CCNY chemical engineer Robert Messinger has made City and State's 2025 Trailblazers in Clean Energy list.
Robert J. Messinger, associate professor of chemical engineering at The City College of New York whose research includes developing a new generation of rechargeable batteries, has been named to City & State’s 2025 Trailblazers in Clean Energy list. The list shines a spotlight on New York’s most remarkable renewable energy leaders, including innovative industry figures, groundbreaking policymakers and notable environmentalists and conservationists.
“The transition to clean energy has entered a new phase in New York, as the state faces threats from new tariffs, economic headwinds and a pivot away from climate change policies in Washington, D.C. Yet renewable resources like solar and wind power as well as advances in battery storage and energy efficiency remain a key part of the energy equation, championed by public officials and industry executives alike,” said City & State. “And even as federal subsidies for renewable energy dry up and climate goals come under scrutiny, there remains plenty of industry momentum behind major initiatives like offshore wind installations and upgraded and expanded transmission lines across the state.”
City & State cited Messinger for his “out of this world” research, noting that he heads the partnership between CCNY and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and Northeastern University “to study and develop new battery technologies that can withstand the rigors of space.” An expert in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, Messinger also leads one of the nation’s largest teams investigating rechargeable aluminum metal batteries, an emerging battery technology with significant promise but that requires scientific and technology research before scalable use. In addition, Messinger is also developing novel chemistries for Li-ion battery recycling.
About Dr. Robert Messinger
In addition to his faculty position as associate professor in the Grove School of Engineering, Messinger is also Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Chemical Engineering. He is the founding director of the NASA-CCNY Center for Advanced Batteries for Space and received a 2019 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career (NSF CAREER) Award. Since joining CCNY in August 2015, he has been PI or co-PI on awards or contracts totaling $23.8 million. At CCNY, his research team investigates electrochemical materials, chemical processes, and multi-phase fluids up from the molecular level, aimed at solving societal challenges in energy storage and recycling.
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Lightcast puts at $3.2 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. In 2023, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.
Jay Mwamba
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