University Practices
in
Energy R&D and Education
A product of the
August 2010
Collegiate Energy Association
Table of Contents
Introduction and Contributors
3
Research Programs
Cornell University
4
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
5
Northwestern University
12
Stanford University
14
Tsinghua University
16
University of California, Berkeley
20
University of Colorado, Boulder
22
University Alliance
24
Energy Education
25
Introduction
Many rationales exist to motivate a transformation of our energy system to a
more sustainable design - climate change, economic development and competitiveness, national and energy security, etc. Whatever the individual motivations, however, the need for sustained and robust research and education
in energy is clear and urgent.
To meet this challenge, many universities around the world have launched
institutional initiatives and academic programs to formalize, support, and/
or accelerate energy research and education. Here we present a cross section of these efforts. To be clear, the content herein is not comprehensive; it
merely serves to highlight what we feel are noteworthy, unique, or innovative
ways in which some universities are supporting energy R&D and education.
This work was conducted by the Collegiate Energy Association, a global community of student-run energy clubs at universities across Asia, North America,
and Europe. Questions and/or comments should be directed to
cea@collegeenergy.org.
Kevin J. Huang
Managing Director
Collegiate Energy Association
www.collegeenergy.org
Contributors
Kevin J. Huang
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
kjhuang@mit.edu
Sarah Barker-Ball
University of California, Berkeley
sarahmaria@gmail.com
Mackay Miller
David Godri
Logan West
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Toronto
Tsinghua University
mackay.miller@nrel.gov
david.godri@utoronto.ca
logan.m.west@gmail.com
Cornell University
Collegiate Energy Association
Cornell Center for a Sustainable
Future
Frank DiSalvo, Director
fjd3@cornell.edu
website
The Cornell Center for a Sustainable Future supports multidisciplinary research and education in energy, the
environment, and economic development with an emphasis on building internal and external collaborations
to implement actionable solutions.
Academic Venture Fund
Topical Lunches
• Seed fund program to stimulate new collaborative (internally and externally) research
projects within any of Cornell’s colleges and
schools, not just science and engineering.
• Funded projects span the entire spectrum of
energy, environment, and economic development research.
• Awards up to $280,000 for up to 2 years.
• Preference is given to projects involving internal Cornell collaborations.
• Also required is a plan for establishing additional internal and especially external collaborations with industry, government, and nonprofit sectors to further the research.
Rapid Response Program
• An ongoing series of working lunches that
brings together faculty and researchers from
across Cornell’s colleges and schools to discuss a particular topic of shared interest in
order to cultivate new collaborative research
relationships in areas in which Cornell may
have increased impact.
• Organized by faculty and researchers in the
relevant areas of discussion, each lunch begins with a brief introduction to the sustainability topic to be discussed, Cornell’s existing
strengths and weaknesses in the area, ways
to generate an impact, and potential external
collaborators and partners.
• The remainder of the lunch period is dedicated solely to informal discussion amongst the
participating faculty and researchers.
• Support to researchers for time-sensitive opportunities.
• Funding and/or hired specialized support
staff to aid faculty researchers in the preparation of projects, grant proposals, and/or other
research-related opportunities in which faculty time is constrained so that researchers
may focus on project content.
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
4
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Masdar Institute of Science and
Technology
Collegiate Energy Association
Steven Griffiths, Executive Director
MIT/Abu Dhabi Program, MIT Technology
and Development Program
swgriffi@mit.edu
website
Located in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in what will become the world’s first sustainable, zero-carbon, zero-waste municipality called Masdar City, the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology is a graduate level-only research
university dedicated to energy, sustainability, and the environment.
One Part of a Much Broader Energy
Ecosystem
• The Masdar Institute is only one of five different initiatives (both for-profit and non-profit)
of the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company
(Masdar), a wholly owned subsidiary of the
Mubadala Development Company, the government-owned investment firm of Abu Dhabi.
• The remaining initiatives focus on development of carbon reduction projects,
renewable energy production assets,
Masdar City property, and vehicles for investing in local intellectual property.
• Headquarters of the International Renewable
Energy Agency also to be located in Masdar
City.
• Because the Masdar Institute will be the first
permanent building in Masdar City, faculty and
students can leverage the surrounding “living
laboratory” created by the other complementary initiatives of Masdar to enhance energy
education and innovation at the Institute and
in the surrounding region.
