Please join the Mines University Lecture Series in Electrochemical Sciences and Technologies (MUSE) as they welcome Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang, Kyocera Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology presenting Game-Changing Technologies for Earth, Energy, & Environment on Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Golden, CO.

Evolving global needs and desires for a sustainable future have shined a spotlight on large scale energy systems and industrial processes that have served society admirably for 100-200 years, but now need to be re-invented to be more energy efficient, emit less pollution, and rely less on scarce mineral resources. The simultaneous growth of low-cost electricity offers opportunities to innovate through electrochemistry. To achieve impact on relevant time scales, it is essential that proposed electrochemical approaches be highly scalable. This talk will discuss three examples where electrochemistry at scale may meet these criteria. The first is long-duration energy storage, where the development of iron-air batteries offers a pathway to greater grid resiliency by allowing multi-day gaps in electricity supply to be bridged cost-effectively. A second is the use of electrolytic processes to produce chemical reagents for minerals processing, specifically applied to the production of higher performing, lower embodied energy replacements for Portland cement. Lastly, the concept of a metal-air fuel cycle to enable transmission of clean electricity from locations of low-cost electricity to centers of consumption, without wires, will be discussed.

Yet-Ming Chiang is Kyocera Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, where his research focuses on sustainable technologies including non-aqueous and aqueous batteries for transportation and grid-scale storage, electrochemical production of industrial materials, and sustainable mining. Chiang is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society, Materials Research Society, American Ceramic Society, and the National Academy of Inventors. His work in energy and sustainability has been recognized by the Forbes Sustainability Leaders award (2024), TIME 100 Climate award (2023), the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer Award (2016), the Economist’s Innovation Award (2012), The Electrochemical Society Battery Division’s Battery Technology Award (2012), and an R&D 100 Editor’s Choice Award (2006). Chiang has brought several laboratory discoveries to commercialization,  including high-power lithium iron phosphate batteries, a semi-solid electrode approach to low-cost lithium-ion battery manufacturing, batteries for long-duration grid storage, and an
electrochemical process for decarbonizing cement production. He has co-founded several companies based on his research including American Superconductor Corporation (1987), A123 Systems (2001), 24M Technologies (2010), Desktop Metal (2015), Form Energy (2017), Sublime Systems (2020), Propel Aero (2023), Rock Zero (2024), and Addis Energy (2024). He co-directed the MIT Future of Energy Storage study (2022) and leads the Center for Electrification and Decarbonization of Industry, a flagship project of MIT’s Climate Grand Challenges program.

About the Event
MUSE (≡ Mines University lecture Series in Electrochemical sciences and technologies) is a new public lecture series launched by the Colorado School of Mines this year.  Electrochemical technologies are poised to revolutionize our energy future, and Mines has broad expertise in electrochemistry fundamentals as well as applied technology development. This lecture series is curated to celebrate electrochemistry at Mines with a world-renowned expert whose work has had an overarching impact spanning electrochemical sciences and technologies, for example, Yet-Ming Chiang – our inaugural MUSE speaker.