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AI Data Centers Are Becoming a Critical-Minerals Demand Engine, New Study Finds 9/4/2026

AI Data Centers Are Becoming a Critical-Minerals Demand Engine, New Study Finds

Macdonald Amoah, Maxwell Brown, Adam Simon, Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian and Senior Research Fellow Jahara Matisek have new research that is highlighted in this overview on how the rapid buildout of artificial intelligence data centers could become a significant new source of competition for critical minerals—not primarily because of semiconductors, but because of the massive power infrastructure required to support AI computing.  September 4, 2026.  

The Arctic and the Limits of Theatre Strategy 9/3/2026

The Arctic and the Limits of Theatre Strategy

Genevieve Cickavage, Ryan Duffy, Payne Institute Senior Reseach Fellow Jahara Matisek, Jeremy McKenzie, and Chad Pillai argue for a ‘seam-based’ strategy for the Arctic, where instead of being a peripheral theatre, it becomes the connective seam linking the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific.  September 3, 2026.

Adrienne Marshall co-author of new UN report on limiting climate overshoot 9/2/2026

Adrienne Marshall co-author of new UN report on limiting climate overshoot

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Adrienne Marshall‘s research is featured in the new report, Limiting Overshoot, from the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP), recommends a path to minimize peak temperatures, return to 1.5°C or below as soon as possible, and reduce the vulnerability of communities and economies to impacts that cannot be avoided.  September 2, 2026.

New scientific review identifies Antarctic coastal blind spots limiting sea level projections 9/2/2026

New scientific review identifies Antarctic coastal blind spots limiting sea level projections

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Ryan Venturelli and Matthew Siegfried are featured in this article about how their research contributed to a new, international, community-led scientific review that warns that major gaps in knowledge along Antarctica’s coast are now one of the biggest obstacles to reliably predicting future global sea level rise.  September 2, 2026.

Cleaner Gas, Smarter Design: A Practical Path to Lower-Emissions Power

Cleaner Gas, Smarter Design: A Practical Path to Lower-Emissions Power

Payne Institute Energy Finance Lab Director Brad Handler and Student Researcher Matthew Safran write about how lower-emissions gas sourcing, efficient combined-cycle generation, and carbon capture-ready construction offer hyperscalers a way to meet data center power demands without compromising on emissions.  September 1, 2026.

Mines testifies before Congress on strategic partnerships to secure critical mineral resources and supply chains 9/2/2026

Mines testifies before Congress on strategic partnerships to secure critical mineral resources and supply chains

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian presented expert testimony to the House Ways & Means Committee. The hearing, titled “Strategic Partnerships to Secure Critical Resources and Supply Chains,” examined global critical mineral markets dominated by China and the trade, finance and diplomatic policy levers needed to build resilient supply networks.  September 2, 2026.

What the US executive order on bulk-power systems gets right—and what’s missing

What the US executive order on bulk-power systems gets right—and what’s missing

Landon Derentz, Frank Willey, and Payne Institute Director Morgan D. Bazilian write about how the Trump administration’s Executive Order 14420 announced in August directs a sweeping review of security vulnerabilities in US electrical equipment supply chains.  They weigh in on what the order gets right and what else officials should consider to ensure the security of the US power system.  September 1, 2026.

Mining, Energy, and the Future of Critical Minerals with Sylvia Hoyt 9/1/2026

Mining, Energy, and the Future of Critical Minerals with Sylvia Hoyt

The Payne Institute is a proud partner with the Mines Future Energy Scholar (FES) Mackenzie Marquis to present her interview with Sylvia Hoyt, FES, discussing the connection between mining, energy use, and carbon emissions. Sylvia explains the role mining plays in supplying the materials needed across the energy industry, while also exploring the energy demands of mineral processing and opportunities to make mining operations more efficient. September 1, 2026.

The race to establish the first Moon base is on. And the stakes couldn’t be higher 8/29/2026

The race to establish the first Moon base is on. And the stakes couldn’t be higher

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow George Sowers contributed to this article about how the US and China have set targets to return to the lunar surface with missions that, initially, will last days, but later, weeks, and will hopefully lead to both nations establishing permanent bases on the Moon, giving us a continuous human presence on another world.  August 29, 2026.

