The Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI) is a community of researchers at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) that is committed to advancing sustainable energy, and we would love for you to join us. PhD programs are housed within the academic departments at JHU, so PhD students working in sustainable energy span many parts of the university.
As a student interested in doctoral research and in sustainable energy, ROSEI would love to help you find a home at JHU. Provided below is a sample of keywords for sustainable energy research being conducted at JHU, the department where this research is located, and a faculty member or coordinator within that department that has agreed to field inquiries about sustainable energy research in the given department. A link to the different graduate admissions details for each department has also been provided. Please note that each department has its own guidelines regarding time to degree, coursework, examinations, stipend levels, etc. So, please take advantage of the information links and contacts below to learn all you can.
In addition to the brief summaries below you may also want to directly peruse the websites of ROSEI’s core, associate, and affiliated faculty to learn more about the research programs of ROSEI faculty that may resonate with your interests. Once accepted, ROSEI provides both a social and technical program that will allow you to share your research and passions with others in the broader JHU community interested in sustainable energy. PhD students are the heart and soul of JHU and we look forward to welcoming you to joining in on this important research.
ROSEI does not support direct PhD fellowships in sustainable energy at this time, but it does provide support to faculty, who then hire PhD students. Please check back as ROSEI is actively pursuing training grants to support such fellowships in the future.
You can learn more about doctoral research in sustainable energy at one of the information sessions held online by ROSEI faculty. The most recent webinar for PhD admission was held on Nov 1, 2023 and the FAQ from the event is available at the bottom of this page.
For science or engineering graduates who want to pursue a PhD in engineering related to sustainable energy:
| Keywords in Sustainable Energy | WSE Department (Admissions) | ROSEI Contact |
| financial mathematics and energy markets, direct air capture modeling, optimization and operations research | Applied Math and Statistics | Fadil Santosa |
| catalysts, membranes, absorbents, electrodes, electrolytes, biofuels, direct air capture, energy storage/conversion, computational chemistry | Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering | Chao Wang |
| wind towers, energy structures, uncertainty quantification and reliability, topology optimization, systems resilience, energy infrastructure cybersecurity, drone inspection of energy infrastructure | Civil and Systems Engineering | Ben Schafer |
| controls and dynamical systems, power systems analysis, power systems economics, smart grid, cyberinfrastructure, photovoltaics, solar cells, photocatalysis, solar energy, energy storage, energy sensing, mechanical and thermal energy harvesting | Electrical and Computer Engineering | Susanna Thon, Yury Dvorkin |
| energy management and alternative technologies, power systems, power operations, public policy in power | Environmental Health and Engineering | Ben Hobbs |
| materials for energy, nanoscale materials design for energy, carbon transformations, storage, catalysis, fuel cells, computational materials for energy storage and conversion | Materials Science and Engineering | Jonah Erlebacher |
| wind farm modeling and design, wind farm control, dynamics and control of energy systems, grid integration of renewables energy, advanced energy harvesting, energy and the environment, fluid mechanics of energy production and harvesting | Mechanical Engineering | Dennice Gayme |
For science graduates who want to pursue a PhD in science related to sustainable energy:
| Keywords in Sustainable Energy | KSAS Department (Admissions) | ROSEI Contact |
| sustainable chemistry, porous materials for energy storage, batteries, small molecule activation,renewable fuels, catalysis, electrosynthesis, computational chemistry, energy and charge transfer, solar energy, sustainable materials | Chemistry | Sara Thoi |
| Climate modeling, climate dynamics, coupled energy-climate systems, mineralogy, geochemistry, ecological systems, ocean dynamics, remote sensing | Earth and Planetary Sciences | Ben Zaitchik |
| quantum matter, HEP computing, nanophotonics | Physics and Astronomy | Kelley Key |
For social science graduates who want to pursue a PhD in social science related to sustainable energy:
| Keywords in Sustainable Energy | KSAS Department (Admissions) | ROSEI Contact |
| power market design, political economy, finance, economic theory of power | Economics | Marcelo Ariel Fernandez |
| energy and electrification, anthropology of power distribution and adoption | Anthropology | Michael Degani |
| international relations, science and politics, global governance, global energy politics | Political Science | Bentley Allan |
See below for an FAQ about applying to JHU’s PhD programs that has been put together by ROSEI: