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Dr. Douglas Wicks Seminar

Event Type
Seminar/Symposium
Sponsor
CEE Construction Materials
Location
CEEB 1017
Date
Mar 27, 2023   12:00 - 1:00 pm  
Views
23
Originating Calendar
CEE Seminars and Conferences

Dr. Douglas Wicks

Program Director

Advanced Research Projects Agency-

Energy (ARPA-E)

Monday, March 27, 2023

12:00 – 1:00 PM

CEEB 1017

Catalyzing the Renaissance of American Mining to Enable the Energy Transition

Abstract: Climate change is perhaps humankind's largest existential crisis, with unabated emissions

wreaking havoc on global environmental systems. Great technological leaps, unimaginable until recently,

are scaling up to meet the challenge. BUT deployment of these will be hobbled by the looming lack of

mineral-derived resources and workforce, leaving humankind unable to execute the clean energy

transition. The talk will put forth ideas and concepts to stimulate discussion about how mines of the future

could not only supply the transition but also, at the same time, address environmental and social needs.

Some thoughts to be broached are how we:

- Adapt mining to be a carbon-negative solution to the metals industry's emissions issues (e.g., CO2

sequestration within CO2-reactive ore bodies during mining).

- Unleash the potential of geologic hydrogen - stimulating hydrogen produced from geologic formations

to be a boundless, primary clean energy source.

- Develop mining approaches to access deep deposits with little to no disturbance to the environment

(think laparoscopic approaches).

- Reimagine mineral processing to be more like an oil refinery - valorizing everything dug out of the

ground.

- Foster the ideas and approaches that will create the new generation of technology startups and

leaders needed to tackle this opportunity.

The answers literally lie in the rocks beneath our feet, please join in the discussions of how to unleash the

potential of what is there.

Bio: Dr. Douglas Wicks currently serves as a Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-

Energy (ARPA-E). His program areas at ARPA-E are on transformative approaches for critical mineral

recovery from mining and waste-to-energy technologies.

Doug received his PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst,

followed by a career at Bayer, starting as a Senior Chemist and rising to become VP of Research for the

Coatings and Colorants Division. In 2002, Doug moved to the University of Southern Mississippi

Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, where he pursued research topics in polymer synthesis

and lead an NSF-funded program on Entrepreneurship at the Interface of Medicinal and Polymer

Chemistry. In 2008 he moved into the startup world driven by the CleanTech 1.0 VC investments, working

in a number of biomass to fuels/chemicals and medicinal chemistry companies. His last role before joining

ARPA-E in 2019 was at Imerys, a French Industrial Minerals firm, where he first was the global research

head of the Calcium Carbonates Business Unit, followed by developing and leading their external

innovation effort across 28 mineral platforms. Doug has 60 issued US Patents and numerous publications.

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