Spotlights: Education
Introducing Kawika Pierson, BP-MIT Energy Fellow
Pierson is one of 47 MIT Energy Fellows supported by MITEI’s member companies in 2009-2010. Sponsored by MITEI founding member BP, Pierson is using system dynamics to analyze the airline industry’s profit cycles. His analysis suggests that the price of jet fuel may not be the culprit behind the industry’s economic woes. Posted 27 October 2009
Introducing Karen Welling, Siemens-MIT Energy Fellow
Welling is one of 47 MIT Energy Fellows supported by MITEI’s member companies. Sponsored by MITEI sustaining member Siemens, Welling is working to understand resource consumption in the built environment and in urban communities. Posted 1 October 2009
Announcing the new Energy Studies Minor for MIT undergraduates
Starting this fall, undergraduate students in any major at MIT can also pursue an integrative minor in Energy Studies. Posted 28 August 2009
MIT undergrads spend summer immersed in energy (pdf)
This summer, 16 undergraduate researchers were supported by MITEI members and donors to work on energy-related projects. Activities included developing organic materials for solar cells, modeling the performance of MIT’s battery electric vehicle, estimating cost curves for new natural gas sources, and more. Posted 19 August 2009
Introducing Todd Ferguson, Enel-MIT Energy Fellow
Ferguson is one of 40 MIT Energy Fellows supported by MITEI’s member companies. Sponsored by MITEI sustaining member Enel Produzione SpA, Ferguson is creating a computer model for lithium batteries that, he hopes, will point to new ways to modify battery technology, design, and materials. Posted 17 June 2009
Introducing Tea Zakula, b_TEC-MIT Energy Fellow
Zakula is one of 40 MIT Energy Fellows supported by MITEI’s member companies. Sponsored by b_TEC, a sustaining member, Zakula is working to make cooling in buildings more efficient by combining radiant cooling, thermal energy storage, and highly calibrated controls to run the system. Posted 10 June 2009
MIT summer courses for energy professionals
This summer, MIT Short Programs is offering ten courses relating to energy and transportation—more offerings than in any other category. Topics include solar energy, biofuels from biomass, carbon sequestration, transportation networks, design of motors and generators, and more. Posted 3 June 2009
MIT student project wins coveted EPA award
MIT students working to bring affordable, eco-friendly energy to off-the-grid areas of the world have received one of six Environmental Protection Agency grants for programs that protect the environment and are economically sustainable. Posted 22 May 2009
Welcome to MIT Earth Week 2009
This year’s MIT Earth Week—held April 21 through April 24—includes a major address by James McCarthy, chairman of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); an Earth Day Fair; the EcoExpo/Sustainability Summit Poster Session; the MIT Sustainability Summit; and a showing of the film “Our Daily Bread.” Posted 21 April 2009
Introducing Mar Reguant-Rido, ABB-MIT Energy Fellow
Reguant-Rido is one of 40 MIT Energy Fellows supported by MITEI’s member companies. Sponsored by ABB Research Ltd., a sustaining member, Reguant-Rido is working to develop economic models that predict the effects of factors such as international competition, costs, and plant capacity on energy-intensive industries with the goal of reducing carbon emissions. Posted 9 April 2009
Energy opportunities seen amid crisis
Speakers at MIT's fourth annual student-led Energy Conference on Saturday, March 7, emphasized the historic opportunity now open to proponents of clean energy: a global economic crisis that can be directly addressed by sweeping changes to the way we produce and use energy. Posted 12 March 2009
Introducing Andrej Lenert, Ormat-MIT Energy Fellow
Lenert is one of 40 MIT Energy Fellows supported by MITEI’s member companies. Sponsored by Ormat Technologies Inc. of Reno, Nevada, an associate member, Lenert is working to improve methods of solar thermal power generation. Posted 26 February 2009
Introducing Yulia M. Agramakova, Chevron-MIT Energy Fellow
Agramakova is one of 39 MIT Energy Fellows supported by MITEI's member companies. Sponsored by Chevron USA, an MITEI sustaining member, Agramakova is interested in combining existing techniques and methods to develop energy-efficient ways to tap into groundwater in regions where water is scarce. Posted 12 February 2009
Going green saves MIT green
MIT students, faculty, and staff are working hard to put improvements in energy efficiency into practice on their campus. Those efforts are the focus of Energy Futures Week, an annual set of events coordinated by the MIT Energy Initiative to educate, inspire, and engage the MIT community in all things energy. Posted 22 January 2009
Introducing Nicholas Martin, Ford-MIT Energy Fellow
With support from Ford, MIT Energy Fellow Nicholas Martin plans to examine China’s policy issues related to carbon trading and energy-related innovation. Posted 29 December 2008
