In our fast-paced growing society and continuously changing environment, there are two ways of responding to energy and environmental related challenges: reactively or proactively.
The faculty and researchers of EME strive to design the future and are committed to push the existing boundaries of knowledge towards sustainable engineering and science practices through the advancement of technologies and materials.
The Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications cluster aims to educate future decision makers in the industry and shift paradigms in engineering in the 21st century.
This research cluster emphasizes on the development of technologies, which will shape the contemporary energy applications and environmental stewardship, and materials which will improve their performance for sustainable future. Examples of research in this pursuit include: 
- Advanced power generation methods, like oxy-fuel combustion or coal and biomass co-gasification. Our interests are in designing entrained flow gasification process, at high temperature and pressures under corrosive environment. Specific research includes identifying an optimum condition of solid loading, particle-size distribution, type of additive and dosage of additive for a given carbonaceous solid-water slurry.
- Extraction and separation of critical materials from conventional and unconventional sources. Our research focuses on the development of reliable methods to characterize deposits of critical materials, advanced technologies for separation including bio-geochemical methods and solid-state separation technology.
- Reinforced polymer composite for hydrogen storage. Our approach is to synthesize carbon nanotubes directly upon the metal foil to form a distributed interface when incorporated into the polymer matrix, bridging the dissimilar materials. This will result in strong interfacial bonding that is fundamental to composite reinforcement and consequently safe and efficient hydrogen storage
- Understanding carbon formation and deposition mechanisms to control structure, properties and kinetics of desirable and undesirable coke formation and the production of carbon materials. Our specific interests are in Carbon materials from petroleum and coal and carbon composite materials, Graphitic carbon through carbonaceous mesophase formation, preparation of activated carbons from biomass
In tandem to these technologies, materials research is essential to revitalize the energy sector and increase the efficacy of many environmental systems. EME researchers combine these materials with the above technologies to advance multi-variable processes, such as unconventional oil and gas extraction, mining operations or treatment of wastes produced from these activities. Examples of these materials span from synthesizing thin films for photovoltaic devices, developing materials for hydrogen storage to innovating adsorbents for selective recovery of critical materials.
Research Experts
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Thandazile Moyo Assistant Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 154 Hosler Building 814-863-8852 thandazilemoyo@psu.edu |
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Nelson Dzade Assistant Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 212 Hosler Building (814) 867-4227 nxd5313@psu.edu |
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Semih Eser Professor of Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 114A Hosler Building 814-863-1392 seser@psu.edu |
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Jeremy Gernand Associate Department Head for Graduate Education John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 121 Hosler Building 814-865-5861 jmgernand@psu.edu |
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William Groves Associate Professor of Industrial Health and Safety John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 223 Hosler Building 814-863-1618 wag10@psu.edu |
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Thanasis Karamalidis Assistant Professor of Environmental Systems Engineering John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 204 Hosler 814-863-0375 akk5742@psu.edu |
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Ashish Kumar Assistant Professor of Mining Engineering John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 121 Holser Building awk5528@psu.edu |
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Yashar Mehmani Assistant Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 6 Hosler Building 814-863-7942 yzm5192@psu.edu |
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Anne Menefee Assistant Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 109 Hosler Building 814-865-0033 ahmenefee@psu.edu |
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Olumide Ogunmodimu Assistant Professor of Energy Mineral Engineering John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 207 Hosler Building 814 865 3437 ozo5101@psu.edu |
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Sarma Pisupati Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering; John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 407 Academic Activities Building 814-865-0874 spisupati@psu.edu |
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Ljubisa Radovic Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 205 Hosler Building 814-863-0594 lrr3@psu.edu |
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Mohammad Rezaee Assistant Professor of Mining Engineering John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 122 Holser Building 814-863-1620 mzr288@psu.edu |
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Hilal Ezgi Toraman Assistant Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering Department of Chemical Engineering, John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 155 Hosler Building 814-863-9261 hzt5148@psu.edu |
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Randy Vander Wal Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 203 Hosler Building 814-865-5813 ruv12@psu.edu |
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Meng Wang Assistant Professor in Environmental Systems Engineering John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering 120 Hosler Building 814-863-6388 mxw1118@psu.edu |
Affiliated Faculty (Other Departments):
- Osseo Asare
- Maureen Fineman
- Lee Kump