Pitt is on a team that was granted $1M for energy research

The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University are on a multi-institutional team was awarded a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation. West Virginia University (WVU) will lead the effort to develop energy technology and infrastructure as well as to address issues involving decarbonization and grid resiliency throughout the region.

The award is part of the NSF Regional Innovation Engines program, designed to support the development of diverse regional coalitions to create innovation-driven solutions with economic and societal impact.

“This NSF Engines project relies on the combined expertise of three great universities working together with community colleges, continuing education companies and area businesses,” said Robert Cunningham, vice chancellor for research infrastructure at Pitt. Cunningham leads the Engine team’s research efforts.

The project also relies on the scale of the group’s reach “so that we can collectively bring together a regional infrastructure,” he said. “And it depends on the ability to work at the speed required to establish our region as leaders in energy transformation.”

The Resilient Energy Technology and Infrastructure team, spearheaded by WVU, includes a host of regional nonprofits, industry stakeholders and government entities in addition to academic institutions.

“The future of energy and sustainability are critical to this region,” said Fred King, vice president for research at WVU. “WVU has an opportunity, alongside our colleagues at Carnegie Mellon and Pitt, to set a precedent in reimagining how we can power the nation in innovative, eco-friendly ways while, at the same time, bolstering the economy and creating new jobs.”

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