Carnegie Mellon University

Anna J. Siefken moderating panel

June 13, 2022

ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit Highlights CMU Energy Innovation

By Katelyn Haas-Conrad

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) Energy Innovation Summit is an annual event that gathers leading technical professionals to discuss innovative solutions to energy challenges. The Scott Institute was represented on main event panels and throughout the 2022 Energy Innovation Summit Technology Showcase.

Anna J. Siefken, former Scott Institute Executive Director currently on loan at the DOE as a Commercialization Executive, moderated the DOE Innovation Funding From the Lab to the Market panel. The panel included the following energy experts:

Kelly Cummins
DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations
Acting Director and Principal Deputy Director

Anna J. Siefken (moderator)
DOE Office of Technology Transitions
Commercialization Executive

Dr. James Zahler
Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Associate Director for Tech-to-Market

Brian Goldstein
DOE Loan Program Office
Senior Consultant

Jeremiah Baumann
DOE Office of the Under Secretary for Infrastructure
Chief of Staff


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Former Scott Institute intern and recent EST&P master's graduate Alex Kramer presented as a part of the Student Pitches with a presentation titled "Long-Duration, High-Capacity Thermal Energy Storage with Skibo Energy TES".   Since graduating, Alex has started as a Researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Reed McManigle, Mentor in Residence, met with investors and caught up with many people affiliated with CMU and visited their booths at the 2022 Energy Innovation Summit Technology Showcase. ARPA-E hosted the 2022 Energy Innovation Summit Technology Showcase which highlighted the recent ARPA-E awardees and a highly selective group of other companies and research organizations. Learn about their energy accomplishments below. 

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Lu Li from CMU’s Robotics Institute represented the research titled “Confined Space Mapping Module for In-Pipe Repair Robots” that he conducted as Co-PI with Faculty Affiliate Howie Choset. This research focuses on robotic vision to conduct inspections of pipe interiors.  This project was funded by ARPA-E for $1.2 million.

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Nicholas Lamprinakos, a PhD student at CMU, presented research titled “High Energy Density Modular Heat Exchangers through Design, Materials Processing, and Manufacturing Innovations”.  Lamprinakos works on a team led by Faculty Affiliate Tony Rollett that received a $2.4 million grant from ARPA-E as one of 18 high-temperature materials projects that are a part of the High Intensity Thermal Exchange through Materials and Manufacturing Processes (HITEMMP) program.

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Scott Institute Faculty Fellow Venkat Viswanathan, Emil Annevelink and Rachel Kurchin represented their research titled “High-fidelity Accelerated Design of High-performance Electrochemical Systems” which was supported by over $1.5 million in ARPA-E funding.

Viswanathan is also part of a team that has received ARPA-E funding for research titled “Lithium Electrode Sub-Assemblies (LESAs) Incorporating Nanostructured Lithium-Ion Conducting Composites”.

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Gregory Houchins, CMU Physics PhD ’20, was featured as a 2022 Breakthrough Energy Ventures Fellow in the Breakthrough Energy Venture booth at the summit.  Houchins is the CEO and co-founder of Chement, a CMU spinoff company that works on decarbonization through electrochemical production of green cement. He co-founded Chement with Scott Institute Energy Fellow Venkat Viswanathan who serves as the Chief Scientist. 

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Olivia Dippo, CMU BS MSE/BE ‘15, was in attendance and is about to start a 2022 Activate Fellowship.  She is the CEO and co-founder of Limelight Steel which works in zero-emissions electrochemical production of green steel manufacturing.

Scott Institute Energy Fellow Zachary Ulissi was not able to attend but had his ARPA-E funded research titled “Predicting Catalyst Surface Stability Under Reaction Conditions Using Deep Reinforcement Learning and Machine Learning Potentials” represented in a booth at the summit. 

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