Electricity demand is rising. How can the US secure energy for its dual military and civilian needs? 8/26/2026

Electricity demand is rising. How can the US secure energy for its dual military and civilian needs?

Chuck “Chim Chim” Dockery, Wilson Rickerson, and Payne Institute Director Morgan D. Bazilian write about how the US is becoming increasingly electrified to support rising demand from artificial intelligence (AI), supply chain reshoring, and reindustrialization. This rise in electrification has elevated the criticality of power generation, transmission, and distribution as essential enablers of societal resilience. August 26, 2026.

California’s water shortages partly due to climate pollution from big oil and gas, study finds 8/25/2026

California’s water shortages partly due to climate pollution from big oil and gas, study finds

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Adrienne Marshall contributed to this article about how the world’s biggest oil, gas and cement companies are partly responsible for California’s water shortages, a new study finds, with their planet-warming emissions shown to reduce the state’s snowpack by an annual amount roughly equal to what would fill Shasta Lake.  August 25, 2026.

Mines economists and policy experts lead global conversation on critical minerals markets and national security 8/24/2026

Mines economists and policy experts lead global conversation on critical minerals markets and national security

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Ian Lange, Director Morgan Bazilian, and Tom Brady are featured in this article about how the critical minerals supply chain begins with demand. Economists and policy experts are essential for understanding the markets and geopolitical forces that drive critical minerals supply chains—and which levers can make or break new technologies along the value chain.  August 24, 2026.

TERA Puts an Indian Tribe in Charge of Its Energy 8/21/2026

TERA Puts an Indian Tribe in Charge of Its Energy

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian writes about how on May 11 the Interior Department approved the nation’s first Tribal Energy Resource Agreement. It allows the Southern Ute Indian Tribe of southwestern Colorado to approve its own energy-related leases, rights of way and business agreements without federal sign-off.  August 21, 2026.

An Explosive Problem: Energetics, Supply Chain Fragility, and US Military Readiness 8/18/2026

An Explosive Problem: Energetics, Supply Chain Fragility, and US Military Readiness

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian and Matt Isler write about how the United States invests billions of dollars in advanced weapons. And yet it could still be unable to generate combat power at the rate a campaign requires—because of low-visibility frailties in the munitions industrial base.  August 18, 2026.

Cheap Drones, Dry Taps: The Iran War Opens a New Era of Water Infrastructure Risk 8/14/2026

Cheap Drones, Dry Taps: The Iran War Opens a New Era of Water Infrastructure Risk

Gabriel Collins and Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian write about how water and energy infrastructure have become one of Iran’s main levers of deterrence against the United States. Iranian Foreign Minister Aragchi recently made it clear to Gulf states that if the U.S. military renewed large-scale strikes on Iran, their critical infrastructure would be struck. August 14, 2026. 

We Thought Tech Would Make War More Precise. We Were Wrong. 8/7/2026

We Thought Tech Would Make War More Precise. We Were Wrong.

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributed to this article about how until recently, attacking civilian energy infrastructure was unacceptable. The dynamics of modern war have changed that.  August 7, 2026.

Making Government Equity Ownership Official 8/7/2026

Making Government Equity Ownership Official

Payne Institute Energy Finance Lab Director Brad Handler and Student Researcher Matthew Safran write about how in June, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees advanced the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congress’s annual defense policy bill. The legislation covers hundreds of defense programs and policies but one small provision, Section 1051, tackles a different challenge: managing the risks of an untested facet of the current administration’s more muscular industrial policy.  August 7, 2026.

The Payne Institute experts are regional, national, and international leaders in applied research in natural resources, energy, and the environment. Our team is involved in a wide variety of research projects in these fields, and are committed to sharing these results with academic and professional audiences.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed are those of the author alone and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, viewpoints, or official policies of the Payne Institute or Colorado School of Mines.