Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering Elizabeth J. Biddinger
The City College of New York is one of 44 beneficiaries of $37 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) to build research capacity, infrastructure, and expertise at institutions historically underrepresented in DOE’s Office of Science portfolio. These include Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and Emerging Research Institutions (ERIs).
“Through the Funding for Accelerated, Inclusive Research (FAIR) initiative, the Office of Science is supporting mutually beneficial relationships between MSIs/ERIs and partnering institutions to perform basic research in applied mathematics, biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, geoscience, isotope research, materials science, and physics. Ensuring America’s best and brightest students have pathways to STEM fields will be key to achieving President Biden’s energy and climate goals, including achieving a net-zero carbon economy by 2050,” the DoE said in a release.
“FAIR is an essential capacity-building initiative that will broaden the impact of DoE and the Office of Science in tackling critical and pressing scientific questions and challenges,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “To reach our scientific goals, we need all voices represented at the table, including those who have been historically excluded from critical scientific conversations. This funding will help academic institutions expand their research portfolios and spur future scientific discovery, creating a top-notch workforce to advance American competitiveness.”
Of the 44 awardee institutions, 43 are ERIs and 25 are identified by the U.S. Department of Education as MSIs, including eight Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), six Historically Black Colleges and Universities, two Asian American and Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), one Tribal College and University, and eight that are both HSIs and AANAPISIs. The City College is recognized as a Hispanic-Serving Institution.
Projects focus on a diverse range of topics in fundamental research in support of DoE’s mission. The funding will expand the talent pool that will further the DoE’s missions, transform the understanding of nature, and catalyze scientific discoveries that can lead to technical breakthroughs. The projects were selected by competitive scientific peer review under the DOE FAIR Funding Opportunity Announcement.
Elizabeth J. Biddinger, associate professor of chemical engineering in the Grove School of Engineering, leads CCNY’s participation in the DoE initiative. She’s the recipient of $562,500 over three years for her research group’s project “Structural influences in electrochemical dehydrogenation of liquid organic hydrogen carriers.” Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will receive $187,500 over the same period to partner with CCNY.
Biddinger was in 2018 presented with a DoE Early CAREER Award for her pioneering research in the emerging field of biomass electroreduction. She is also an associate editor of ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering and Deputy-Director of the Center for Decarbonizing Chemical Manufacturing Using Sustainable Electrification (DC-MUSE).
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 Emsi puts at $1.9 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. This year, 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.