Fourteen PhD Students Chosen for New Critical Minerals Research Lab
💡 What’s the story?
Earlier this summer, Resources for the Future (RFF) launched the Critical Minerals Research Lab, a virtual hub for PhD students to develop research on critical minerals and the energy transition. The lab is pleased to announce that it has now selected the first class of scholars.
The 14 chosen students have a range of academic backgrounds. This diversity will help scholars develop and produce research that is interdisciplinary and policy relevant.
The following list names the scholars, their affiliated universities, and research interests.
- Anthony Cheng, Carnegie Mellon University—Critical minerals for clean technologies and electric vehicle supply chains
- Elizabeth Echavarría Taborda, University of Washington—Responsible mining and the political economy of critical minerals
- Emmanuel Chinkaka, University of Delaware—Sustainable mining and the energy transition, the illicit critical minerals trade
- Gabriella Berman, University of Miami—Legal and ecological tools for environmental and ethical governance of deep-sea mining in international waters
- Hamdiya Orleans-Boham, Missouri University of Science and Technology—Econometric modeling, critical mineral policies and economics
- Hélène Flore Nguemgaing, West Virginia University—Perceptions of acid mine drainage treatment operators and their experiences with rare earth element extraction
- Huilin Luo, Pennsylvania State University and Princeton University—Analysis of trade policies and US decarbonization using integrated assessment modeling
- Isabel Diersen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology—Materials markets modeling, critical minerals availability, and materials recovery innovation and investment
- Jenna Trost, Northwestern University—Supply chain policy and the environmental and social effects of critical mineral mining
- John Paul Pieper, Carnegie Mellon University—Critical mineral supply resilience in electric vehicle manufacturing and engineering design
- Pablo Busch, University of California, Davis—Global critical minerals supply-and-demand modeling
- Sangita Kannan, Colorado School of Mines—Long-term availability of critical minerals and the potential impacts of critical mineral supply chain disruptions
- Tinzar Htun, Colorado School of Mines—Development trajectories of domestic production chains for nickel and cobalt
- Vaios Triantafyllou, Cornell University—The distributional effects of the transition to greener energy sources
Expert Perspective
“We wanted to celebrate interdisciplinary research with this lab, and with this year’s group of scholars, we certainly achieved this. I’m excited for these students and, by extension, for the future of critical minerals research. These types of collaborations will help make sure that our energy future is one that is based on sound research and decisionmaking.”
—RFF Fellow Beia Spiller
➡️ What’s Next?
The lab involves monthly meetings, presentations and Q&A sessions by students, discussions of policy-relevant topics, and networking opportunities. The lab will also help inform students of grant funding opportunities, proposed and upcoming legislation, and conferences. By participating in the lab, the students will be able to improve their research questions and approaches and, in turn, the policy recommendations that emerge from their work. Next year, RFF will host a virtual, public workshop where the students will present their work to a broad audience.
The lab is led by Beia Spiller, a fellow and director of the Transportation Program at RFF; Kate Whitefoot, an associate professor in Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering; Nicole Smith, an associate professor in the Mining Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines; and Karan Bhuwalka, a staff scientist with Stanford University’s STEER group.
For more information about the lab and its motivations, read Spiller’s June Common Resources blog post.
Resources for the Future (RFF) is an independent, nonprofit research institution in Washington, DC. Its mission is to improve environmental, energy, and natural resource decisions through impartial economic research and policy engagement. RFF is committed to being the most widely trusted source of research insights and policy solutions leading to a healthy environment and a thriving economy.
Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed here are those of the individual authors and may differ from those of other RFF experts, its officers, or its directors. RFF does not take positions on specific legislative proposals.
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