Advanced Energy Systems gets support from Sloan Foundation
The generous support will also provide initial funding for a full-time program director to oversee the innovative joint graduate program, recruit students, grow external partnerships and connect with future donors.
Students in the new Advanced Energy Systems graduate program at Colorado School of Mines and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will have access to summer research opportunities, student-run seminars from global energy experts and more, thanks to a $600,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
“We are very grateful for the Sloan Foundation’s support to the new interdisciplinary Advanced Energy Systems graduate program,” said Morgan D. Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute for Public Policy at Mines. “It will help ensure the sustainability and success of what is sure to be a world-class educational program.”
The Mines/NREL AES program officially launches this fall, capitalizing on the engineering, science, analysis and policy strengths across two of the finest institutions in the sector. Students will benefit from a breadth of energy knowledge and training that addresses the full complexity of tomorrow’s integrated energy systems, infrastructure, economic and environmental challenges.
PhD students will work in cutting-edge labs at both Mines and NREL, learning firsthand about the latest in emerging energy technologies and science alongside leading researchers, industry partners and innovators in a state-of-the-art laboratory setting. A non-thesis master’s degree option is also available for recent bachelor of science graduates and working professionals.
“The Advanced Energy Systems graduate program is a uniquely interdisciplinary program, and its future graduates would have critical roles in shaping the future energy infrastructure,” said Sridhar Seetharaman, academic director of AES and associate vice president for research. “To meet our goals is a dynamic process with changing goal posts and we need a strong academic and administrative leadership to shape the program. The prestige associated with the Sloan Foundation will enable us to recruit the critical personnel to develop the vision of our program.”
Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then president and chief executive officer of the General Motors Corporation, the Sloan Foundation makes grants in support of original research and education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and economics.
The Payne Institute for Public Policy at Mines leverages the university’s world-class education and research in engineering and science related to the earth, energy and the environment to produce interdisciplinary, data-driven answers to difficult policy questions.
About Mines
Colorado School of Mines is a public R1 research university focused on applied science and engineering, producing the talent, knowledge and innovations to serve industry and benefit society – all to create a more prosperous future.