Educational Programs
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
• Educational programs are based on American graduate education model that integrates
class-based academic programs with focused
research in energy and the environment.
• Because the Masdar Institute was established
through government, rather than corporate,
funding, a greater degree of intellectual independence may result.
• Five M.S. programs in engineering systems
and management, information technology,
materials science and engineering, mechanical engineering, and water and environment.
• M.S. in electrical power engineering, M.S. in
microelectronic devices and circuits, and Ph.D.
program to be added in 2010 with another
two M.S. programs to be added in 2011.
• While building deep, technical core competencies in traditional academic disciplines,
all students must also take a class in sustainable energy as well as classes in engineering
management, applications of technology in
energy and the environment, and/or systems
dynamics for business policy.
• To build local expertise in math, science, and
engineering, the Masdar Institute organizes
5
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
outreach activities with UAE schools to develop project- and workshop-based programs
in energy and sustainability for students and
teachers.
Partnership with MIT
• MIT provides scholarly assessment, support,
and assistance to the Masdar Institute for:
• Hiring of international faculty
• Hiring of senior administration
• Industrial outreach
• Management of intellectual property and
technology licensing
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
Collegiate Energy Association
• Curriculum development
• New Masdar Institute faculty spend up to a
year at MIT launching collaborative research
projects with MIT faculty.
• New Masdar Institute faculty audit graduatelevel MIT classes in energy and the environment that they will then teach at the Masdar
Institute with the aid of MIT course materials.
• The Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company is a
Founding Public Member of the MIT Energy
Initiative and is a member of the MIT Industrial
Liaison Program thereby facilitating options to
license MIT-patented technologies, guide MIT
energy research, and receive preferential access to MIT faculty, events, and knowledge.
6
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT Energy Initiative
Collegiate Energy Association
Ernest Moniz, Director
ejmoniz@mit.edu
Daniel Enderton, Executive Director,
Sustainable Energy Revolution Program
enderton@mit.edu
Amanda Graham, Director, Education
Office
agraham@mit.edu
website
The MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) is an Institute-wide enterprise to transform the global energy system
through an array of multi-disciplinary, MIT-wide programs that provide support for sponsored research and
development, seed funding to incubate new ideas, energy education at MIT, campus energy management programs, and institutional outreach to educate the public and policymakers.
MITEI Members Program
• Enables leading energy companies to fund
sponsored research, new project incubation, graduate student fellowships, and other
MITEI programs across the entire spectrum
of energy activity at MIT – technology, policy,
management, social sciences, architecture &
design, etc.
• To date, over 50 companies have become
paid MITEI members.
• Founding Members (Sponsorship level: $5
million/yr for 5 years)
• 75% of funding directed to sponsored
research program for support of faculty
energy research projects and consortia
at MIT.
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
• 10% directed to energy research seed
fund to incubate early stage research
projects.
• Support for 10 graduate student Energy
Fellows at MIT bearing the company
name (e.g. BP Energy Fellow).
• Program direction via seats on MITEI Executive Committee and MITEI Governing
Board alongside MITEI faculty chairs and
research leads from all 5 MIT schools,
and formation of joint steering committee with sponsored faculty to oversee and
guide sponsored research projects.
• Membership in the MIT Industrial Liaison
Program to facilitate technology licensing,
guide MIT research programs, and access
MIT faculty, events, and knowledge.
7
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
•
•
•
•
• Option for a global, royalty-bearing license
for patented technology and the right to
sublicense.
Sustaining Members (Sponsorship level: $1
million/yr for 5 years)
• Same features of the Founding Members
program except:
• 65% of contribution directed to sponsored research.
• Support for 2 named Energy Fellows
at MIT.
Associate Members (Sponsorship level:
$100,000/yr for 5 years)
• 60% of contribution to support 1 named
Energy Fellow at MIT.
• 25% of contribution toward a memberselected menu of options including:
• Named undergraduate research opportunities project student
• MITEI education program
• MITEI campus energy management
program
• MIT Energy Club
• Various MIT research centers and
programs
Affiliate Members (Sponsorship level: $5,000/
yr)
• Contribution supports the MIT Energy
Club and member-selected menu of options.
All MITEI members additionally receive the
opportunity to participate in various special
events organized by MITEI and/or the studentrun MIT Energy Club to engage directly with
MIT faculty, students, and researchers.
