ARPA-E Announces $11.5 Million to Support 23 Early-Career Innovators Accelerating Transformative Energy Technologies

Inspiring Generations of New Innovators to Impact Technologies in Energy 2024 (IGNIITE 2024) Focuses on Empowering Next Generation of Researchers to Advance U.S. Leadership in the Clean Energy Transition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) announced approximately $11.5 million in funding through its new Inspiring Generations of New Innovators to Impact Technologies in Energy 2024 (IGNIITE 2024) program focused on early-career scientists and engineers converting disruptive ideas into impactful energy technologies. Each IGNIITE 2024 selectee will receive approximately $500,000 to advance research projects at universities, national laboratories, and in the private sector that will span the full spectrum of energy applications, including advanced energy storage systems, fusion reactor technology, carbon-negative concrete alternatives, power electronics for grid reliability, critical material recovery, energy-efficient water desalination, plastic depolymerization, and more. The Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda is supported by IGNIITE 2024 through its focus on advancing critical research and development that underpins U.S. leadership in energy innovation and global decarbonization.

“We need an infusion of unconventional ideas from the next generation of researchers, entrepreneurs, and technologists to tackle energy challenges of today,” said ARPA-E Director Evelyn N. Wang. “As an engineer who benefited from support early on in my career, I know how instrumental resourcing and expert guidance is to successful innovation. By supporting this cohort of early-career innovators, I am confident that we are one step closer to a sustainable clean energy future.”

The following 23 individuals selected through IGNIITE 2024 are all set to receive approximately $500,000 to support their research efforts:

  • Michael Woods, Battelle Energy Alliance (Idaho National Laboratory) (Idaho Falls, ID)
  • Adam Uliana, ChemFinity Technologies (Brooklyn, NY)
  • Liang Feng, Duke University (Durham, NC)
  • Justin Panich, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, CA)
  • Lydia Rachbauer, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, CA)
  • Woongkul Lee, Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI)
  • Jinxing Li, Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI)
  • Nelson James, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, CO)
  • Katrina Knauer, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, CO)
  • Paul Meyer, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, CO)
  • Andrew Westover, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, TN)
  • Guang Yang, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, TN)
  • Rain Mariano, Peregrine Hydrogen (Santa Cruz, CA)
  • Fudong Han, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY)
  • Craig Cahillane, Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY)
  • Zhongyang Wang, University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL)
  • Jessica Boles, University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)
  • Xizheng Wang, University of California, Irvine (Irvine, CA)
  • Yangying Zhu, University of California, Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA)
  • Jun Wang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Lincoln, NE)
  • Julie Rorrer, University of Washington (Seattle, WA)
  • Sebastian Kube, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Madison, WI)
  • Luca Mastropasqua, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Madison, WI)

You can access project descriptions outlining the research these innovators will explore on ARPA-E’s website.

IGNIITE 2024 selectees will be honored on July 9, 2024 at the National Academies in Washington, D.C. The National Academies is crucial to the history of ARPA-E. In 2005, leaders from both parties in Congress asked the National Academies to "identify the most urgent challenges the U.S. faces in maintaining leadership in key areas of science and technology," as well as specific steps policymakers could take to help the U.S. compete, prosper, and stay secure in the 21st Century. The report recommended that Congress establish an Advanced Research Projects Agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) modeled after the successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Now, 15 years into ARPA-E’s mission to secure U.S. technological leadership, the individuals set to be honored on July 9 underscore the Agency’s commitment to fostering American innovation by empowering the next generation of innovators to succeed.

You can learn more about IGNIITE 2024 here.


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