EME Summer Research Program

We’re looking for undergraduate students who are interested in spending eight to ten weeks of their summer with us working with EME faculty mentors, current graduate students, and alumni and industry partners on an active research project. Learn what is involved in laboratory research and/or data collection and analysis and take part in team-building and professional development activities with the other members of your summer research cohort.

Why apply?

The summer research program is designed to help undergraduate students gain a deeper understanding of research being conducted in the energy and mineral engineering fields while building a foundation in fundamental research and data analysis skills. Students identify areas of interest so they are aligned with the most applicable research project and mentor.

Who should apply?

All interested undergraduates are invited to apply, but special priority will be given to students who are:

Penn State sophomores who are considering or planning to enroll in a major in the department, especially those at Commonwealth campuses.
Penn State juniors (or higher) currently enrolled in the department who are considering applying to our graduate program.
Juniors (or higher) at other universities and colleges who would like to sample research topics in the department and would consider applying to our graduate program.

Program Overview

The summer 2023 program is planned for May 22 to July 28, 2023. Participants will receive a stipend and the option of a room and board package.

The room and board package includes a single dormitory room with a campus meal plan during the length of the research program, plus a stipend of $2,500 issued at the beginning of the program.
Students who have other local living arrangements can decline the room and board in favor of a larger stipend payment of $5,000 at the beginning of the program.

Participants are matched with a faculty mentor to work on active research within the department. Some projects also include the involvement of industry mentors.

The program ends with a Summer Research Showcase where participants present a poster on the work they have done during the program.

View Full Research Program Guidelines

Submit an Application

Summer 2023 Application Deadline: extended to Friday, March 17, 2023

Faculty Mentors

The following table shows potential mentors for the Summer Research Program. In any given year any combination of these faculty mentors could be involved, but never all of them at the same time.

