Energy I-Corps Cohort 20

• Principal Investigator: Zhenglain Shen
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Adam Brooks
• Industry Mentor: Hillary Fishler

High-filler, low-water (HFLW) concrete is an innovative and sustainable building material designed to meet modern construction needs. By incorporating high filler content with minimal water usage, HFLW concrete offers exceptional mechanical performance. This eco-friendly solution not only reduces water consumption, but also minimizes the carbon footprint associated with traditional concrete. 

Funded by the Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office. 

• Principal Investigator: Trevor Atkinson
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Mahesh Acharya
• Industry Mentor: Boualem Hadjerioua

The Hydropower Technology Catalog (HTC) tool is a public database offering detailed insights into hydropower technologies and their capabilities. Designed for asset owners, developers, and service providers, it streamlines decision-making by reducing project development times. By highlighting the strengths and limitations of various technologies, HTC empowers users to make informed, efficient choices for hydropower planning and deployment.

Funded by the Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO). 

• Principal Investigator: Aliza Abraham
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Stefano Letizia
• Industry Mentor: Pierre-Francois Chenevier

LiBERTI (Lidar-Based Elastic Reconstructor of Turbulence Information) is an advanced wind profiler designed for measuring wind in complex environments. This portable, eye-safe lidar technology delivers high-quality, controlled wind data, including turbulence metrics, as a ready-to-use product. With flexible measurement capabilities, LiBERTI empowers users to tailor data collection to their needs, enhancing wind resource assessment with precision and reliability.

Funded by the Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO).

• Principal Investigator: Linyu Lin
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Ryan Spangler
• Industry Mentor: Forrest Shriver

VIPER (Visualization for Predictive Maintenance Recommendation) is a visualization tool to simplify, explain, and verify machine learning diagnostics in nuclear power plants. It identifies early issues such as blockages or disruptions, helping operators detect and address these faults. By analyzing system data, VIPER ensures accurate diagnostics, improving efficiency and reliability.

Funded by the Office of Nuclear Energy.

• Principal Investigator: Fan Yang
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Yanning Li

The EV Infrastructure - Fleet Bidirectional Analyzer (EVI-FBA) helps fleet and site managers transition to electric vehicles by analyzing fleet operations, charging needs, site load characteristics, and electricity rates. It assesses unidirectional and bidirectional charging scenarios, optimizing environmental and economic benefits while guiding infrastructure investments. EVI-FBA simplifies fleet electrification planning, offering critical insights to implement cost-effective and sustainable strategies.

Funded by the Vehicle Technologies Office.

• Principal Investigator: Pratanu Roy
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Nathan Ellebracht

This team developed advanced geometries, called periodic nodal surfaces (PNS) and triply periodic minimal surfaces, to create efficient heat exchangers, fluid contactors, and reactors. Inspired by nature and optimized via 3D simulation, these interconnected structures mix fluids far better than traditional designs. Superior mixing improves heat and mass transfer, enabling compact, efficient systems for heat recovery, energy savings, and carbon capture.

Funded by Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.

• Principal Investigator: Indrasis Chakraborty
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Mary Ngo
• Industry Mentor: Byron Kaufman

The team developed a user-centered design process to understand the goals, tasks, informational needs, challenges, and gaps for transmission and distribution system managers. This process will address cognitive and perceptual factors to improve workflow and decision-making. The resulting solution, XGridDS, offers unique, interoperable features that are not found in current advanced management systems, which are typically limited by specific software infrastructures.

Funded by the Office of Electricity (OE). 

• Principal Investigator: Sixbert Muhoza
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Shiba Adhikari
• Industry Mentor: Dennis Gilmore

MXel focuses on manufacturing advanced self-monitoring and self-healing electrical conductors made from metal and MXene materials—MXene a type of two-dimensional material that combines metal-like conductivity with strong, flexible properties. These conductors outperform traditional grid materials, like aluminum and copper, by offering superior conductivity, mechanical strength, and corrosion resistance. Integrating smart capabilities, the technology enhances grid performance, contributing to a more efficient and resilient power infrastructure for modern energy systems.

Funded by the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO).

• Principal Investigator: John Tacke
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Becca Avery
• Industry Mentor: Craig Reiger

The Master State Awareness Estimator monitors real-time voltage and current from grid points to detect anomalies such as cyberattacks, sensor malfunctions, or system errors. Installed at substations, it processes data locally and sends alerts with mitigation plans to control centers. By providing an affordable, easy-to-use tool, this system helps grid operators and cybersecurity teams work together to prevent or reduce long-term power outages.

Co-funded by the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), OE, WETO, and WPTO. 

