About the Student Program

The Student Program at the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit is a unique opportunity for student energy leaders to engage with companies looking for new talent, as well as learn about new energy initiatives.

Graduate-level students, with a diverse mix of technical, scientific, business, and policy backgrounds, were selected to participate in the Student Program and received complimentary registration to attend the Summit. The Student Program offered access to student-focused speakers, engaging panel discussions about careers in the energy space, and the opportunity to network with corporate recruiters.

This year’s Summit Student Program offered both in-person and virtual option and introduced the Student Proposing Ideas for Technologies that Can Harness Energy Sustainably (PITCHES) session.

Learn more about the 2022 Student Programming, and relive the excitement, below.

Student Programming


Student Pitch Sessions

Proposing Ideas for Technologies that Can Harness Energy Sustainably (PITCHES)

In 2022, ARPA-E hosted the inaugural Student PITCHES session. Accepted in-person attendees were invited to submit their potentially disruptive energy ideas and work to be considered in the ARPA-E Student PITCHES session.

Six graduate-level students gave short technical overviews of their ideas and presented them to an audience of their peers and a panel of industry representatives. This platform was an excellent format for students to showcase themselves and their ingenious ideas in a semi-formal setting in front of like-minded peers and industry representatives.


2022 ARPA-E Summit Student Program Pitches Quote.    2022 ARPA-E Summit Student Program Pitches Quote

2022 ARPA-E Summit Student Program Pitches Quote.    2022 ARPA-E Summit Student Program Pitches Quote


The Pitchers and Their Presentation Topics:

  • Guilherme Larangeira, Stony Brook University, Ph.D. Candidate
    • Traffic Congestion Mitigation Through Pay-per-Minute Tolling of For-Hire Vehicles"
  • Brian Robb, University of Colorado Boulder, Ph.D. Candidate in Chemical Engineering
    • "Chelated Metal Redox Flow Battery for Low-Cost, Long-Duration Energy Storage"
  • Mohammed A. Elhashimi, Oregon State University, Ph.D. Candidate in Mechanical Engineering
    • "Energy-Water Systems Digital Twin: A Framework to Fully Characterize and Guide Technology Development"
  • Alexandra Kramer, Carnegie Mellon University, Master of Science Candidate in Energy Science, Technology, & Policy
    • "Long-Duration, High-Capacity Thermal Energy Storage with Skibo Energy TES"
  • Kaustav Chatterjee, Indiana University, Ph.D. Candidate in Chemistry
    • "Combating the Energy Crisis with Solar Fuels using Durable Semiconductors"
  • Rok Sitar, Colorado School of Mines, Ph.D. Candidate in Chemical Engineering
    • "Economic Generation of Clean Combustion Mixtures from Liquid Fuel to Decarbonize Global Shipping"
Keynote Address

Sakshi Mishra urged students to carve their own career path in her keynote address to the in-person and virtual students at the 2022 Summit’s Student Program. Sakshi is an autonomous systems researcher and an AI engineer. She is currently a Senior AI Engineer in the Autonomous Systems group at Microsoft. Sakshi has also served as a research engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and a Grid Planning Engineer at American Electric Power.

In her keynote address, Sakshi encouraged students to be creative in charting their own path and emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary thinking to solve complex problems, especially in the energy field.

2022 ARPA-E Summit Student Program Sakshi Mishra

100 Things To Do That Are Better Than Pipetting

The student career panel, titled “100 Things to Do that are Better than Pipetting,” introduced student attendees to a panel of ARPA-E alumni who offered advice on how to follow the passion in energy, resources to help guide students in their career paths, and insights from their experience in their respective careers. Graduate students in STEM are finding careers in an increasingly broad range of different sectors. The panelists encompassed these sectors and included representatives from academia, government, start-ups, venture capital, and industry.

2022 ARPA-E Summit Student Program Career Panel

Panelists included:

  • Dr. Emily Yedinak, Fellow, ARPA-E
  • Dr. Greg Thiel, Director of Technology, Energy Impact Partners
  • Dr. Lakshana Huddar, Investment Associate, The Engine
  • Dr. Joe Rollin, Director of Business Development, DMC Biotechnologies
  • Dr. Michael Kane, Assistant Professor, Northeastern University
  • Ms. Megan Magee, Director of Talent Acquisition, GE Global Research

2022 ARPA-E Summit Student Program Students Networking     2022 ARPA-E Summit Student Program Mohammed A. Elhashimi

(Left: Students Networking at the Student Recruiter Meet & Greet; Right: Ph.D. candidate Mohammed A. Elhashimi presenting his pitch on "Energy Water Systems Digital Twin: A Framework to Fully Characterize and Guide Technology Development)