List of Faculty Mentors
Name	Research Cluster	Expertise	Contact
Barbara Arnold	Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	coal properties and their effect on industrial processes, coal and mineral processing, coal and mineral processing plant flowsheet evaluations	bja4@psu.edu
Luis Ayala H.	Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Advanced reservoir simulation in natural gas engineering, Multiphase rate and pressure transient analysis (RTA/PTA), Unconventional reservoir analysis: Naturally fractured reservoirs, fractured gas shales, and tight sands, Hydrocarbon thermodynamics	ayala@psu.edu
Sekhar Bhattacharyya	Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Characterization and health effect of respirable dust in underground mining, Mitigation of noise from auxiliary ventilation in underground mines, Health and Safety Management System, Self-escape from underground mines	sxb1029@psu.edu
Seth Blumsack	Energy and Natural Resource Data, Economics, and Policy, Renewable Energy Technologies and Power Systems	Electric power and natural gas industries, Reliability and resilience in network infrastructure, Organizational decision-making for infrastructure management, Regulation and deregulation in electric power	blumsack@psu.edu
Arash Dahi Taleghani	Energy and Natural Resource Data, Economics, and Policy, Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Injectivity changes and sand production in injector wells, Drill bit and rock interactions, Mechanics and oilfield application of shape memory polymers, Development of loss circulation materials Wellbore integrity, Generalized finite element methods, Petroleum geomechanics, Hydraulic refracturing materials (diverters), Petroleum geomechanics, Enhanced geothermal systems Hydraulic fracturing simulation and design, Atomistic modeling of fracture propagation in heterogeneous media	arash.dahi@psu.edu
Nelson Dzade	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications, Renewable Energy Technologies and Power Systems	Materials informatics, Electronic structure theory, Computational materials science, Sustainable energy & chemical processes, Surface reactivity & heterogeneous catalysis, Electrochemical energy storage & fuel production, Materials for solar energy conversion technologies, Surface geochemistry & computational mineralogy	nxd5313@psu.edu
Derek Elsworth	Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Rock mechanics, Groundwater hydrology, Mathematical modeling, Poromechanics, Coupled processes, Contaminant hydrology, Mining engineering, Petroleum engineering, Fracture hydrology	elsworth@psu.edu
Hamid Emami	Energy and Natural Resource Data, Economics, and Policy, Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Multiphase flow and transport in porous media, Unconventional reservoirs production analysis and hydrocarbon recovery, Carbon dioxide sequestration in geological formations, Mathematical modeling and numerical simulations	emami@psu.edu
Semih Eser	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications	Carbon materials from petroleum and coal, Undesirable carbon deposition in engine fuel and lubrication systems and in process units Preparation of activated carbons, Preparation of activated carbons, Upgrading petroleum residua, Catalytic oxidation of solid carbons	seser@psu.edu
Jeremy Gernand	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications, Energy and Natural Resource Data, Economics, and Policy, Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Application of machine learning and data informatics to risk assessment, Environmental health and safety policy analysis, Particulate matter exposure characterization and modeling	jmgernand@psu.edu
William Groves	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications, Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization, Renewable Energy Technologies and Power Systems	Sensor systems for occupational exposure assessment, Integrated Wireless Sensing Networks using LORA, Risk assessment Industrial Hygiene	wag10@psu.edu
Derek Hall	Renewable Energy Technologies and Power Systems	Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Electrochemical Energy Storage, Elevated Temperature and Pressure Electrochemical Sensors, Corrosion and Surface Chemistry in Extreme Environments, Thermodynamics of Aqueous Systems and Thermochemical Cycles	dmh5373@psu.edu
Russell Johns	Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Enhanced oil recovery for conventional and unconventional reservoirs, Miscible gas flooding, Chemical flooding, Low salinity water flooding, Thermodynamics and phase behavior, Well testing, Geothermal energy	rjohns@psu.edu
Thanasis Karamalidis	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications		akk5742@psu.edu
Gregory King	Energy and Natural Resource Data, Economics, and Policy, Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Unconventional Oil and Gas Reservoirs: Coalbed methane reservoirs, shale reservoirs, tight gas sands, naturally fractured reservoirs, and tight carbonate reservoirs, Numerical Reservoir Simulation: Reservoir simulation theory, computational fluid dynamics, integrated reservoir studies, probabilistic history matching and forecasting, proxy-based methods, and solution of large systems of linear and non-linear equations, Improved Oil and Gas Recovery: Waterflooding, miscible EOR, chemical EOR, and enhanced coalbed methane recovery, Reservoir Surveillance: Data acquisition (open and cased hole logging, pressure transient analysis, production/injection logging, etc.), interpretation, and integration, Single-Well Performance and Optimization: Rate transient analysis, dynamic material balance, nodal analysis, well diagnostics, and well forecasting, Offshore Engineering, Sour Oil and Gas Production Health, Safety, and Environment	grk17@psu.edu
Andrew Kleit	Energy and Natural Resource Data, Economics, and Policy	Market Manipulation, Electricity Capacity Markets, Markets for Renewable Energy, The Economics of Refracturing	ank1@psu.edu
Ashish Kumar	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications, Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Mining automation and process control, Combustion, Aerosol filtration and monitoring	awk5528@psu.edu
