Research – Energy 2100

Some research areas are organized through Centers, while other topics are addressed by individual researches working in these areas. The list of existing Centers is shown below, followed by a longer list of the individual researchers working in different areas. Links are available, by clicking on their names, to directly connect you to their department or institute web pages for more detailed information on their research.

Centers

BEST: Battery and Energy Storage Technologies: Bringing together researchers working on batteries and energy Storage
Center for Biorenewables: Building teams to address the complete chain of biomass energy systems.
H₂E: Hydrogen Energy Center: Research on hydrogen production, storage, and fuel cells.
Wind Energy: Researching all aspects of wind energy including aerodynamics, blade and rotor design, meteorology, and grid integration.

Batteries and Energy Storage	Researcher	Research Interest
	Joel Anstrom Mechanical Engineering	Hybrid and hydrogen vehicle system integration and development including system design, modeling and testing.
	Timothy Cleary Larson Transportation Institute	Energy Infrastructure; Storage and Devices; Power and Energy Systems.
	Enrique Gomez Chemical Engineering	Polymers; organic electronics; organic solar cells; electron microscopy of soft materials.
	Derek Hall Energy and Mineral Engineering	Renewable Technologies and Power Systems .
	Michael Hickner Materials Science and Engineering	Functional polymeric materials; Electrochemistry and electrochemical technology; Transport in materials; Membrane separations; Materials chemistry.
	Michael Janik Chemical Engineering	Electrocatalysis; Catalysis by doped oxides; Heterogeneous Catalysis; Polymers and Enzymes for Energy Applications.
	Arash Khoshkbar-Sadigh Electrical Engineering	Electronic Materials and Devices; Integrated Circuits and Systems; Power and Energy Systems.
	Bruce Logan Civil and Environmental Engineering	Bioenergy production using exoelectrogenic microorganisms; renewable energy production using waste heat and salinity gradient energy; environmental and chemical transport processes; bioremediation; and biological wastewater treatment.
	Serguei Lvov Energy and Mineral Engineering	Electrochemical energy conversion and storage; Electrochemcial thermodynamics, kinetics, and transport; Electrochemical catalysis and corrosion; Thermodynamics, electrochemistry, and surface chemistry in high-temperature systems
	Christopher Rahn Mechanical Engineering	Energy Systems; Mechanical Sciences; Sensors & Controls; Transportation Systems
	Clive Randall Materials Science and Engineering	Piezoelectric Materials; Analysis and Characterization
	Feifei Shi Energy and Mineral Engineering	Electrochemical energy conversation and storage.
	Randy Vander Wal Energy and Mineral Engineering	Carbon Nanomaterials Syntheses; Electron microscope and spectroscopic characterization.
	Adri van Duin Mechanical Engineering	Molecular dynamics simulations on reactive and non-reactive systems; applications to combustion, catalysis and material failure.
	Chao-Yang Wang Mechanical Engineering	Multiphase transport, batteries, and fuel cells.
	Donghai Wang Mechanical Engineering	Design & synthesis of nanostructured inorganic materials, high surface-area nanoporous materials, carbon nanostructures, nanocomposites. Processing, structure, properties, performance relationships in energy conversion & storage for batteries and fuel cells.
	Sulin Zhang Engineering Science and Mechanics	Multiscale computational simulations of nanostructured materials and biological materials; multiscale mechanics of nano-bi interfaces.

