Form and function of an academic government collaboration: NETLIAES

1
Form and function of an academic / government
collaboration NETL-IAES
Andrew J. Gellman Dept. of Chemical
Eng. Carnegie Mellon Univ. Pittsburgh, PA
15213 and DOE NETL Pittsburgh, PA 15236
2
Structure of the relationship
3
NETL Key Features

• Origins in 1910 with Bureau of Mines
• DOE National Lab status in 1999
• Research mandate in fossil fuels
• 1100 employees including 150 scientists
• 800M budget with 100M internal research
  expenditures

4
IAES establishment
2004 - NETL support services contract awarded to
Research and Development Solutions (RDS)LLC
(EGG, Parsons, SAIC, CMU, Pitt and WVU) 2005
- NETL Funds Round 1 projects totaling 1.5M to
encourage University NETL collaborations 2006
- NETL Funds Round 2 projects totaling 6-8M to
encourage collaborations between Universities
and with NETL scientists 2006 - NETL initiates
discussions with and between CMU/Pitt/WVU
to form and energy research institute 2007
- CWP manages Round 3 research program
planning 2007 - IAES and research program formed
5
NETL IAES operating model

• IAES Fellows have formal affiliation with NETL.
• IAES research is published and presented as
  originating from NETL. Faculty and students also
  represent their academic affiliation.
• A significant fraction of the research is to be
  performed on site at NETL.
• CWP must seek external (non-NETL) sources of
  funding for the IAES research portfolio.

6
NETL IAES

• In existence since 09/07.
• Research funding 13 M/yr from NETL
• 10M in external funding for IAES-related
  research
• 24 Resident Institute Fellows (8 x 3
  universities).
• RIFs establishing labs at NETL and spending 1
  day/wk at NETL
• 70 Institute Fellows
• IFs have collaborative research projects with
  NETL scientists
• 90 students and postdocs working on IAES
  research program

7
NETL IAES Research Thrusts

• Materials for energy technologies
• Process and dynamic systems modeling
• 3. Catalyst and reactor development
• 4. Carbon management
• 5. Sensor systems and diagnostics
• Energy conversion devices
• Gas hydrates
• Utra-deep and Unconventional Oil Gas

NETL
Energy Research Portfolio
CMU
Pitt
WVU

• Water management
• Combustion

8
Issues and Lessons Learned

• Not all universities are created equal.
• Significant effort needed to develop an
  understanding of other organizations university
  university
• university national lab
• national lab university.
• Timescales for decision making and program
  planning differ. National lab is annual.
  Universities have timescales 4 years for
  research activities (but much shorter for some
  other decision making).
• Safety and security protocols are entirely
  different.