Joel Landry	Energy and Natural Resource Data, Economics, and Policy, Renewable Energy Technologies and Power Systems	Environmental economics, Energy economics, Public Finance, Political EconomyEnvironmental economics, Energy economics, Public Finance, Political Economy	joelrlandry@psu.edu
Zhen Lei	Energy and Natural Resource Data, Economics, and Policy	Technology and Science Policy, Economics of Innovation, Intellectual Property Policy and Entrepreneurship, Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy, Big Data and Data Mining, Applied Economics	zlei@psu.edu
Shimin Liu	Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Reservoir assessment of unconventional gas resources, Reservoir stress evolution with depletion, Gas drainage from coal mine, Geological carbon sequestration, Porous rock imaging (neutron scattering, micro-CT, TEM, SEM)	szl3@psu.edu
Chiara Lo Prete	Energy and Natural Resource Data, Economics, and Policy, Renewable Energy Technologies and Power Systems	Applied econometrics, Electricity market design, Energy economics and policy, Modeling of electricity and natural gas systems	chiaraloprete@psu.edu
Serguei Lvov	Renewable Energy Technologies and Power Systems	Electrochemical energy conversion and storage, Electrochemical thermodynamics, kinetics, and transport, Electrochemical catalysis and corrosion Thermodynamics, electrochemistry, and surface chemistry in high-temperature systems	lvov@psu.edu
Jonathan Mathews	Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Coal, Coalbed methane, Molecular modeling of coal/char/soot, Structural representation of complex behavior, Coal to carbon products research Structural representation of complex behavior, Coal use	jmathews@psu.edu
Yashar Mehmani	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications, Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Porous materials for energy and environment, Computational fluid dynamics and solid mechanics, Multiresolution imaging of geomaterials	yzm5192@psu.edu
Amin Mehrabian	Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Mechanics and Physics of Porous Media, Geomechanics, Drilling and Completions	amin.mehrabian@psu.edu
Anne Menefee	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications, Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Geochemistry, Carbon sequestration, Climate change mitigation, Sustainable energy systems	ahmenefee@psu.edu
Eugene Morgan	Energy and Natural Resource Data, Economics, and Policy, Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization		eugene.morgan@psu.edu
Renee Obringer	Energy and Natural Resource Data, Economics, and Policy	Data science/analytics, Urban infrastructure systems, Water-energy nexus	obringer@psu.edu
Sarma Pisupati	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications	Numerical modeling of combustion systems for NOx emission reduction, Advanced power generation methods; oxy-fuel combustion Size and density effects on gasification of coal, slagging, and fouling in gasification, Simultaneous reduction of SO2 and NOx reduction using biomass based materials, Coal and biomass co-gasification, Mechanisms of Agglomeration of fluidized bed ash	spisupati@psu.edu
Mohammad Rezaee	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications, Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization		mzr288@psu.edu
Erich Schienke	Renewable Energy Technologies and Power Systems	Environmental policy, Ethics of complex systems, Sustainability strategy, Ecological indicators, Multi-scale power analysis	ews11@psu.edu
Feifei Shi	Renewable Energy Technologies and Power Systems	Electrochemical energy conversion and storage, Catalysis, Surface chemistry, spectroscopy, in-situ diagnostic characterization Mechanical property of energy storage materials	feifeishi@psu.edu
Sanjay Srinivasan	Energy and Natural Resource Data, Economics, and Policy, Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Petroleum reservoir characterization, Improved management of reservoir recovery processes, Integration of seismic data in reservoir models, Geostatistical methods and algorithms	szs27@psu.edu
Maryam Tabatabaei		Continuum mechanics, Mechanics of defects at the material scale, Wellbore integrity	smt366@psu.edu
Hilal Ezgi Toraman	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications, Renewable Energy Technologies and Power Systems	Alternative energy resources, Biomass and plastic waste pyrolysis, Shale gas upgrading, Reaction kinetics, Compositional analysis of (bio-)oils, Data science	hzt5148@psu.edu
Randy Vander Wal	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications, Renewable Energy Technologies and Power Systems	Flame Synthesis of Carbon and Oxide Materials - Formation science - Microscopic structure - Chemical composition, Carbon Nanomaterials - Syntheses - Electron microscopic and spectroscopic characterization - Applications (e.g. catalysts, composites, sensors), Fuel Science - Plasma processing - Catalyst testing - Spectroscopic reaction diagnostics - Product chemical characterization, Advanced Carbon Materials - Carbon-carbon composites - Laser processing, Combustion Produced Particles - Physical-chemical characterization - Measurements - Health effects	ruv12@psu.edu
John Wang	Fossil Fuel and Georesource Exploration, Extraction, and Utilization	Reservoir Evaluation, Well Stimulation, Tight and Shale gas, CO2 and H2 Storage, Minerals, and Geothermal, Energy and Minerals Investment and Economicseffects	john.wang@psu.edu
Meng Wang	Advanced Technology and Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications	Water and Wastewater Treatment, Bioremediation, Resource Recovery, Environmental Sustainability	mxw1118@psu.edu
Mort Webster	Energy and Natural Resource Data, Economics, and Policy, Renewable Energy Technologies and Power Systems	Stochastic Multi-Stage Optimization Algorithms, Electric Power Systems Planning and Operations, Coupled Energy-Water-Land Modeling for Resiliency Studies	mdw18@psu.edu

John and Willie Leone Family

Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering