (Environmental Policy, Institutions and Behavior major, minor in Philosophy) and Emily Nanneman (Environmental Policy, Institutions and Behavior) for the proposal, “Lighting the Way to Savings with LEDs.”REI 2018 contest 3rd place

 

The contest, which represents REI’s commitment to education and outreach, has provided students the unique opportunity to engage with their university environment and the experts around them as they research and conduct technical, economic and policy analyses to provide viable solutions to energy consumption and carbon reduction in their local environment.

 

According to REI associate director Rachael Shwom, an associate professor in the Department of Human Ecology, the competition has also produced high-quality submissions. “We are very proud of the quality of the proposals our students put forth. Many are creative while being analytically rigorous.”

 

“When you talk to the winners you can tell they’ve really learned a lot about the social, technical and economic complexities of reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in their own university,” added Shwom

 

Several of the student proposals to come out of the annual Energy Innovation Contest have been implemented by the university, most notably tray-less dining and use of aerobic digesters. In addition, students have also gained internships with corporations that produce the researched technology from their REI contest proposals.

“The Energy Innovation Contest at Rutgers is a unique opportunity for students to change the future of our energy,” said top prize winner Maya Robles. “Too often people become locked-in to one way of looking at energy and work within those confines. This contest gives students a chance to contemplate what’s not working in our system and come up with their own solutions,” she added.

 

This year’s winning submission from Robles and Emily Cheng, focused on a cap-and-trade program among the Big 10 universities that will accelerate the process to achieve carbon neutrality. Their program, called the College Carbon Exchange (CCX), will provide the mechanism for universities to invest in clean energy and energy efficient operations and engage students to improve their energy behavior.

 

Swati Modhwadia, whose team placed second in the contest, underscored the value of the competition and its capacity to make a difference. “Realizing the issue is a good first step, but real change lies in what we do. This competition allows students to realize that change is within their power. Despite the daunting environmental issues, some planning, teamwork and a simple idea can go a long way.”

 

Her fellow team member Evan Lutz added that “the energy innovation competition is an excellent platform for students to practice creativity and practicality towards sustainability goals. It is very easy to sit back and criticize the energy infrastructure in place in our country and at an institution like Rutgers, but until a report is written and the complexities of costs and implementations are revealed and solved, those criticisms mean nothing. I am so thankful that as a student I can learn so much about myself and get a glimpse into what real-world, energy problem-solving is like.”

CEE Initiative Impact Challenge

Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) Initiative Impact Challenge

What is the Challenge?

The CEE Initiative Impact Challenge offers graduate students in appropriate disciplines the opportunity to carry out a retrospective impact analysis on one of four CEE initiatives:

  • • Residential Space Heating and Cooling
  • • Residential Water Heating
  • • Commercial High Efficiency Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps
  • • Strategic Energy Management

The goals of the Challenge are to:

  • • Quantify the energy and non-energy benefits, as appropriate, occurring when CEE members undertake a market transformation  strategy
  • • Learn from the evaluation methodology proposed by competitors which data are important to track and what questions to ask about impact as the initiative evolves

The results of the challenge will be used throughout CEE communications materials as appropriate: website, print, and outreach channels with appropriate attribution of the impact assessment.

If interested or have any questions please contact REI associate director, Rachael Shwom, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

EERE Building Technologies Office (BTO) post-doctoral positions

Building Technologies Office in EERE has two open positions for post-doctoral fellows, one focused on HVAC&R technology R&D and one focused on R&D for grid-interactive efficient buildings.

1. Building Technologies Office Post-Doctoral Opportunity in Grid-Interactive Efficient BuildingsBuilding Technologies Office Post-Doctoral Opportunity in Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings - DOE-EERE-STP-BTO-2018-1203

2. Building Technologies Office Opportunity in HVAC, Water Heating and Appliances - DOE-EERE-STP-BTO-2018-1202

ARPA-E Duration Addition to Electricity Storage (DAYS) FOA

Advanced Research Projects Agency- Energy is now soliciting funding proposals for its Duration Addition to Electricity Storage (DAYS) program to improve the stationary electricity storage systems incorporated into the larger electricity grid.

