Zaina’s research titled “ Clean Steel Development in Southern Africa: Air Quality, Climate, and Economic Impacts ” was one of over 70 CMU student research projects entered in the 2026 CMU Energy Week Poster Competition! The abstract for her research is below. Merchant shared:  “I had a great time presenting a poster at Energy Week! It was a wonderful opportunity to speak with other students, faculty, and industry professionals about my research. As a first-year student, I am

LEO Ph.D. student Emily Allendorf was awarded the Robert W. Dunlap Award for her Part B research. Congratulations, Judy! About the award: The Robert W. Dunlap Award for best Part B Qualifier Solution was instituted in 2011. The winner is chosen by the Part B Question Committee. Winners are catalogued on an engraved plaque that hangs in the EPP main office. Additionally, the winner receives a monetary award of $250 after taxes. If there is a tie, each recipient receives $250.0

LEO Ph.D. student Emily Allendorf was awarded the Herbert L. Toor Award for her Part A research. Congratulations, Emily! About the award: The Herbert L. Toor Award for best Part A Qualifier Paper was instituted in 1989. There is special recognition given only in those years when the faculty judge that one of the qualifier papers is outstanding. The winner is chosen by EPP faculty. In the early 1990s, the winner was chosen using a ranking ballot. By 2010, the winner was chos

LEO member Tamar Moss has been selected to receive the Phillips and Huang Family Fellowship in Energy. This fellowship pays a portion of tuition and supports highly deserving College of Engineering PhD students whose research advances renewable energy and energy efficiency. The award recognizes Tamar’s outstanding research and her strong potential for continued impact in the field. Congratulations, Tamar!

Valerie Karplus participated in a National Academies webinar on February 12 at 1 PM ET about the promise and potential of energy parks. The discussion explored how energy parks can meet increasing energy demand, provide energy resilience and reliability, and support the testing of innovative technologies. Energy Parks are an emerging approach to designing integrated hubs that co-locate generation, storage, and large-scale load (e.g. data centers, advanced manufacturing) at on

Karplus's talk — Energy Management and Systems Change in Factories and Supply Chains in China — was delivered on Friday, January 30, 2026, as part of the SCCEI's Seminar Series (Winter 2026). Read the abstract here .

Hoffmann, Elina S., Karplus, Valerie J., Pistorius, P. Chris. "An Open-Source Framework for Evaluating the Cost and Greenhouse Gas Emission Impacts of Design Decisions in Hydrogen Direct Reduced Iron Production," AIST Transactions , Iron & Steel Technology , February 2026, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 196-211. DOI 10.33313/TR/0226. View the paper here

The findings of a recently published study by LEO member Dr. Elina Hoffmann, Dr. Valerie Karplus, and INDABA partner Dr. Chris Pistorius are discussed in this CMU news story by Monica Cooney, Communications Manager, Materials Science and Engineering, published January 20, 2026. The study "analyzes variations in operations across the global blast furnace fleet and its impact on CO 2 emissions, finding that emissions could have been reduced by as much as 9.6% globally and 15.

Hoffmann, Elina S., Karplus, Valerie J., Pistorius, Chris P. 2025. Heterogeneous operations and opportunities to reduce CO2 emissions in global blast furnace ironmaking. Environmental Research: Letters 21 024005. View the paper here