The Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Science and Technology

The Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research, or VIPER, prepares highly talented students to advance sustainable energy science and technology through interdisciplinary approaches and immersive experiences in cutting-edge research. Students in this dual-degree program offered jointly by the College and Engineering are positioned to become the next generation of energy leaders and innovators.

Vagelos Professor in Energy Research Karen Goldberg studies catalyst-dependent reactions with the potential to create biofuels from biomass feed stocks like natural gas and CO2. By improving the efficiency of these reactions, the Goldberg group aims to eliminate the world’s reliance on fossil fuels and instead produce valuable chemicals and fuels from a range of feedstocks. Goldberg is also interested in fundamental reactions that convert electrical energy into stored chemical energy by accumulating electrons. In doing so, they gather the tools to adjust these reactions to produce sustainable chemicals and fuels.

Chemistry professor Eric Schelter specializes in the inorganic synthesis of rare earth elements. His work includes exploring reactions that may help mitigate the release of methane into the atmosphere and could lead to a readily available carbon source for sustainable energy. The Schelter lab has also dedicated much of its brainpower to establishing a way to recycle rare earth elements, which are vital to technological advancements but are difficult to mine without causing environmental harm.

As the director of the Soft Materials Research and Technology (SMART) Laboratory, Daeyon Lee is tackling hard problems in how to make technology cleaner and more sustainable. Lee, Evan C Thompson Term Chair for Excellence in Teaching in the School of Engineering and Applied Science’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is an expert in coaxing soft materials — things like polymers, colloids and biological substances — to assemble into complicated, useful structures that have unique properties.  

Chemistry professor Zahra Fakhraai studies the behavior of materials on surfaces, interfaces and small-length scales to understand their properties in such technological applications as organic electronics. The knowledge gained from the Fakhraai group’s fundamental focus is applied to create novel materials for capturing solar energy. The Fakhraai group designs and synthesizes gold nanoparticles for various applications, including solar energy storage.

Stephen J. Angello Professor Cherie Kagan explores nanostructures and organic materials and integrates them into a new breed of energy-saving electronic and optoelectronics devices. The Kagan group experiments with increasing the energy storage efficiency in nanoscale semiconductors to improve their design for energy-saving applications. Kagan is also exploring gold nanorods, which have shown potential to replace semiconductors in solar cells.

Thomas Mallouk, Vagelos Professor in Energy Research, addresses challenges in materials chemistry that are feeding new ways of thinking about the storage and use of electricity. His group develops new kinds of nanomaterials that lead to more efficient and less expensive solar energy conversion devices, including nanostructures that trap visible light or redirect infrared light to control the flow of light in solar cells. His group also creates layered inorganic materials for a variety of energy harvesting and transferring applications.