The nitty-gritty of energy
College courses focused on energy have been proliferating in recentyears, at MIT and elsewhere. But one new class here approaches the subject in a very different way. Posted 11 December 2008
Energy Night 2008: MIT Museum glows with promise of future energy
More than 1,200 people showed up to learn about the latest developments, and the most promising new research efforts, in creating new energy technologies and improving the established ones. Posted 25 November 2008
Introducing Andrew Horning, BP-MIT Energy Fellow
Andrew Horning is one of 39 MIT Energy Fellows now being supported by MITEI’s member companies. Sponsored by BP, an MITEI founding member, Horning is interested in “understanding how we might harness solar energy or design devices that make energy the way plants do.” Posted 23 October 2008
MITEI holds inaugural MIT Energy Fellows Symposium
Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla's "black swan" energy startup philosophy, the future of energy alternatives, and the risks of uncurbed global climate change were among the topics discussed at the September 22 symposium. Posted 14 October 2008
MITEI launches Society of Energy Fellows at MIT
In late August, the MIT Energy Initiative announced the first class of MIT Energy Fellows. Sponsored by the industry partners in the Initiative, these 39 graduate students are the inaugural members of the Society of Energy Fellows at MIT, an organization within MITEI established to foster a network of students dedicated to meeting the world's future energy needs. Posted 2 October 2008
Introducing Bonnie Lam, Eni-MIT Energy Fellow
Bonnie Lam arrived at MIT in September along with 38 other MIT Energy Fellows-graduate students supported by MITEI's member companies. With support from Eni, an Italian energy company and MITEI founding member, Lam will be collaborating with MIT's Sub-Threshold Circuits Group in efforts to reduce the energy consumed by computers and other electronic devices. Posted 27 August 2008
MIT students create low-cost solar cooker/heater
SolSource Tibet, a team of students from MIT and Qinghai Normal University in Tibet's Amdo region, has created this lightweight, low-cost solar cooker and heater. The device could have an incredible impact on a huge population of rural Tibetans and communities in the Himalayan region. Posted 25 July 2008
New MIT Energy Club co-presidents:
Making a difference, starting now
Amy Fazen and Lara Pierpoint, the recently appointed co-presidents of the MIT Energy Club, are on a mission to reach out and touch students, young women scientists, alumni, and others who want to do something about the energy crisis and climate change. Posted 26 June 2008
MIT prototype solar dish passes first tests
A team led by MIT students has just completed and successfully tested a prototype of what may be the most cost-efficient solar power system in the world &mdash one they think has the potential to revolutionize energy production in both industrialized and developing countries around the world. Posted 19 June 2008
Harnessing sunlight on the cheap
A team of MIT students has spent the last few months assembling a prototype for a concentrating solar power system built from simple, inexpensive materials. Posted 27 May 2008
MIT's advanced all-electric Porsche
Using high-tech batteries, technical know-how, and lots of persistence, MIT students have converted a Porsche 914 into an electric vehicle. Posted 9 April 2008
MITEI presents Energy Education Blitz
MIT professors gave a crash course on upcoming spring classes across MIT departments. Topics ranged from energy conversion and building technology to climate change, sustainable business, and the philosophical history of energy. Posted 31 January 2008
Pedal-powered laptop
MIT students have come up with a way to recharge your laptop without plugging it in. In a class project, they designed and built an exercise bicycle that uses “pedaling power” to charge a laptop computer. Posted 19 September 2007
Kabcenell Foundation awards MITEI $1 million for new curricula
A $1 million gift from the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation is giving the MIT Energy Initiative's Energy Education Task Force a big boost in its ability to develop new curricula and strengthen existing programs. Posted 13 July 2007
The winds of change: MIT aims sky-high to reduce emissions
A 12-foot diameter wind turbine on MIT's 29-story Eastgate tower would help make a dent in MIT's electric bill, offset CO2 emissions and serve as an educational resource for future student projects related to energy and wind. A team of undergraduates provides the lowdown on aiming for energy up high. Posted 11 June 2007
Fresh air: MIT campus education campaign pays off
Scientific equipment called fume hoods—widely used in industry, hospitals and universities—are big energy users. An MIT student's review of fume hood use in one building led to a laboratory education campaign resulting in significant savings and a chance to improve MIT's energy and carbon footprint. Posted 23 May 2007
