NETL opened its doors – and its labs – June 4 to student researchers who are participating in the Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship (MLEF) and Consortium for Integrating Energy Systems in Engineering and Science Education (CIESESE) programs. Participants include more than 40 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors who will get hands-on experience in NETL’s cutting-edge research facilities and work one-on-one with the Lab’s world-class scientists and engineers.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy, MLEF kicks off its 23rd year with a class of undergraduate and graduate students. The program was named after late Congressman Mickey Leland of Texas, a passionate advocate on many issues who died in a 1989 plane crash while on a mission to Ethiopia. 

The MLEF program was created in 1995 to improve opportunities for under-represented students in STEM fields and strengthen a diverse pipeline of future STEM professionals. The program has mentored several hundred talented students from across the nation and provided participants the unique opportunity to gain hands-on research experience with fossil energy at NETL. Students gain insight into how DOE is working to meet the energy challenges of the future, including policy and regulation, project finance, and strategic performance measures at Office of Fossil Energy Headquarters. The program will wrap up in August with a technical forum in which the participants present their research findings.

NETL has hosted students since the program’s inception and traditionally hosts the largest number of fellows across all of DOE.

NETL is also proudly hosting CIESESE participants for this year’s 10-week program including students and faculty. CIESESE interns’ research focuses on the infrastructure, technologies, and procedures to generate, store, and distribute energy for use by individual consumers and by the public and private/industrial sectors. The program directly supports DOE's goal to build a sustainable professional and academic pipeline, particularly professionals from the Hispanic community, ready to take on the challenges of current and future energy systems.

This year’s interns represent colleges and universities from across the U.S. The students will make real and lasting contributions to NETL’s mission to ensure the safe and sustainable use of our nation’s fossil energy resources.

Contact:

• Shelley Martin, DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory, 304-285-0228, contact.publicaffairs@netl.doe.gov