Seed Fund Program
• Up to $150,000 for up to 2 years to incubate
new, early stage, innovative research projects
not already underway at MIT.
• Awards based in part on ability of proposed
projects to form multi-disciplinary collaborations across MIT to open up new research directions using existing MIT capacities in various fields.
• Encompasses the entire spectrum of energy
and environmental research – technology,
policy, social sciences, architecture & design,
management, etc.
Major Energy Studies and Reports
Collegiate Energy Association
integrate analyses of technology, policy, economics, and R&D into a single report on the
potential future of a particular energy technology.
• Conducted by an interdisciplinary team of
prominent MIT faculty and students in the relevant fields across MIT’s five schools.
• “Future of…” series of reports
• Already published: Future of Geothermal
Energy, Future of Coal, Future of Nuclear
Power
• Forthcoming: Future of Solar Energy, Future of Natural Gas, & Future of the Electric Grid
Society of Energy Fellows
• Community of the named graduate student
MIT Energy Fellows who are supported by
MITEI member-sponsored fellowships.
• Through special Society events, mutual education and interaction is fostered between
fellows from all academic disciplines across
MIT’s five schools as well as between fellows
and their sponsoring companies.
Energy Studies Minor
• Multi-disciplinary undergraduate minor designed to complement deep training in any
academic discipline.
• Students apply deep education from their
primary degree toward energy-specific
problems with tools from energy studies
minor.
• Core curriculum
• 1 class in “Energy Science Foundations”
category
• 1 class in “Energy Technology/Engineering in Context” category
• 1 class in “Social Science Foundations of
Energy” category
• Energy electives
• Students choose a customized program
of electives from a list of energy classes
spanning all five MIT schools.
• To ensure a truly multi-disciplinary focus, the
minor is managed by the Inter-School Education Council that includes one associate dean
from each of MIT’s schools and was developed by the Energy Education Task Force, also
including members from all MIT schools.
• Institute-wide, interdisciplinary studies that
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
8
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Collegiate Energy Association
Undergraduate Research Opportunities
Program
• Funding for undergraduates from any discipline to participate in faculty-level energy research in any of MIT’s five schools.
• Two types of UROPs:
• Summer energy UROPs: paid full-time
summer internship in a faculty research
lab in any of MIT’s five schools.
• Campus energy UROPs: Funding for undergraduates to research new technologies
and/or strategies for improving campus
energy efficiency and renewable energy
usage under the guidance of a faculty
advisor and an operational advisor (from
e.g. Department of Facilities, Environmental Health and Safety, or Housing).
This is intended to give undergraduates
practical experience working with clients
while providing a measurable impact on
MIT campus energy management.
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
9
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Solar Revolution Project
Collegiate Energy Association
Sarah Wood, Executive Director
swood@chesonis.org
website
Funded by the Chesonis Family Foundation, the Solar Revolution Project (SRP) provides ca. $3-4 million annually in unrestricted gifts directly to MIT faculty for high-risk, early-stage research into solar capture, conversion, and storage technologies that may not otherwise be funded.
Unrestricted Giving & Personal
Relationships
• The SRP provides unrestricted monetary gifts
directly to MIT faculty for use at their discretion, rather than to the Institute itself or to
specific research projects. • The SRP does not employ restrictive, binding,
and predetermined research deliverables for
specific projects, nor is continued funding
contingent on the completion of such milestones.
• Intellectual property remains owned by the researchers, not the Foundation.
• The Foundation’s benefactor, Arunas Chesonis, has a risk-taking, entrepreneurial spirit
and values close personal relationships. As
a result, emphasis is placed on building close
relationships and trust with MIT faculty as a
means to ensure research quality and progress.
• When necessary, the Foundation helps researchers successfully navigate the commercialization pipeline by connecting them
to relevant investors and stakeholders via the
integrated community built upon the close
personal relationships of the Foundation.
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
Quality Control by Your Peers
• Faculty recipients of funding are chosen directly by their peers through a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) composed of a few MIT
faculty with breadth of knowledge about MIT
solar research.
• Research progress and quality is ensured
through the desire of faculty to maintain positive peer review and opinion as well as through
the close personal relationships within the
SRP community.
No Overhead
• Faculty receive the full value of all SRP
grants.
• Typically, grants to the Institute incur a
68% overhead for administrative costs
and general infrastructure upkeep. SRP
grants do not, as they are gifts from one
family to a limited number of faculty recipients.