Bioenergy	Researcher	Research Interest
	Charles Anderson Biology	Cell Biology; Developmental Biology; Genetics; Molecular Biology; Molecular,Cellular,and Integrative Biosciences; Plant Biology
	Saurabh Bansal Supply Chain Management	Model and data driven understanding for how business managers perceive and estimate uncertainties;Descriptive models for how they react to these uncertainties; Prescriptive optimization based models for how they should react to the uncertainties.
	Rachel Brennan Civil and Environmental Engineering	Food-energy-water nexus challenges; ecological wastewater treatment; bioremediation of soil and groundwater contaminants; nutrient recovery for the production of fertilizers, fodder, and biofuels; engaged global scholarship; humanitarian service projects.
	Nicole Brown Agricultural and Biological Engineering	Wood, cellulose, lignin, biobased materials and polymer chemistry
	John Carlson Ecosystems Science and Management	Research, education and technology transfer in forest genetics, genomics and plant biotechnology
	Daniel Ciolkosz Agricultural and Biological Engineering	Bioenergy; Biomass Energy Systems; Thermochemical Conversion; Energy Efficiency; Controlled Environment Agriculture; Solar Energy Resource Evaluation.
	Daniel Cosgrove Biology	Bioinformatics; Cell Biology; Genetics; Genomics; Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences; Phylogenetics; Plant Biology.
	Ali Demirci Agricultural and Biological Engineering	Bioprocess Engineering/Fermentation; Food Engineering/Food Safety
	Lara Fowler Institutes of Energy and the Environment Penn State Law	Environmental, energy, and natural resource law, with a specific focus on water related issues.
	Ying Gu Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	Cell Biology, Energy Research, Biochemistry
	Michael Jacobson Ecosystems Science and Management	Water Energy Food Nexus; Bioenergy; Agroforestry; Forest Economics and Finance; International Forestry; Forest Extension; Non-Timber Forest Products.
	Armen Kemanian Plant Science	Agrosystems; Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling; Hydrologic and Nutrient Cycling Modeling; Environmental Biophysics; Plant Ecophysiology
	Seong Kim Chemical Engineering	Tribology, Glass Surface, and Cellulosic Nanomaterials: Surface science, nano-materials, nano-tribology, glass, biomass, catalysis
	Joel Landry Energy and Mineral Engineering	Climate Change, Energy Systems, Welfare Evaluation of Public Policy, Optimal Design of Public Policy, Estimation and Validation of Structural Models
	Costas Maranas Chemical Engineering	Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology; Systems Engineering
	Judd Michael Agricultural and Biological Engineering	Safety Improvement and organizational behavior, Corporate environmental management, bio-products industries business management; Packaging and pallets. Sports sustainability. Recycling and composting behavior.
	Bruce Miller Energy Institute	Stationary combustion systems (fixed-bed, pulverized, and fluidized-bed) utilizing coal and biomass; Advanced fuels evaluation and characterization; Air emissions (sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, trace metals, organic compounds) characterization and control;Coal and biomass conversion (pyrolysis, gasification, and liquefaction); Material handling, hardware development, and component evaluation; Behavior of inorganic constituents in fuel utilization systems; Coal-water mixture formulation, characterization, and evaluation.
	B. Tracy Nixon Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	Genetic, Bioinformatic, Biochemical, and Structural studies of bacterial signal transduction and gene regulation by AAA+ ATPase and cellulose synthesis in bacteria and plants.
	Jacqueline O’Connor Center for Gas Turbine Research, Education, and Outreach	Energy Systems; Thermal/Fluid Sciences; Transportation Systems
	Virendra Puri Agricultural and Biological Engineering	Powder Mechanics; Food Processing.
	John Regan Civil and Environmental Engineering	Biological treatment processes, molecular microbial ecology, bioenergy production.
	Mohammad Rezaee Energy and Mineral Engineering	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environment Applications; Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction and Utilization
	Tom Richard Agricultural and Biological Engineering Institutes for Energy and the Environment	Solid-state fermentation of biomass for renewable chemicals and fuels; Advanced compost engineering; Sustainable crop and livestock systems.
	Phillip Savage Chemical Engineering	Kinetics, Catalysis, and Reaction Engineering for Sustainability: Research focuses on the conversion of microalgal biomass to renewable fuels and on chemical recycling of various wastes (e.g., food waste, waste plastics) into fuels and/or useful chemicals.
	Paul Smith Agricultural and Biological Engineering	B2B Marketing-Bioproduct industries; Biorefinery value stream outputs.
	Chunshan Song Energy Institute	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environment Applications
	Ming Tien Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	Characterization and biochemical analysis of cellulose synthesis in a variety of organisms. Mechanism and regulation of fungal degradation of lignin. Dissimilatory Iron reduction
	Hojae Yi Agricultural and Biological Engineering	Engineering Mechanics of Materials; Powder Mechanics; Mathematical modeling, simulation, and analysis of mechanical behavior of particulate materials and biological materials

