NETL leadership and experts, including NETL Director Brian Anderson, Ph.D., joined representatives from 11 universities as they gathered virtually to discuss project successes during the 2021 University Coalition for Fossil Energy Research (UCFER) Annual Technical Review Meeting this week.

NETL Deputy Director and Chief Technology Officer Sean Plasynski, Ph.D., kicked off the second day of the meeting with opening remarks, proceeded by an administrative update from UCFER DOE Project Officer Omer Bakshi.

“UCFER has provided significant results since its inception six years ago,” Bakshi said. “To date, 18 of the 43 funded projects have been completed, and 25 are ongoing. The presentations we saw this week confirmed that the research of our partner universities will continue to lead to important breakthroughs for the decarbonization of the economy.”

Anderson welcomed the group, noting the significance of the researchers’ work. “It’s the breakthroughs that these academic institutions are making today that are going to help us achieve the goals set by the Biden Administration for net-zero carbon emissions in the electricity sector by 2035 and the broader economy by 2050. It’s the kind of advances in carbon capture and storge, crosscutting research, fuel cells and all the other impressive projects on display this week that are going to get us there, and I’m proud that NETL is able to provide guidance and leadership for these collaborations.”

UCFER was established in 2015 to advance basic and applied fossil energy research through mechanisms that promote collaboration, coordination of research and the sharing of data among the Department of Energy (DOE) and the universities that are members of the coalition. There are currently 15 universities in the coalition: Carnegie Mellon University, Louisiana State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), The Ohio State University, The Pennsylvania State University, Princeton University, Texas A&M University, University of Kentucky, University of North Dakota, University of Pittsburgh, University of Utah, University of Southern California, University of Wyoming, Virginia Tech and West Virginia University.

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By leveraging its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.