3 Initiatives Funded
• MIT Energy Initiative seed grants – awards of
up to $150,000 for up to 2 years for launch
10
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Collegiate Energy Association
and exploration of new ideas, not research
currently being conducted.
• MIT Future of Solar Energy Study – Integrated,
cross-Institute study on solar technologies,
policies, economics, and R&D.
• PhD fellowships – ca. 30 5-year fellowships
for PhD students to explore high risk ideas
accompanied by funding for equipment and
materials.
Maintaining Community
• The Foundation hosts and/or funds events
throughout the year to build community
amongst its funding recipients and associated stakeholders.
• Events organized by the student-run MIT
solar community of the MIT Energy Club
• Holiday party
• Faculty appreciation dinner
• Annual retreat
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
11
Northwestern University
Collegiate Energy Association
Initiative for Sustainability and
Energy at Northwestern
Mark Ratner, Co-Director
ratner@northwestern.edu
website
The Initiative for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN) is a university-wide effort to enhance,
support, and fund research, education, and outreach in science, technology, and policy for energy and sustainability.
Cluster Fellowships and Curriculum
Development
• In addition to energy and sustainability courses taught and hosted in traditional academic
units at Northwestern, ISEN and its Curriculum Committee have developed an array of
interdisciplinary ISEN-hosted course offerings
at both the undergraduate and graduate levels that often involve team teaching in order
to provide a multi-disciplinary education.
• ISEN provides funding for Cluster Fellowships
to a select group of graduate students in energy and sustainability from any of Northwestern’s schools.
• Cluster Fellows are required to take three
ISEN graduate core classes that cover energy
science and technology; energy economics,
business, social behavior, and policies; energy
entrepreneurship; and project-based problem
solving in energy and sustainability – Topics
in Contemporary Energy, NUvention Energy,
Sustainability Practicum.
• Cluster Fellows participate in various ISEN-organized events and special fellows meetings
to enhance their energy and sustainability
education as well as to foster mutual education and interaction between fellows from dif-
Energy R&D and Education
ferent disciplines.
• ISEN Cluster Fellows also grade or serve as a
teaching assistant for an undergraduate ISEN
course.
Faculty Research Funding
• ISEN Booster Research Award
• Supplemental research awards for up
to one year and up to a maximum of
$45,000 to fill unmet research needs.
• Booster awards are not intended to fully
fund whole research projects, but rather,
are designed to augment or match existing project funding that cannot sufficiently meet the needs of the project by itself.
• Emphasis is placed on projects that open
up new avenues of research at Northwestern and that involve internal collaborations between Northwestern faculty
and/or Argonne National Lab.
• ISEN Awards for Equipment
• Grants for the purchase of new equipment up to a maximum of $30,000.
• Equipment must be intended for use by at
least 4 separate Northwestern research
groups.
• Awards are intended to provide matching
www.collegeenergy.org
12
Northwestern University
funding for the purchase of equipment
that is financially leveraged.
Student Funding
• ISEN Summer Research Funding Opportunities provide funding for student grants
($3,000) that allow undergraduates to pursue
research in a faculty lab over the summer.
• ISEN Student Awards are available to all
Northwestern students and are flexible, one
year grants up to $6,000 that provide matching or supplementary funding for innovative
ideas/projects in energy and sustainability
education, research, and/or outreach.
Energy R&D and Education
Collegiate Energy Association
Collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory
• To promote collaboration between Northwestern University and the nearby Argonne
National Laboratory, a Northwestern-Argonne
Early Career Investigator Award for Energy Research provides $100,000 in seed funding
over three years to early career Northwestern
faculty or Argonne scientists for proposed
projects conducted collaboratively between
the two institutions.
• Projects are selected by a joint committee
composed of Northwestern and Argonne
scientists.
• Awardees must be collaborating with either Northwestern or Argonne.
• Research must involve a Northwestern
full-time graduate student.
• Northwestern and Argonne partner on numerous individual research projects as well as
on the larger, collaborative multi-investigator
Energy Frontier Research Centers established
jointly between the two institutions and funded by the US Department of Energy.
• Numerous Northwestern faculty also maintain
joint appointments with Argonne.
www.collegeenergy.org
13
Stanford University
Global Climate and Energy
Project
Collegiate Energy Association
Sally Benson, Director
smbenson@stanford.edu
website
The Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP) directs multi-million dollar sponsorship from four international companies to fund pre-commercial research across a wide spectrum of energy technologies at Stanford
University and numerous other American and international research institutions.
