On December 22, the United States Senate confirmed Dr. Evelyn N. Wang as the next Director of ARPA-E. Dr. Wang comes to ARPA-E from MIT where she served as the Ford Professor of Engineering and Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. During her time at MIT, she focused on thermal management, nanoengineered surfaces and materials, and water harvesting and purification. Dr. Wang was previously the Associate Director of the MIT Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center, which is a DOE Energy Frontiers Research Center. She worked as a Technology Expert and Researcher for…

Today, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory announced the first-ever achievement of “scientific energy gain” in a controlled fusion experiment. Scientific energy gain, a term used by fusion researchers, is the condition where fusion energy exceeds the input energy crossing the containment-vessel boundary, which encapsulates the plasma science of the experiment. In the case of the NIF specifically, scientific energy gain and the term “ignition” are used interchangeably (more on that below). To understand the significance of scientific energy gain at…

Held in Washington DC from October 25-26, Ocean Week 2022 brought together teams from ARPA-E’s Aerodynamic Turbines Lighter and Afloat with Nautical Technologies and Integrated Servo-control (ATLANTIS) program, Macroalgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Resources (MARINER) program, Submarine Hydrokinetic And Riverine Kilo-megawatt Systems (SHARKS) program and other related projects to discuss advances in their technologies and collaborate to help solve their shared challenges. Ocean Week represents an important opportunity for teams to come together to participate in panel discussions,…

ARPA-E awardee Bridger Photonics, a Montana-based company developing methane detection technology, raised $55 million in funding from Beaverhead Partners, a syndicate composed of Madison Valley Partners, Carica Sustainable Investments, and Next Frontier Capital. The investment – one of the largest investments from venture capital seen in the state of Montana – will allow Bridger Photonics to continue its rapid growth and bring in new employees for their recent office expansion. Bridger Photonics’ Gas Mapping LiDARTM (GML) methane detection technology is composed of LiDAR sensors and…

The leaves are changing, the crisp Autumn air is arriving, and with it, the holidays! One holiday we are particularly excited about celebrating here at ARPA-E may not be on your radar. Today, ARPA-E is celebrating Manufacturing Day! Manufacturing Day is an opportunity for manufacturers to give folks a behind-the-scenes look into their manufacturing processes and how they have adapted in the modern era. This year, we have decided to take a deep dive with three SCALEUP 2019 teams as they have gotten into full swing with scaling their manufacturing processes. The goal of SCALEUP is to…

Dr. Ahmed Diallo currently serves as a Program Director for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). His focus at ARPA-E is on potentially transformative research & development to enable commercial fusion energy. Tell us about your background and what brought you to ARPA-E. In terms of my professional background, I am a scientist at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory – one of 17 DoE National Labs. I have been there for about 13 years working on fusion and low temperature plasmas. During my tenure, among other projects, I managed the Innovation Network for Fusion…

Every year, ARPA-E’s Summer Scholars have the unique opportunity to interface with ARPA-E Program Directors, Technology-to-Market (T2M) advisors, and Fellows working on the nation’s foremost energy challenges. Summer Scholars participate in a whole host of activities and take on various responsibilities during their time at ARPA-E. The goal of their work is to assist the team in defining commercialization pathways for high-risk, high-impact technologies to help those technologies achieve maximum impact and return on investment. Learn more below about what each 2022 Summer Scholar has…

ARPA-E brings together top minds in energy research, development, and commercialization to explore high-risk, high-reward technologies that could change what’s possible in how we use, generate, and store energy. Our team of Fellows – early-career Ph.D. scientists and engineers who assist with program creation, agency strategy, and outreach – actively help shape the strategic direction and vision of an agency devoted exclusively to transformational energy technology research and development, all while undertaking their own independent explorations of promising future research areas for the…

Ion Storage Systems (ION) recently raised more than $30 million in its Series A funding round for their novel approach to solid-state batteries. The funding round included several investors, including Toyota Ventures. Their recently announced investment will enable ION to establish a battery cell manufacturing line for their next-generation solid-state batteries. Funds raised in the Series A round will also drive the company’s current development projects forward in the consumer electronics, automotive, and stationary storage markets. ARPA-E first funded the team as a University of…

Former ARPA-E Program Director Dr. Ilan Gur was today announced as the inaugural CEO of the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). ARIA represents an ambitious undertaking by the UK government to invest in science research. Similar to ARPA-E, ARIA will focus on high-risk, transformative energy and science projects. Their high-risk research focus will allow ARIA to invest in scientific discovery that could create paradigm shifts in a number of fields. ARIA will operate with a “programme manager” model where technical experts design, develop, and manage their own research…