Blue Energy	Researcher	Research Interest
	John Cimbala Mechanical Engineering	Fluid dynamics, flow visualization, wind tunnels, neutron radiography, turbulence, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), turbulence modeling, turbomachinery, air pollution, stratified tanks, indoor air quality, heat pipes, instrumentation, hydroturbines
	Arnold Fontaine Applied Research Lab	Cardiovascular bioengineering, experimental and theoretical fluid dynamics, flow control, and turbulence
	Christopher Gorski Civil and Environmental Engineering	Environmental Redox Chemistry
	Xiaofeng Liu Civil and Environmental Engineering	Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Environmental fluid mechanics, Sediment transport and erosion control, Land surface process and morphodynamics, Multiphase flow, Water quality modeling

Electrochemistry	Researcher	Research Interest
	Ismaila Dabo Materials Science & Engineering	Energy conversion and storage, computational materials science, quantum and multiscale simulations, novel computational methods, materials for electrochemistry, materials for photochemistry, spectroscopy of materials
	Christopher Gorski Civil and Environmental Engineering	Environmental Redox Chemistry
	Derek Hall Earth and Mineral Sciences	Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage, Elevated Temperature and Pressure Electrochemical Sensors, Corrosion and Surface Chemistry in Extreme Environments, thermodynamics of Aqueous
	Michael Hickner Chemical Engineering	Materials and Nanoscience Organic
	Michael Janik Chemical Engineering	Energy and Environment; Catalysis: Applying atomistic modeling approaches to study systems of relevance for advanced energy conversion technology; kinetic modeling of heterogeneous catalysis and electrocatalysis
	Bruce Logan Civil and Environmental Engineering	Bioenergy production using exoelectrogenic microorganisms; renewable energy production using waste heat and salinity gradient energy; environmental and chemical transport processes; bioremediation; and biological wastewater treatment
	Serguei Lvov Energy and Mineral Engineering	Renewable Technologies and Power Systems
	Christopher Rahn Mechanical Engineering	Dynamic systems modeling, design, analysis, and control with applications to flexible structures, biologically inspired robotics, smart material actuators, sensors, and energy harvesters, and electrochemical energy storage
	Adri van Duin Mechanical Engineering	Molecular dynamics simulations on reactive and non-reactive systems; applications to combustion, catalysis and material failure

Energy Use & People	Researcher	Research Interest
	Lee Ahern Bellisario College of Communications	Science Communication, Strategic Communication, Digital Media Metrics and Marketing
	Colleen Connolly-Ahern Bellisario College of Communications	International Political Advertising, Health Communications, Strategic Communications
	Leland Glenna Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education	Social and environmental impacts of agricultural science and technologies, the role of science and technology in agricultural and natural resource policy making, the social and ethical implications of democratizing science and technology research
	Alexander Klippel Geography	Spatial cognition, wayfinding, geographic event conceptualization, formal characterizations of dynamic spatial processes, location based services, landscape and land cover concepts, crowdscience and crowdsourcing, and featured prominently in recent projects, Virtual Reality and 3D modeling
	Bruce Logan Civil and Environmental Engineering	Bioenergy production using exoelectrogenic microorganisms; renewable energy production using waste heat and salinity gradient energy; environmental and chemical transport processes; bioremediation; and biological wastewater treatment
	Jessica Myrick Bellisario College of Communications	Media Studies
	Janet Swim Psychology	Social Psychology

Hydrogen Energy	Researcher	Research Interest
	Joel Anstrom Mechanical Engineering	Hybrid and hydrogen vehicle system integration and development including system design, modeling, and testing.
	Moses Chan Materials Science and Engineering	Phase transition studies, particularly quantum fluids and solids at cryogenic temperatures, in reduced dimensionalities and in the presence of disorder
	John Golbeck Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	Biophysics, Energy Research, Biochemistry, Enzymology, Plant Sciences, Structural Biology
	Derek Hall Earth and Mineral Sciences	Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage, Elevated Temperature and Pressure Electrochemical Sensors, Corrosion and Surface Chemistry in Extreme Environments, thermodynamics of Aqueous
	Michael Hickner Chemical Engineering	Materials and Nanoscience Organic
	Bruce Logan Civil and Environmental Engineering	Bioenergy production using exoelectrogenic microorganisms; renewable energy production using waste heat and salinity gradient energy; environmental and chemical transport processes; bioremediation; and biological wastewater treatment
	Serguei Lvov Energy and Mineral Engineering	Renewable Technologies and Power Systems
	Thomas Mallouk Chemistry	Inorganic and analytical chemistry; synthesis of new materials; chemical applications of solid state materials: surface chemistry, layered and porous materials, self-assembly, artificial photosynthesis, catalysis and electrocatalysis
	John Regan Civil and Environmental Engineering	Biological treatment processes, molecular microbial ecology, bioenergy production.
	Raymond Schaak Chemistry	Inorganic, Materials, Nanoscience
	Chao-Yang Wang Mechanical Engineering	Multiphase transport, batteries, and fuel cells

Membranes	Researcher	Research Interest
	Enrique Gomez Chemical Engineering	Focused on Connecting the Chemistry, Structure, and Macroscopic Properties of Complex Soft Matter: Polymers, organic electronics, organic solar cells, electron microscopy of soft materials
	Michael Hickner Materials Science and Engineering	Materials and Nanoscience Organic
	Athanasios Karamalidis Earth and Mineral Sciences	Resource recovery for critical materials, Geochemistry, Water chemistry, Surface complexation modeling, Geological storage and utilization of carbon dioxide, Unconventional oil and gas development, Water-energy-mineral resource recovery and production
	Bruce Logan Civil and Environmental Engineering	Bioenergy production using exoelectrogenic microorganisms; renewable energy production using waste heat and salinity gradient energy; environmental and chemical transport processes; bioremediation; and biological wastewater treatment
	Mohammad Rezaee Energy and Mineral Engineering	Chemical Engineering, Combustion, Gasification and Power Systems, Environmental Engineering, Industrial Health & Safety, Mining Engineering, Coal Science & Technology Stationary Power
	Andrew Zydney Chemical Engineering	Membrane Separation Systems for Bioprocessing and Medical Devices: Purification of high-value biological products including recombinant proteins, gene therapy agents, and vaccines; application of membrane systems for bioseparations and artificial organs

Solar Energy	Researcher	Research Interest
	Jennifer Baka Geography	Energy geographies, Political-industrial ecology, Environmental governance
	Seth Blumsack Energy and Mineral Engineering	Electricity and natural gas industries; environmental management related to energy and infrastructure; resilience of energy infrastructure; regulation and deregulation in network industries; network science; risk analysis; and managing complex infrastructure systems.
	Rachel Brennan Civil and Environmental Engineering	Food-energy-water nexus challenges; ecological wastewater treatment; bioremediation of soil and groundwater contaminants; nutrient recovery for the production of fertilizers, fodder, and biofuels; engaged global scholarship; humanitarian service projects
	Joel Landry Energy and Mineral Engineering	Environmental economics, Energy economics, Public Finance, Political Economy
	Bruce Logan Civil and Environmental Engineering	Bioenergy production using exoelectrogenic microorganisms; renewable energy production using waste heat and salinity gradient energy; environmental and chemical transport processes; bioremediation; and biological wastewater treatment
	Alfonso Mejia Civil and Environmental Engineering	Hydrology, floods and droughts, hydrometeorology, urban-water systems, water resources sustainability, ecohydrology