Sponsored Research Funding Program
• GCEP is funded by four international companies – ExxonMobil, General Electric, Schlumberger, and Toyota – who collectively plan to
invest up to $225 million over a decade or
more.
• Sponsored research projects are organized
into various topical research areas spanning
a wide spectrum of energy generation, storage, and infrastructure technologies as well
as CO2 capture and storage technologies and
systems analysis and integrated assessment
for scoping of technology potential and feasibility.
• Each research area may contain several sponsored projects with a multi-million dollar collective level of funding for ca. three years.
• In contrast to its traditional sponsored research, GCEP also supports exploratory
projects for up to one year of funding up to
$100,000 in order to test the potential feasibility of innovative “step-out” ideas.
• Projects are selected through multiple review
rounds:
• Independent review panels with no affiliation to Stanford or GCEP sponsors
• A review panel composed of technical
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
staff from GCEP sponsors
• GCEP staff makes final recommendations
• GCEP Management Committee composed of sponsor representatives has final approval
• GCEP sponsors have the right to a royalty-free
license (with the right to sublicense) for patented technologies resulting from GCEP.
External Research Collaborations
• GCEP also funds research conducted at academic and research institutions other than
Stanford in order to complement Stanford’s
existing research strengths and to complete
a well-balanced and diversified sponsored research portfolio.
• A wide range of US and international academic and research institutions are sponsored
including, but not limited to, the California Institute of Technology, the Carnegie Institution
of Washington, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Delft University of Technology, Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, Ghent University, Harvard University,
Research Institute of Innovative Technology
for the Earth, Swiss Federal Institute of Tech-
14
Stanford University
Collegiate Energy Association
nology, Universidad Politecinica de Madrid,
Universite de Picardie Jules Verne, University
of Dundee, University of Sydney, and Utrecht
University.
Faculty Sabbatical Program
• Support for non-Stanford faculty who wish to
spend sabbatical leave at Stanford University
in order to expand their research interests
and skills as well as to exchange ideas via collaboration with GCEP-funded Stanford faculty
members as a visiting scholar.
• For example, Enge Wang, Co-Director of the
Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed
Matter Physics, is the first GCEP Visiting
Scholar.
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
15
Tsinghua University
Collegiate Energy Association
Climate Policy Initiative
Qi Ye, Director
qi@tsinghua.edu.cn
website
The CPI center based at Tsinghua is the China branch of the CPI global research organization supporting
nations’ efforts for low-carbon growth. The center analyzes current and potential national level policies and
programs to determine their impacts and effectiveness while making recommendations for best approaches.
The CPI center was founded in 2010.
Private Funding
• CPI is funded as a philanthropic effort of
American billionaire George Soros. Soros has
promised $10 million for 10 years to go to climate policy research.
• To support the work of the center, Soros is
promising substantial grants for research focusing on evaluating the efficiency of local,
national, and global climate policies.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
• CPI-Tsinghua is working with the School of
Public Policy, the Low Carbon Energy Laboratory, the School of Economics and Management, and the Dept. of Environmental Science
and Engineering.
Deliverables
• CPI-Tsinghua will publish an annual report
providing a comprehensive view of China’s
low-carbon roadmap.
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
16
Tsinghua University
Collegiate Energy Association
China Automotive Energy
Research Center
He Jiankun, Director
caerc@tsinghua.edu.cn
website
CAERC was established in 2008 to become a world-class advanced research institute in automotive energy.
CAERC carries out in-depth, cross-disciplinary research projects in close relationship with the government,
academic institutions, and relevant industries to develop proposals for national energy policy and integrated
solutions for China and the world with respect to sustainable automotive energy systems.
Financing
• CAERC is an unincorporated non-profit institution under the management of Tsinghua University.
• Sponsorship for CAERC comes from General
Motors (GM) and the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) which provided the
seed money to open the center. The two companies jointly provide a five-year, US$5 million
grant to Tsinghua to establish CAERC.
• Additional funding is provided through research grants, collaborations, and through
Tsinghua University.
Leadership Structure
• CAERC is guided by a five-person steering
committee comprised of Tsinghua, GM, and
SAIC representatives acting as the Center’s
official decision makers.
• The major responsibilities of the steering committee include:
• Studying and formulation of the research
development plan
• Approving annual working plans and bud-
Energy R&D and Education
gets
• Relationship coordination
• Gaining support from domestic and foreign resources for the Center
• An advisory board assists in CAERC research
planning and research efforts as necessary.
The board is comprised of directors, presidents, and other high government officials
and industry leaders in the automotive field
including:
• Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
• Ministry of Science and Technology
• Dept. of Industry and Transportation
• National Energy Administration
• Shenhua Coal Group (Coal to Liquids)
• BP
• Petrochina
• COFCO (bio-energy division)
Research Team & Projects
• Research is not confined to in-house staff;
CAERC can open research projects to all social academic organizations and experts to
attract the best talent for any given research
project.
www.collegeenergy.org
17
Tsinghua University
Collegiate Energy Association
Activities and Output
• Publishes the China Automotive Energy Outlook.
• Involved with policy decision making for Chinese government 5-year plans.
Cooperation Activities
• With GM and SAIC’s close relationship to the
center, there is a large amount of exchange
that takes place between Tsinghua researchers and the companies’ independent research
teams including resource and technology
sharing.
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
18
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy
Research and Education Centre
Collegiate Energy Association
Li Zheng, Director
lz-dte@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
website
The Tsinghua-BP Center is a platform for co-operation between BP and Tsinghua University where top experts on China’s clean energy policy, strategy, technology, and economics converge. The Tsinghua-BP Center
is a bridge between China’s government organizations, world leading energy companies, foundations, and
research institutions, which makes it a nexus for the exchange of new ideas, research, and information on clean
energy topics. The center was established in 2003.
Non-binding Financial Support
• BP helped with construction of the center and
supports the center annually with approximately $500,000.
• The Center is allowed full research freedom.
It may choose to allocate the funds as it wishes and select research projects that it feels
are most attractive to China without control
from BP.
• Additional funding comes to the Center
through national 973 and 863 project grants
as well as through other collaborations.
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
Multidisciplinary Approach
• The Center includes researchers and graduate
students with various backgrounds (including
materials, thermal, and systems engineering)
whose work covers everything from specific
coal power plant technology to nationwide energy flow forecasting and economic analysis.
• The projects taken on by the Center involve
not only technology development (of which
some has already been commercialized) but
also economic and policy analysis.
• The Center also houses elements that are
part of BP’s “Clean Energy – Facing the Future” 10-year, $10 million clean energy research and demonstration program with the
Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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University of California, Berkeley
Cleantech to Market
Collegiate Energy Association
Beverly Alexander, Director
beverly_alexander@haas.berkeley.edu
website
Cleantech to Market (C2M) is a project-based class and partnership between UC Berkeley graduate students,
scientists from various research centers, and industry leaders to bring clean energy technologies to market.
C2M has three complementary goals: (1) commercialize new low carbon energy technologies, (2) educate
the next generation of energy leaders, and (3) grow the network of clean energy businesses engaged with UC
Berkeley.
Scope
• Students help scientists commercialize their
inventions while learning about the technology and meeting industry leaders.
• Researchers teach the students about energy
science and technology while gaining market
insights and industry connections.
• Industry leaders mentor student teams while
picking up fresh ideas, investment opportunities, and new recruits.
• The class is structured to give students an
“enterprise” or end-to-end view of clean energy commercialization – from government
funded research, through government seed,
angel, and VC funding, and ultimately to enduse customer adoption.
• Includes proprietary and open source technologies; incremental process improvements
and stand alone inventions; and technologies
suitable for incumbents as well as startups.
• Directly addresses the “valley of death” between publicly funded research laboratories
and the marketplace.
• Provides a valuable inter-disciplinary, handson learning experience for students that bet-
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
ter mirrors real-world scenarios than most
university courses or research opportunities.
• Devotes resources to all types of technologies, including those that might fall outside
the range of VC funding.
• Explores other commercialization pathways
in addition to venture start ups in order to
provide value for a broader range of technologies, from incremental improvements to new,
breakout ideas.
Cross-disciplinary and Cross-institutional
Teams
• Student participants are drawn from the Haas
School of Business, the School of Law, the
College of Engineering, the Energy and Resources Group, and the various sciences.
• Researchers are drawn from the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab),
the Joint BioEnergy Institute, the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest
of Society and others through the UC Berkeley
Office of Technology Licensing.
