ROSEI’s research structure continues to grow beyond its founding pillars—Carbon, Storage, Wind, and Grid—through a dynamic and expanding network of Working Groups and Technical Affinity Groups. These faculty-driven communities explore new areas of energy research, support methodological innovation, and connect to ROSEI’s broader mission through education, policy, and translation. We call this expanding ecosystem:
“& More”
Table of Contents
Working Groups
Nuclear
Solar
Fuels
Manufacturing
Buildings
Technical Affinity Groups
Catalysis Club
AI in Energy
Optimization Forum
Connections to Education, Policy, and Translation
Working Groups
Nuclear: Explores the evolving role of nuclear energy in a clean, resilient energy system. Topics include fusion technologies, uncertainty quantification for nuclear fuel storage and long-term risk assessment, materials characterization and predictive modeling under extreme environments, and the coupling of nuclear systems with renewable and grid infrastructures. This group spans foundational materials research to system-scale implementation challenges.
Solar: Focuses on next-generation solar materials, device architectures, and deployment strategies. Topics include novel photovoltaic materials, integrated photo-batteries, and system integration with storage and demand-side flexibility. Emphasis is placed on both scientific advancement and scalable solar implementation.
Fuels (Sustainable Fuels): Explores the development of energy-dense fuels from sustainable sources. Areas of interest include electrochemical and catalytic fuel production, such as hydrogen, ammonia, alcohols, and hydrocarbon derivatives; as well as biologically derived fuels and bio-processes. The efforts overlap with the Carbon pillar with cross-cutting topics such as CO₂ capture and conversion, the Catalysis Club with catalyst design, reaction engineering, fuel infrastructure compatibility, and lifecycle impact.
Manufacturing (Sustainable Manufacturing): Is a broad exploration of sustainability across manufacturing sectors. The group covers low-carbon chemical manufacturing, sustainable chip and electronics production, materials manufacturing focused on circularity and durability, and sustainable product design. It also includes cross-cutting work on process monitoring, AI-driven manufacturing optimization (see our Ai in Energy and Optimization technical affinity groups too), and supply chain sustainability. This group brings together expertise in advanced fabrication, catalysis, and materials science.
Buildings (Energy Efficiency in the Built Environment): This group addresses the urgent challenge of decarbonizing buildings through energy efficiency, smart control, and systems integration. Topics include advanced building automation and optimization, HVAC and thermal management, real-time control using AI, occupant-focused energy strategies, and the interaction between building loads and the electric grid. The group spans both modeling and experimental work at the building and district scales.
Technical Affinity Groups
Catalysis Club, a ROSEI-wide community of researchers working on catalytic systems for energy conversion and storage. Topics include electro-, photo-, and thermal catalysis; reaction kinetics; materials synthesis; and catalyst durability. The club also supports discussion of shared facilities and capabilities.
AI in Energy, focused on applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence in sustainable energy. Topics include predictive modeling, control systems, digital twins, scientific ML, and data-driven discovery across energy domains—from materials to infrastructure to markets.
Optimization Forum, a forum for researchers using optimization methods to solve energy problems. Topics span mathematical programming, optimal control, stochastic modeling, heuristic approaches, and multi-objective frameworks. Applications include grid operations, system design, energy markets, and logistics.
Connections to Education, Policy, and Translation
ROSEI also supports Working Groups in Education, Policy, and Translation, many of which regularly interact with ROSE’s research pillars, working groups, and technical affinity groups.