Sustainability	Researcher	Research Interest
	Harry Allcock Chemistry	Polymers, materials, and biomedicine is a major emphasis in modern research
	John Asbury Chemistry	Chemical processes in functional organic electronic materials
	Peter Buck Sustainability Institute	Integrate sustainability into academics, outreach, operations, and research
	Vincent Crespi Materials Science and Engineering	first-principles density functional theory to dynamical mean field theory, empirical interatomic potentials, photonic bandstructures
	Ismaila Dabo Materials Science and Engineering	Materials science, physical chemistry, applied mathematics, and computer science
	Mark Fedkin Dutton e-Education Institute
	Chris Giebink Electrical Engineering	Optoelectronics and photonics, organic semiconductors
	Enrique Gomez Chemical Engineering	Focused on Connecting the Chemistry, Structure, and Macroscopic Properties of Complex Soft Matter: Polymers, organic electronics, organic solar cells, electron microscopy of soft materials
	Jiawei Gong Mechanical Engineering, Penn State Behrend	Thin Film Solar Cells; Mathematical Modeling of Electrode Kinetics; 1D Nanostructured Materials
	Meghan Hoskins Sustainability Institute
	Akhlesh Lakhtakia Engineering Science and Mechanics	Sculptured thin films; Metamaterials; Nanophotonics; Nanotechnology; Electromagnetics; Composite materials; Chirality; Anisotropic and bianisotropic mediums; Bianisotropic mediums; Acoustics; Micropolar materials; Chaos and Fractals
	Shiyong Lee Electrical Engineering, Penn State Berks	Efficient power converter topologies, input power factor correction, switched reluctance motor drives, alternative energy production, such as solar energy and wind power generation, and digital power processing
	Bruce Logan Civil and Environmental Engineering	Bioenergy production using exoelectrogenic microorganisms; renewable energy production using waste heat and salinity gradient energy; environmental and chemical transport processes; bioremediation; and biological wastewater treatment
	Joseph Ranalli Engineering, Penn State Hazelton	Combustion, Solar Power Applications, Games in Engineering Education, Educational and Pedagogical Software
	Ola Rashwan School of Science, Engineering, and Technology, Penn State Harrisburg	Micro/Nano surface Texturing of Metal Forming Dies, Micro/Nano surface Texturing of PV thin-film solar cells to maximize light trapping, Additive Manufacturing of Biomaterials.
	Joan Redwing Materials Science and Engineering	2D Materials, Analysis and Characterization, Chemistry, Energy, Nanomaterials, Optical Materials, Physics, Semiconductors, Synthesis
	David Snyder Materials Science and Engineering	Electro-optics
	Kai Wang Materials Science and Engineering
	Qing Wang Materials Science and Engineering	Nanomaterials, Piezolelectric Materials, Polymers
	Doug Werner Electrical Engineering and Computer Science	Antenna design, Computational electromagnetics, Fractal antennas, Genetically engineered antennas, Electromagnetic wave Interaction with materials, Metamaterials.

Thermal Energy	Researcher	Research Interest
	Derek Elsworth Energy and Mineral Engineering	Computational mechanics, rock mechanics, and in the mechanical and transport characteristics of fractured rocks, with application to geothermal energy, the deep geological sequestration of radioactive wastes and of CO2, unconventional hydrocarbons including coal-gas, tight-gas-shales and hydrates, and instability and eruption dynamics of volcanoes
	James Freihaut Architectural Engineering	Indoor Air Quality and Building Science, combined heat and power systems, distributed energy systems, enclosed space air quality issues, system constraints on air treatment/filtration solutions
	Derek Hall Earth and Mineral Sciences Energy Institute	Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage, Elevated Temperature and Pressure Electrochemical Sensors, Corrosion and Surface Chemistry in Extreme Environments, Thermodynamics of Aqueous Systems and Thermochemical Cycles
	Hojong Kim Materials Science and Engineering	Electrochemical processes, Sustainability, Thermodynamics properties, Metals and alloys, Corrosion in extreme environments, High temperature materials, Molten salt electrochemistry, Materials cycle and recycle
	Bruce Logan Civil and Environmental Engineering	Bioenergy production using exoelectrogenic microorganisms; renewable energy production using waste heat and salinity gradient energy; environmental and chemical transport processes; bioremediation; and biological wastewater treatment
	Serguei Lvov Materials Science and Engineering	Electrochemical energy conversion and storage, Electrochemical thermodynamics, kinetics, and transport, Electrochemical catalysis and corrosion, Thermodynamics, electrochemistry, and surface chemistry in high-temperature systems
	Michael Manahan Mechanical Engineering
	Shashank Priya Materials Science and Engineering	Bio-inspired Materials, Energy Harvesting, Multi-functional Materials, Wireless Power Transfer
	Alex Rattner Mechanical Engineering	Sustainable thermal-fluid energy systems, waste heat recovery, multiphase flow heat and mass transfer, high performance computing
	Susan Stewart Aerospace Engineering	Wind energy