  • Notice of intent deadline June 15, 2018 and full application deadline July 2, 2018.
  • Learn more

Department of Energy Announces $34 Million for Innovation Building Technologies Research and Development

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $34.5 million in funding to support building technology research and development (R&D). Buildings are the single largest energy-consuming sector in the U.S. economy, representing approximately 75% of the nation’s electricity use and 40% of its total energy demand, resulting in Americans spending nearly $400 billion each year to power homes, offices, schools, hospitals, and other commercial and residential buildings.

The Energy Department’s Building Technologies Office (BTO) is issuing two funding opportunities: Buildings Energy Efficiency Frontiers & Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) 2018 and Solid-State Lighting Research. These funding announcements will further the Administration’s goal to drive U.S. technology leadership in solid-state lighting as well as develop innovative energy saving technologies, systems, tools, and models that could lead to significant reduction in building energy consumption by supporting innovative research in several topic areas.

BENEFIT 2018 will fund up to $19.5 million for approximately 15-25 cost-shared projects focused on early-stage R&D to enable the development of novel technologies that can improve efficiency, reduce the energy costs of the nation’s buildings, and facilitate interaction with the electricity grid. Read more. 

George Tsilomelekis receives NSF Early Career Faculty Award

George Tsilomelekis, of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, was awarded $500,000 for research on developing more energy-efficient production of propylene, which is used in creating many materials. The research will develop novel catalysts with dual functionality for converting propane to propylene. Tsilomelekis’ uses spectroscopic techniques under real reaction conditions in seeking new paths to efficient, renewable and alternative energy sources. The award also will fund outreach for younger students through development of a freeware computer game that teaches principles of molecular symmetry and spectroscopy. A native of Greece, Tsilomelekis came to Rutgers in 2015. Read more. 

Solar-Powered Sea Slugs Shed Light on Search for Perpetual Green Energy

In an amazing achievement akin to adding solar panels to your body, a northeast sea slug sucks raw materials from algae to provide its lifetime supply of solar-powered energy, according to a study by Rutgers University–New Brunswick and other scientists.

“It’s a remarkable feat because it’s highly unusual for an animal to behave like a plant and survive solely on photosynthesis,” said Debashish Bhattacharya, senior author of the study and distinguished professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at Rutgers–New Brunswick. “The broader implication is in the field of artificial photosynthesis. That is, if we can figure out how the slug maintains stolen, isolated plastids to fix carbon without the plant nucleus, then maybe we can also harness isolated plastids for eternity as green machines to create bioproducts or energy. The existing paradigm is that to make green energy, we need the plant or alga to run the photosynthetic organelle, but the slug shows us that this does not have to be the case.” Read more

NASA iTech Challenge - Seeks Energy Ideas to Improve Life on Earth, Enhance Space Exploration

ARPA-E has joined NASA to launch a new NASA iTech challenge, a competition inviting the nation’s top entrepreneurs and researchers to showcase their ideas for transformative energy concepts. 

The challenge seeks to identify innovative technologies that can improve energy generation, storage and distribution to the benefit of both space exploration and life on Earth. ARPA-E will support the competition and judging process by providing subject matter expertise across a wide variety of energy technologies.

Inventors and entrepreneurs can submit a five-page white paper on their concept on the NASA iTech websitethrough April 29, 2018. A panel of subject matter experts from NASA and ARPA-E will review ideas submitted and select the top 10 finalists based on their relevance and potential impact.

The top 10 finalists will be invited to present their ideas to NASA and ARPA-E technologists, other energy and space experts and potential investors at the 2018 NASA iTech Cycle II Forum this June in New York City.

A few examples of technology sub-themes that NASA believes have the potential to improve future space power systems include, but are not limited to:

  • FUEL CELLS AND REGENERATIVE FUEL CELLS

  • HIGH-ENERGY DENSITY BATTERIES AND SUPERCAPACITORS

  • SOLAR POWER SYSTEMS

  • SMALL FISSION POWER SYSTEMS

  • INNOVATIVE POWER MANAGEMENT AND DISTRIBUTION (INCLUDING SMART GRIDS AND WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER)

  • X-FACTOR ENERGY