• Principal Investigator: Gabriel Weaver
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Hayden Town
• Industry Mentor: Ian Conway

TOP GEAR (Technology, Organization, and Person of Interest Graph Extraction, Analysis, and Reporting) is a platform that analyzes soft power relationships and their impact on energy infrastructure. It gathers data from multiple sources, identifies key relationships, and visualizes their influence on decision-making. By simplifying this process, TOP GEAR enables deeper investigation and better understanding of how business connections affect energy systems, improving strategic decisions and insights for energy professionals.

Co-funded by CESER and WPTO. 

• Principal Investigator: Clare Davis-Wheeler-Chin
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Kevin Leung
• Industry Mentor: Steven Harris

A “direct upcycling” method that uses microwave heating to safely recycle lithium-ion battery cathodes into valuable materials. The process breaks down spent cathodes into nanosheets, which can be tailored and reassembled quickly, significantly reducing the time needed compared to traditional methods. This approach allows for faster, scalable production of cathode materials, enabling a more flexible response to supply chain shifts and industry demands for critical materials.

Funded by AMMTO. 

• Principal Investigator: Erika Paola Ramos Guzman
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Diego Ignacio Oyarzun Dinamarca
• Industry Mentor: Ionel Stefan

SCu-CAB (Scalable Cu-Based Current Collector for Advanced Battery Systems) is a battery technology that uses abundant and sustainable copper instead of critical materials like nickel, cobalt, and lithium, addressing supply chain challenges. This copper-based current collector improves battery performance and lifespan with a scalable, cost-effective manufacturing process. The technology is especially impactful for next-generation energy storage in electrification applications, where high energy density and low mass are crucial for performance. 

Co-funded by AMMTO and OE. 

• Principal Investigator: Jeremiah Gilbert
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Manuel Maestas
• Industry Mentor: Bikash Poudel

RAPID-MIB (Relocatable/Resiliency Alternative Power Improvement Distribution) is a relocatable microgrid system that integrates household items like power converters and batteries for emergency power distribution. Housed in a 20-foot shipping container, it provides critical support for power outages and off-grid operations. With a capacity of 250kW/320kWh, it can supply stable power to communities or operations, and supports various energy sources such as wind, solar, and nuclear, offering a flexible, transportable solution for local energy stability.

Funded by OE. 

• Principal Investigator: Vivek Kumar Singh
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Ethan Tucker
• Industry Mentor: Sam Talukder

The Cybersecurity Situational Awareness Tool (CYSAT) is an advanced cybersecurity solution that protects grid networks with distributed energy resources. Using artificial intelligence, CYSAT detects and neutralizes cyberattacks, providing real-time protection for critical energy infrastructure. It enhances grid resiliency by helping operators identify threats early, reduce risks, and maintain stability, making it essential for modernizing and securing the nation’s power infrastructure.

Co-funded by CESER and WPTO. 

• Principal Investigator: Thomas Britton
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Nataliia Matsiuk
• Industry Mentor: Felix Portnoy

Hydra is a machine learning framework designed to improve data management, model training, and real-time monitoring. Its database stores plot data, labels, model references, metadata, and inference outputs while managing permissions, classifications, and workflows. By connecting Hydra’s web interface to monitoring systems, the framework ensures seamless integration with data acquisition processes, enabling efficient AI operations and enhanced model performance. 

Funded by OTT. 

• Principal Investigator: Yutao Li
• Entrepreneurial Leads: Huandong Chen, Raymond Blackwell
• Industry Mentor: Michael Clarkin

AutoLab is an AI-powered nanotechnology lab for scientists, engineers, and educators. It identifies and catalogs 2D material flakes in real time, analyzing size, thickness, and atomic step edges from optical microscopy images. AutoLab also automates the stacking of these flakes to fabricate semiconductor devices, replacing multiple costly tools like optical aligners and wafer saws. By integrating these functions into a compact system, AutoLab reduces cleanroom operational costs while advancing research in 2D materials and device fabrication.

Co-funded by AMMTO and the Office of Science-Basic Energy Sciences. 

• Principal Investigator: Eric Duoss
• Entrepreneurial Lead: Xiaoxing Xia

IgniteAM is a scalable additive manufacturing solution for producing high-performance targets essential to inertial fusion energy and high-energy-density science. It addresses a key challenge in creating precision components for laser-driven fusion and experimental laser facilities. By enabling efficient and reliable target fabrication, IgniteAM supports the emerging fusion energy industry and advances research into next-generation energy solutions.

Funded by the Office of Science-Fusion Energy Sciences.