Energy Faculty Fellow Program
Building strong partnerships within the energy community is essential to meet the multifaceted demands of the changing energy landscape.
Driving Growth Through Meaningful Partnerships
Few sectors affect the prosperity of every sphere of economic, environmental, and social life or exert as much direct influence on general technological progress as the energy sector. Concerns surrounding affordability, resilience and security have brought the development of a clean and diverse energy portfolio to the forefront of the national conversation. Concurrently, conversations center on ensuring that clean energy options are available to all communities throughout the nation, with a focus on domestic energy independence and leadership in innovation.
The Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech is approaching this challenge through the Energy Faculty Fellows Program focused on growing partnerships with other academic institutions -- specifically, Emerging Research Institutions (ERIs) including R2 universities, Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), or Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs).
In addition to identifying and pursuing innovative research concepts, a key programmatic aim is to develop long standing research relationships with potential partner institutions in preparation for collaborative responses to energy-focused funding, education, and curriculum development opportunities. The goal of this program is to initiate new collaborative relationships as well as enhance existing partnerships to amplify the impacts of ongoing efforts. Program participants will spend 10 weeks working closely with research groups at Georgia Tech on collaborative projects that advance regional, national, and global energy priorities.
2025 Energy Faculty Fellow Program
The Georgia Tech Strategic Energy Institute concluded the third cohort of the summer Energy Faculty Fellows this August!
The 2025 cohort welcomed a diverse group of researchers for a 10-week summer fellowship from across the country. The program is designed to advance energy innovation and collaboration by supporting cross-institutional partnerships and facilitating dialogue on regional, national, and global energy priorities.
The cohort included:
- Cody Gonzalez, assistant professor from University of Texas San Antonio
- Jamal Mamkhezri, associate professor of Economics at New Mexico State University
- Judy Jenkins, professor of Chemistry at Eastern Kentucky University
- Hossein Taheri, associate professor of Manufacturing Engineering from Georgia Southern University.
2024 Summer Program
After completing a 10-week, on-campus fellowship, the members of 2024 Summer Energy Faculty Fellows Program presented their research and discussed their future plans for continuing their research at their home campus.
The fellowship program was launched in 2023 and hosted three faculty and two undergraduates in a fantastic inaugural summer experience. The fellows were competitively selected from a nationwide pool of applicants, and the 2024 cohort expanded to include 10 participants. Each of the Fellows brought a student and was hosted by a Georgia Tech energy researcher. The 2024 Faculty Fellows and their students included:
- Kristen Brown and Dom Forza also of the University of Texas at San Antonio (Host: Joe Bozeman III).
- Guenevere Qian Chen with Marco Garza of the University of Texas at San Antonio (Host: Saman Zonouz).
- Beibei Jiang with Tara Joshi of Kennesaw State University (Host: Hailong Chen).
- Milanika S. Turner with Janiyah White of Clark Atlanta University (Host: Joe Bozeman III).
In addition, the cohort also included a collaborator, Zufen Wang from Tennessee State University, with Veronica Kamel (Host: Comas Haynes).
2023 Summer External Energy Faculty Program
In Summer 2023, the first ever Energy Faculty Fellow program (EFF) brought three faculty and two undergraduate students to the Georgia Tech campus. The 10-week program is designed for Georgia Tech faculty to host a faculty member from a primarily undergraduate or minority serving Institution to engage with energy leaders, build networks, and pursue research collaborations in the energy space. Ongoing goals are to continue research collaborations well beyond this summer with faculty and students carrying research efforts to their home institutions and into the new academic year. The Strategic Energy Institute anticipates a pipeline between the institutions, where EFF participants encourage their colleagues to engage with Georgia Tech in future cohorts, call on each other for collaborations on federal grant proposals, and the faculty send students to Georgia Tech's summer undergraduate or graduate programs.
The 2023 Summer program included,
- Xingpeng Li (U Houston, HSI), hosted by Pascal Van Henternryck.
- Guanyu Huang (Spelman, HBCU), hosted by Marilyn Brown (student Nia McKenzie).
- Mario Bencomo (Cal State Fresno, HSI), hosted by Comas Haynes (student Mikayla Leggett).