Wind Energy	Researcher	Research Interests
	Richard Auhl Aerospace Engineering	Low Speed Aerodynamics; Wind tunnel design & testing; Paravanes; Undergraduate Aerodynamics Lab
	Charles Bakis Materials Science and Engineering	Polymers
	Jeff Banks Applied Research Laboratory	Advanced signal processing techniques, intelligent systems technology, and embedded diagnostics / prognostics tools
	Seth Blumsack Energy and Mineral Engineering	Electricity and natural gas industries; environmental management related to energy and infrastructure; resilience of energy infrastructure; regulation and deregulation in network industries; network science; risk analysis; and managing complex infrastructure systems
	Amber Cesare College of Education
	Nilanjan Chaudhuri Electrical Engineering	Power system dynamics and control, wide-area monitoring systems, application of power electronics in power systems, online system identification, FACTS, HVDC, renewable energy systems, distributed energy, and demand side response
	Kenneth Davis Meteorology and Atmospheric Science	Carbon cycle science, boundary layer meteorology, terrestrial water cycle, remote sensing using lidar, flux measurement methods, interactions between terrestrial processes and boundary layer development.
	Arnold Fontaine Applied Research Laboratory	Cardiovascular bioengineering, experimental and theoretical fluid dynamics, flow control, and turbulence
	Steven Greybush Meteorology and Atmospheric Science	Data Assimilation, Numerical Weather Prediction, Weather and Climate of Mars, Atmospheric Modeling, Ensemble Forecasting, Predictability, Statistical and Artificial Intelligence Applications
	Megan Hoskins Sustainability Institute	Building partnerships with external entities to build mutually beneficial projects and relationships in sustainability
	Simon Miller Applied Research Lab
	Jose Palacios Aerospace Engineering	Aircraft icing, Rotorcraft aeromechanics, Active rotors
	Karl Reichard Acoustics	Active noise and vibration control, Signal processing and pattern recognition, Electro-optics, Machinery condition monitoring, Intelligent sensor development
	Scott Richardson Meteorology and Atmospheric Science
	Sven Schmitz Aerospace Engineering	Basic and applied research in computational fluid dynamics and wind energy
	AB Shafeye School of Science, Engineering, and Technology – Penn State Harrisburg	Digital systems, Control systems, Microcontrollers, Data communications, Wind power
	Dave Stauffer Meteorology and Atmospheric Science	Mesoscale modeling and data assimilation systems for military-defense, energy and aviation concerns, as well as basic research in model development, atmospheric processes, air quality and probabilistic weather / atmospheric transport and dispersion.
	Susan Stewart Aerospace Engineering	Wind energy
	George Young Meteorology and Atmospheric Science	Statistical weather prediction, verification, artificial intelligence, boundary layer, mesoscale and synoptic-scale weather systems, risk valuation, software design

Centers

Researchers by Topic

Batteries and Energy Storage

Researcher

Research Interest

Bioenergy

Researcher

Research Interest

Blue Energy

Researcher

Research Interest

Mechanical Engineering

Electrochemistry

Researcher

Research Interest

Energy Use & People

Researcher

Research Interest

Hydrogen Energy

Researcher

Research Interest

Membranes

Researcher

Research Interest

Solar Energy

Researcher

Research Interest

Sustainability

Researcher

Research Interest

Thermal Energy

Researcher

Research Interest

Wind Energy

Researcher

Research Interests