Carnegie Mellon University
October 29, 2014

Carnegie Mellon Becomes Affiliate of Joint Center for Energy Storage Research

By Tara Moore / 412-268-9673                       
   
PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University has received affiliate status with the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), an energy innovation hub sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The JCESR approached Carnegie Mellon's Venkat Viswanathan, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Jay Whitacre, associate professor of materials science and engineering and engineering and public policy, to form a partnership with researchers from the College of Engineering and the Mellon College of Science who are researching energy storage.

Carnegie Mellon researchers will participate in workshops where they will collaborate with partners, other affiliates and the JCESR hub to find cheaper and more efficient systems for energy storage.

The goal of the JCESR hub is to produce energy storage units that have five times the storage capacity of current units at one-fifth of the cost in the next five years. Viswanathan, who is studying methods for improving lithium-air batteries, was drawn to the JCESR hub because he is committed to this "5-5-5" goal.

Carnegie Mellon researchers will be primarily working on the crosscutting science aspect of the JCESR approach, helping to develop new battery materials through the Electrochemistry Discovery Lab (EDL).

The JCESR affiliation allows Carnegie Mellon researchers to engage more closely with the energy innovation hubs, to which the university has previously had little access. This engagement will ensure that research is supplemented rather than duplicated.

To learn more about JCESR, visit http://www.jcesr.org.

###