Women @ Energy: Corinne Allen

Dr. Corinne Allen is a Special Advisor at ARPA-E, a position she’s held since 2018. Previously she spent time at the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, then at DOE headquarters in the Office of Technology Transitions and Technology-to-Market. For her graduate work, she studied enhancing potential carbon capture materials at UC San Diego. After receiving her PhD in Chemistry, she worked for polySpectra; an additive manufacturing startup that graduated from Cyclotron Road.

My parents and grandparents are in the sciences so that was always an integral part of my upbringing. I always knew I would be in the STEM field but didn’t know where until I started college and fell in love with the fundamentals of chemistry. After joining a research lab, I was hooked! The notion that I could think of a question in the morning, design a testable hypothesis, corresponding experiment, and then get an answer was so fun and empowering. Yes, at times it was infuriating but that’s how research goes. Being able to regroup and try again is at least half the battle.

Energy, being such a foundational technology space for modern society, is absolutely fascinating. ARPA-E’s catch phase is ‘Changing What’s Possible’ and I truly believe that’s what we are doing. I love learning about the breadth of technologies we support and how those ideas, if realized, can fundamentally shift how energy is generated, stored, and used. Figuring out ways to better support our awardees, technically and commercially, is always a challenge but an enjoyable one. There’s nothing better than hearing from an entrepreneur how they were able to leverage ARPA-E resources to become successful.

Increased exposure to STEM opportunities, and what those opportunities could look like for them at the earliest age possible. I think one of the biggest turnoffs of STEM careers for these groups is not being able to imagine themselves in that field in the future for whatever reason. Normalizing and socializing the STEM professionals who also happen to fall into one of these demographics is a great start, just like this Women @ Energy initiative.

There’s a lot of information available online but it can be hard to sift through. I’ve found that the energy community is social and approachable, so get out there and take advantage of all of the opportunities you can to talk to people and learn about what they do! Alternatively, there’s a great energy podcast called The Interchange which touched on this subject in Feb 2019. Learning what the space looks like can be a difficult undertaking in itself, but doing the research and figuring out if energy and science are a good fit for you personally and professionally is where I would start. Shameless plug, but coming to the annual ARPA-E Innovation Summit is a wonderful crash course for energy and technology enthusiasts of all career depths and backgrounds (particularly the Summit’s Student Program) and it gives you a chance to meet people across the energy landscape all under one roof.

In my free time I listen to an insane number of podcasts (all on ~1.5x speed), run, read non-fiction, amateur photography, rock climb, and sing (to the detriment of those around me).

Learn more about our programs & resources for women and girls in STEM at /women