Welcome back! We are more than halfway through a hot summer season and have maintained a steady pace of activity for our Office. The Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has a new name and new vision since July 4^th when the Office was officially renamed the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM). We issued three funding opportunity announcements (FOA), announced three award selections totaling a combined $91.5 million, welcomed our Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship (MLEF) program fellows for the summer and continued to virtually attend a variety of events on behalf of DOE.

We hope you enjoy catching up on FECM’s recent highlights, so ICYMI, here they are:

Acting Assistant Secretary Dr. Jennifer Wilcox and Chief of Staff Dr. Shuchi Talati came together and wrote about their new vision and expectations for the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.  

“The Office of Fossil Energy officially added ‘Carbon Management’ to its name as of July 4, 2021. This name change signifies the change in our vision. The Biden-Harris Administration recognizes that to meet our climate goals, we must manage the carbon that comes with legacy and continued use of fossil fuels. Our job is—above all—to limit the climate and environmental impacts of fossil fuels. Adding ‘carbon management’ encompasses this vision fully into our name, so that everyone across DOE, the Federal government and the country has a better understanding of what we do,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Jennifer Wilcox and Chief of Staff Shuchi Talati.

To read the full blog visit "Our New Name is also a New Vision" page.

FECM issued three award selection announcements totaling nearly $91.5 million:

• May 12, 2021 – Cutting-edge Research for Efficient Hydrogen Gas Turbines ($6.2M) 
• May 18, 2021 – Water Management for Thermal Power Generation (~$2M)
• May 28, 2021 – Enhancing the Safety and Security of CO2 Storage (~$4M)
• June 4, 2021 – Improve Flexibility and Reliability of Advanced Power Plant Technology ($5M)

• June 14, 2021 – Explore Benefits of Carbon-Based Building Materials ($1.5M)
• June 15, 2021 – Direct Air Capture Technology ($12M)
• June 23, 2021 – Develop Algae-Based Technologies to Capture Carbon Dioxide for Use in Products ($8M)
• July 7, 2021 – Accelerate Progress in Clean Hydrogen ($52.8M)

We kicked off welcoming the MLEF Summer 2021 Fellows class with a two-day virtual event on June 7th and June 8th. Dr. Wilcox had the pleasure to speak to the class and wished them a bright future, professionally and personally. Several speakers across DOE, FECM and NETL addressed the incoming class and welcomed them to the organization. This year’s participants will conduct research virtually with several DOE offices and laboratories. The program will conclude in August with a technical forum where participants will present their research findings. Read the full story about the kickoff here.

The MLEF program was created in 1995 by the U.S. Department of Energy with the goal of improving opportunities for under-represented and minority students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.  Since 1995, DOE has hosted over 900 summer participants under the MLEF Program.  The institutions the students attend span the nation, from California to  Puerto Rico.    Over 70% of the participants identified as belonging to an underrepresented or minority group, which includes individuals who identified as: Hispanic/Latino, Black/African American, Asian, American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or Other Pacific Islander or female.  More information about this cohort can be found in this infographic.

• May 26, 2021 – Dr. Talati, FECM chief of staff, speaks on carbon capture and storage
• May 28, 2021 – Dr. Wilcox speaks at 12th Annual CEM 2021 in Chile
• June 9, 2021 – Dr. Wilcox joins panel discussion on hydrogen activities and opportunities at DOE
• June 17, 2021 – DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to conduct geographical assessment of natural gas infrastructure and pipeline materials for blended gas transport
• June 17, 2021 – DOE national laboratories investigate subsurface hydrogen storage
• June 24, 2021 – Dr. Wilcox gives remarks at First Asia CCUS Network Forum
• July 15, 2021 – Dr. Wilcox gives keynote speech at CO₂ Recycling Webinar at Columbia University
• July 23, 2021 – DOE announces intent to fund direct air capture FEED studies

We hope you enjoyed this quarter’s edition of ICYMI. Thank you for reading and we’ll see you next quarter!