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Penn State researchers in EME have combined three modeling approaches to build virtual mining systems to more comprehensively understand, predict, and mitigate lithium-ion battery fires in mines before they spread, endangering miners and halting operations.

Penn State has received a $1 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a workforce pipeline for the critical minerals and materials used in batteries, magnets, and other advanced technologies.

Old electronics and solar panels could become a new, domestic source for critical and strategic materials through Intel-E-Waste, a startup whose technology builds on foundational research from Mohammad Rezaee, co-founder and chief technology officer of Intel-E-Waste and Centennial Career Development Professor of Mining Engineering at the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering.

Penn State alumna Madalyn Guzman Loffredo helps Pennsylvania schools, hospitals and other large organizations make smarter energy decisions that can protect their budgets and help strengthen local communities.

Storing energy as heat is a proven way to address the challenge solar power faces when it’s dark or cloudy by capturing, storing, and releasing thermal energy on demand. Researchers at Penn State found that steel slags—a rock-like waste byproduct of steelmaking—may serve as a low-cost heat-storage candidate for thermal energy storage applications.

Melissa Gonte, a doctoral student in Penn State’s John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, has been awarded a scholarship from The Copper Club for her research on sustainable copper extraction

Many students in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences used the summer to conduct research, gain internship experience and expand classroom lessons

U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy for Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation Audrey Robertson and Rachael Overbey, chief of staff in the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, visited students and faculty members in Penn State’s Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering. 

Veer Nagda, a sophomore student at Penn State, joined a research-based startup at University Park this summer to help graduate students determine the best way to remove critical minerals from e-waste, such as solar panels.

Osaro Egharevba, a graduate student in petroleum and natural gas engineering, interned at DTE Energy this summer to develop a CO₂ injection nodal analysis software tool for carbon capture and storage (CCS). His project could support safer, more efficient storage by improving estimates of injection capacity, operating pressures, and well design requirements