Category: Colorado

How Quantum Computing Changed Our Understanding of Science 4/19/2024

How Quantum Computing Changed Our Understanding of Science

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Lincoln Carr is featured on this podcast discussing how while we await practical business advantage with quantum computing, has quantum information science already furthered our understanding of science? What’s the difference between a simulator and an emulator, and how does a physical quantum computer fit in? He explores these topics, along with everything from Tensor Networks, to thermodynamics, to complexity, with an eye to how the hardware timeline will make practical power a reality.  April 19, 2024.

Jennifer Miskimins nominated as 2026 president of Society of Petroleum Engineers 4/17/2024

Jennifer Miskimins nominated as 2026 president of Society of Petroleum Engineers

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Jennifer Miskimins, professor and head of the Petroleum Engineering Department at Colorado School of Mines, has been nominated to serve as the 2026 president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), the premier global organization for oil and gas professionals.  Dr. Miskimins is a Mines alum, Miskimins has 30 years of industry experience and has led Petroleum Engineering Department since 2020.  April 17, 2024.  

Colorado School of Mines, Chevron announce partnership for Global Energy Future Initiative 4/8/2024

Colorado School of Mines, Chevron announce partnership for Global Energy Future Initiative

Mines Global Energy Future Initiative Vice President John Bradford contributes to an article about a new partnership between the Colorado School of Mines and Chevron to support the Mines Global Energy Future Initiative.  Through this partnership, Chevron will sponsor research projects and participate in steering committees and working groups, adding industry expertise to solve complex problems related to the energy transition. April 8, 2024.

Panel of lawmakers considers whether carbon capture holds future in Colorado 4/1/2024

Panel of lawmakers considers whether carbon capture holds future in Colorado

Payne Institute CCUS Program Manager Anna Littlefield contributed to this article about how as Colorado aims to achieve 100% net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050, leaders of key state agencies argue that they can’t meet that goal without employing carbon-capture-and-sequestration techniques in hard-to-decarbonize sectors.  Ensuring the state has tools to allow and regulate such operations as fossil-fuel usage continues for the foreseeable future is a “strategic step to expediting the process.”  April 1, 2024.

Changing the relationship between mining and Native American Tribes 3/11/2024

Changing the relationship between mining and Native American Tribes

Payne Institute Native American Mining and Energy Sovereignty (NAMES) Initiative Program Manager Rick Tallman, Director Morgan Bazilian and Daniel Cardenas write about how the Native American Tribes stand to benefit greatly from mining and processing the critical minerals needed to drive the energy transition in the United States — but only if we acknowledge the sordid history of mining on tribal lands and properly remediate legacy issues while forging a new approach that is transparent, fair and centered on Tribal sovereignty. March 11, 2024.

Michael McGuirk Wins Negative Emissions Scialog Award 3/7/2024

Michael McGuirk Wins Negative Emissions Scialog Award

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Mike McGuirk has won a $50,000 award from the Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement’s (RSCA) Negative Emissions Science Scialog program to conduct research exploring opportunities to replace petroleum in this process with polyolefin waste, the largest type of post-consumer plastic.  March 7, 2024.

Mines, Lunar Outpost team heading to finals in NASA’s Break the Ice Challenge 2/13/24

Mines, Lunar Outpost team heading to finals in NASA’s Break the Ice Challenge

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow George Sowers contributes to this article about a team with members from Colorado School of Mines and Lunar Outpost, called the Ice Diggers, has been named a finalist in NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge.  The Ice Diggers will be one of six teams facing off head-to-head this spring at a NASA-designed test facility to see which prototype lunar excavation rover performs best. February 13, 2024.

World continues to learn from Colorado’s oil-and-gas methane controls 2/8/2024

World continues to learn from Colorado’s oil-and-gas methane controls

Ten years ago this month, Colorado became the first U.S. state to directly tackle methane emissions from oil and natural gas production. Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, Policy and Outreach Advisor for Responsible Gas Simon Lomax and, Program Manager of the Sustainable Finance Lab Brad Handler explore how the lessons learned in Colorado are reflected in national and international approaches to regulating methane, which has taken on new urgency recently.  February 8, 2024.

How Can Capturing Carbon and Monitoring Methane Play a Role in the Energy Transition? 2/2/2024

How Can Capturing Carbon and Monitoring Methane Play a Role in the Energy Transition?

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Jim Crompton, Paulina Lanz, and Justine Huang are on this podcast discussing how in 2022, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reached a high of 53 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent. To bring that down to net zero, we can either stop emitting GHGs into the atmosphere, or we can pull out CO2 that has already been emitted. Also in this episode, Will Daniels, a Payne Institute student researcher is interviewed, talking about methods for detecting methane emissions from oil and gas production and the role that data might play in reducing these emissions. February 2, 2024.

Colorado is a regional quantum hub, but what does that mean? 1/31/2024

Colorado is a regional quantum hub, but what does that mean?

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Lincoln Carr interviews with CPR News about how the U.S. government recently designated Colorado a regional tech hub for the quantum industry. That puts the state in line to receive a federal grant as part of the CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to boost investment in emerging technologies. January 31, 2024.