During a presentation to the MIT Energy Club on December 9, Arun Majumdar, director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), announced the creation of the ARPA-E Fellows Program for postdoctoral students and recent PhD graduates. He said he was announcing the program to members of the Energy Club first because he had been impressed and “energized” by them at a previous visit in April.
Since 2004, the MIT Energy Club has been organizing lectures, discussions, tours, and a major annual energy conference aimed at engaging and educating MIT’s energy science, technology, policy, and business communities. The club now has more than 1700 members.
“We need the best and the brightest to help shape our nation’s energy future,” said Majumdar. “The ARPA-E Fellows Program gives us the opportunity to invest in our up-and-coming researchers and entrepreneurs as we continue to look for creative and inventive approaches to transform the global energy landscape while advancing America’s technology leadership.”
Majumdar said that ARPA-E fellows will bring fresh ideas to one of the country’s most dynamic agencies. At ARPA-E, fellows will learn about the full energy landscape and will have the opportunity to work with younger scientists, helping them develop an interest in energy. He called the next generation of energy leaders “energy rock stars.”
The ARPA-E Fellows Program will consist of highly technical scientists and researchers who will actively help create the strategic direction and vision of the country’s first agency devoted exclusively to transformational energy technology research and development. Fellows, who will be salaried ARPA-E employees, will support agency directors in program creation, while also undertaking independent explorations of promising future research areas for the agency. They will also engage with world-class researchers and innovators to develop theses for high-impact ARPA-E research program areas, prepare energy technology and economic analyses, and make recommendations to DOE senior management.
Majumdar spent the day at MIT, touring labs, discussing projects with Massachusetts ARPA-E award winners, and presenting an address to an invitation-only MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) Salon for MITEI members, faculty, and local dignitaries.
In closing remarks at the Salon event, MIT President Susan Hockfield said, “Our enthusiasm for ARPA-E could not be greater; the time is right to accelerate transformative research on major energy challenges, to drive innovation from the mind to the marketplace. At MIT, we believe ARPA-E can play a singular role in accelerating the best breakthrough ideas over the coming years, speeding these advances from the beginning of the innovation pipeline to the end—and we are completely committed to working with you (Dr. Majumdar) on this critical and exciting assignment.”
She applauded Majumdar in his new role, saying, “In assuming the directorship of ARPA-E, you have accepted a truly nontrivial assignment: starting up a new agency from scratch, getting it funded, and making it work. But it is also a task of the first importance for the nation and the world—and we are delighted to declare ourselves allies in the cause.”
Visit http://arpa-e.energy.gov/JO.html to learn more about the ARPA-E Fellows Program.
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