Grad Students, Postdocs, and Early-Career Staff Prepare To Carry Torch of International Research Collaboration | News

NREL Empowers Next Generation of Globally Minded Scientists To Solve Global Energy
Challenges
In the afterglow of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it is worth remembering
that athletic feats are not the only endeavors that resonate across international
borders.
Shifting to clean energy means addressing some of the most difficult technical challenges
the world has faced—making collaboration key. It means investing in our future leaders
and providing them opportunities to encounter new ideas, develop new skills, and become
globally aware scientists.
“Tackling the global threat of climate change will require a unified global effort,
yet effective international collaboration remains as challenging as it is important,”
said Steven Hayden, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) microscopist and postdoctoral-researcher
liaison. “Diversity is a critical human strength. By exposing our postdocs—tomorrow’s
leaders—to a variety of worldviews and collaborative methods, we foster the global
community necessary to secure our collective future.”
At NREL, investing in postdocs and early-career researchers as global leaders starts
by supporting them in attending international convenings, conferences, and summer
schools. These are venues where they build professional networks, discover job opportunities,
exchange ideas, and act as NREL ambassadors to the global energy research community.
This summer, NREL postdocs and early-career staff participated in multiple events
around the globe, including in Italy, Indonesia, Singapore, and stateside in Golden,
Colorado, just down the road from NREL’s South Table Mountain Campus. In some cases,
postdocs were competitively selected to attend.
In Indonesia, RD20, an initiative among Group of 20 (G20) countries and regions to
strengthen international collaborations among leading energy-research institutes,
hosted its second annual summer school in summer 2024.

palace, Bogor Palace, at the Bogor Botanical Gardens, which they visited during the
2024 RD20 summer school. Photo from Alex Hill, NREL
“This is an opportunity for graduate students, postdocs, and early-career researchers
to get exposure to and even get involved with international research and development
collaboration,” said NREL Associate Laboratory Director Bill Tumas, who sits on the
RD20 action committee. “These events enable the next generation of our scientific
workforce to gain an appreciation for the diversity of solutions and approaches for
clean energy technologies.”
Four NREL postdocs and early-career researchers participated in the RD20 organization’s
summer school in 2024. The next summer school will be held at NREL in 2025.
“We do world-class research, but going to the summer school made me realize that an
integral piece of world-class research is interacting with the world,” said NREL postdoc
Alex Hill, reflecting on his experience at the RD20 summer school. “I think that is
something I want to try to take forward in my research: How can I engage community
stakeholders more in the day-to-day operations of what I do?”
Postdoc Diego Soetrisno, another RD20 summer school participant, said that the opportunity
reinforced the value of contextualizing one’s own fundamental research amid an ongoing
global exchange of ideas.
“I did my Ph.D. doing really fundamental work, but there’s a gap between my fundamental
work and context with the larger picture,” Soetrisno said. “This summer school experience
has given me more understanding of the really large picture of decarbonization technology.
But it is also trying to bring my work in context with other people’s work. Without
that communication, my work would not be able to really influence other people.”
Below are short descriptions and lists of participants in international convenings
this summer. Congrats to this year’s participants!
Barga, Italy—Electronic Processes in Organic Materials Gordon Research Conference

The Electronic Processes in Organic Materials Gordon Research Conference focused on advancing the frontiers of science by having participants present cutting-edge
and unpublished research, prioritizing time for discussion after each talk, and fostering
informal interactions among scientists of all career stages.
NREL participants:
- Nick Hight-Huf, postdoctoral researcher
- Bryon Larson, researcher
- Max O’Connor, graduate student
- Garry Rumbles, senior research fellow.
South Tangerang, Indonesia—RD20 Summer School

The 2024 RD20 summer school was titled “Diversity of Knowledge on Decarbonization in Just Energy Transition Mechanism,”
providing an opportunity for young researchers from G20 countries to deepen their knowledge
and skills in the field of decarbonization. Event themes were broad, ranging from
life-cycle assessments, circular economy, and smart grids to biomass resources, energy
storage, and hydrogen production and utilization.
NREL participants:
- Anthony Burrell, research advisor
- Birdie Carpenter, researcher
- Jacob Cordell, analyst
- Randy Cortright, research advisor
- Alex Hill, postdoctoral researcher
- Prashant Saini, postdoctoral researcher
- Diego Soetrisno, postdoctoral researcher
- Bill Tumas, associate laboratory director.
Golden, Colorado, USA—International School for Materials for Energy and Sustainability
2024

The International School for Materials for Energy and Sustainability 2024—another annual event—brought together Ph.D. students and postdocs to review and actively
discuss/debate state-of-the-art and future perspectives for materials as they can
be applied to energy generation and storage for a sustainable global energy infrastructure.
NREL participants:
- Zachary Binger, postdoctoral researcher
- Sakshi Gautam, former NREL postdoctoral researcher
- David Ginley, senior research fellow
- Mukta Hardikar, postdoctoral researcher
- Matthew Hautzinger, researcher
- Jason Hirschey, postdoctoral researcher
- Adarsh Kimar, postdoctoral researcher
- Shubham Sundeep, postdoctoral researcher
- Chenchao Xie, postdoctoral researcher
- Adam Yonge, postdoctoral researcher.
Learn about internships and postdoctoral positions at NREL.
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