• Students and researchers are matched strategically in order to capitalize on existing ex-
20
University of California, Berkeley
pertise.
• Student participation augments the work of
the technology transfer office.
“Go to Market” Plans
• Teams prepare an integrated analysis that includes, but is not limited to:
• Identifying advantages that distinguish
the technology from existing technologies
• Alignment with and feasibility of the technology in various markets
• Revenue potential and IP issues
• Competitors
• Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats
• Cost sensitivity
• Target customer profiles
• Possible venture or industry partners
• Commercialization challenges
• Impact of government policies
• Teams work together to compile their market
sector research, even if it doesn’t fit into their
plans, as it could be useful for researchers
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
Collegiate Energy Association
participating in C2M.
Feedback
• Extensive use of feedback data is employed
to evaluate and improve team performance in
the class.
• Students are also taught techniques to successfully work in interdisciplinary teams.
• Students share their existing expertise by consulting on each other’s projects.
Deliverables
• In brief presentations, teams market their
technologies to industry leaders and professionals at the end of the class.
• Grounded in research
• For a business audience
• Includes recommended next steps in the
chosen commercialization pathway
• In small meetings with the participating researchers, student teams discuss and hand
over their market plans, research, and findings.
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University of Colorado, Boulder
Collegiate Energy Association
Renewable and Sustainable
Energy Institute
Carl Koval, Executive Director
carl.koval@colorado.edu
website
RASEI is an institutional collaboration between the University of Colorado at Boulder (UCB) and the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). RASEI awards seed grants for faculty research, provides market assessment and proof-of-concept support for commercializable technologies, and designs and implements energy education programs at UCB.
Seed Grants
• Funding up to $50,000 for up to 2 years to incubate new, innovative research projects in all
areas of renewable and sustainable energy.
• Only researchers who participate in the RASEI Research Symposium may apply for seed
funding in the subsequent funding round.
• Emphasis is placed on projects involving collaborations between UCB and NREL, as well
as collaborations between either UCB or NREL
and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Center for
Atmospheric Research, and/or the University
Corporation for Atmospheric Research.
Market Assessment Program
• RASEI, working with the Technology Transfer
Office, provides researchers with pro bono
commercialization analysis (valued between
$8,000-12,000 for a 3 month market assessment).
• Teams consist of an industry lead, a technology transfer officer, a faculty or graduate stu-
Energy R&D and Education
dent researcher, and an MBA student.
• MAP projects culminate in a market assessment report that identifies:
• Most promising markets/applications for
the technology
• Potential end-users/customers
• Additional technology development requisite for commercialization
• Intellectual property protection required
• Recommended next steps (e.g. research,
proof-of-concept demonstration, start up,
licensing)
Proof-of-Concept Grants
• Awards of up to $50,000 for proof-of-concept
prototyping, development, and validation of
work emerging from a sponsored research
program.
• Projects must have a very clear commercialization pathway, as proof-of-concept grants
are intended to follow projects that have successfully completed the market assessment
program.
• Projects are evaluated jointly by the Technology Transfer Office and RASEI. www.collegeenergy.org
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University of Colorado, Boulder
Industry Sponsorship and Steering
• The RASEI Leadership Council is composed of
a purposefully diversified and balanced set of
public and private seats and RASEI sponsors,
representing traditional and renewable energy, finance, policy, and various schools at UCB
(Engineering and Applied Science, Business,
Law, and Arts & Sciences).
• The Leadership Council governs and provides
strategic direction to RASEI.
• Council members collectively contribute $1
million annually to support various RASEI programs.
Energy Certificates
• Undergraduate and graduate “Energy Certificate” programs supplement, not replace,
concurrent training in traditional primary academic disciplines.
• Curriculum development is guided by a com-
Energy R&D and Education
Collegiate Energy Association
mittee with representatives from engineering,
business, law, and arts & sciences.
• Undergraduate certificate is composed of
electives and three core classes:
• Energy science and technology
• Energy policy, politics, and economics
• Project-based energy problem solving
• Graduate certificate is composed of electives
and three core classes:
• Energy science and technology
• Energy policy, politics, and economics
• Energy markets and business
Student Engagement
• RASEI provides operating funding and support
($5,000 annually) for the CU Energy Club, an
interdisciplinary student organization.
• The CU Energy Club is open to all students (undergraduate and graduate) and coordinates a
range of student-focused programs, including
a Conference Travel Stipend and an annual
Energy Research Poster Symposium.
www.collegeenergy.org
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University Alliance
Low Carbon Energy University
Alliance
Collegiate Energy Association
Qiang Yao, Executive Director
yaoq@tsinghua.edu.cn
website
The Low Carbon Energy University Alliance (LCEUA) supports collaborative research into low carbon energy
technologies and analyses at three world-leading universities.
Membership
• The Alliance is a three-way partnership between Tsinghua University in China, the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom,
and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States.
• Management of the Alliance is provided by a
steering committee composed of two members from each university.
Funding
• The Chinese government provided a $10 million investment to support the launch and initial operations of the Alliance.
• Future investments in the Alliance will be solicited through a fundraising committee.
• The Alliance provides funding for collaborative
seed projects to launch new research into low
carbon energy technology and policy analysis.
• Projects must actively engage and involve
at least two of the three Alliance univer-
Energy R&D and Education
www.collegeenergy.org
sities; three-way collaborations are preferred.
• For two-way collaborations, a plan to engage or exchange information with the
third university must be in place.
• Total seed funding of up to $200,000 for
each Alliance partner per project may be
provided over a project period of up to
three years.
Research Priorities
• The Alliance supports both low carbon energy
technology research as well as policy research
and analysis.
• Areas of initial research priority include:
• Economic and policy modeling for a low
carbon future
• Combustion and carbon capture
• Low carbon cities and efficient industry
• Biofuels
• Thermal energy conversion
• Nuclear power
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Energy Education
Collegiate Energy Association
Graduate Energy Education Programs
Boston University
Columbia University
Delft University of Technology
Duke University
M.A., Energy and Environmental Analysis
MIA/MPA concentration, Energy & Environment
M.S., Sustainable Energy Technology
Master of Environmental Management concentration, Energy and
Environment
Harvard University
Graduate Consortium on Energy and Environment
Imperial College London
Energy Futures Centre for Doctoral Training
Imperial College London
M.Sc., Sustainable Energy Futures
Johns Hopkins University
M.S., Energy Policy and Climate
Northwestern University
ISEN Cluster Fellowships
Peking University
Graduate School of Environment and Energy
Penn State University
Graduate Program in Energy and Mineral Engineering
Tulane University
Energy Specialization Programs
University College London
Doctoral Training Centre in Energy Demand Reduction and the Built
Environment
University of Alberta
M.B.A., Natural Resources, Energy, & Environment
University of Calgary
Centre for Environmental Engineering Research and Education
University of Calgary
Energy and Environmental Systems Group
University of California, Berkeley Energy and Resources Group (Graduate Program)
University of Colorado, Boulder Graduate Energy Certificate
University of Leeds
Doctoral Training Centre in Low Carbon Technologies
University of Michigan, Ann
Masters of Energy Systems Engineering
Arbor
University of North Texas
Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering (Graduate Program)
University of Sheffield
Doctoral Training Centre in E-Futures
University of Texas, Austin
Energy and Earth Resources Graduate Program
University of Tokyo
Department of Advanced Energy
Energy R&D and Education
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Energy Education
University of Wisconsin,
Madison
University of Wisconsin,
Madison
Utrecht University
Collegiate Energy Association
Energy Analysis and Policy Program
website
Masters of Engineering in Energy Systems
website
Energy Science Masters
website
Undergraduate Energy Education Programs
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
Penn State University
Penn State University
Penn State University
Penn State University
Energy Studies Minor
Undergraduate Program in Energy Business and Finance
Undergraduate Program in Energy Engineering
Energy Engineering Minor
Minor in Global Business Strategies for the Earth, Energy, and
Material Industries
Penn State University
Energy, Environmental, and Mineral Economics Minor
Tulane University
Energy Specialization Programs
University of Calgary
Centre for Environmental Engineering Research and Education
University of California, Berkeley Energy and Resources Group (Undergraduate Minor)
University of Colorado, Boulder Undergraduate Energy Certificate
University of North Texas
Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering (Undergraduate
Program)
University of Pennsylvania
Minor in Energy and Sustainability
University of Toronto
Energy Systems Major
University of Toronto
Sustainable Energy Minor
University of Wisconsin,
Certificate in Engineering for Energy Sustainability
Madison
Energy R&D and Education
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