The competitive award application process prioritized students whose work focuses on the following key research areas:

• Transforming the traditional oil and gas business of today with improved safety, reliability, efficiency, digital transformation, and lower carbon footprint
• Building the lower-carbon businesses of tomorrow, particularly in the areas of carbon utilization, H2 value chain, next-generation renewable fuels and qualification/quantification of carbon offsets.
• Watching for the future energy systems, including novel geothermal solutions, energy storage systems, mobility systems, modular nuclear reactors, fusion, etc., focusing on the following aspects:
  • Systems integration for high reliability and high efficiency of non-grid connected lower carbon industrial facilities

  • Process intensification (advanced equipment design, novel reaction pathways, and integrated process configurations to deliver transformative improvements in throughput, energy consumption, safety, and environmental impact

  • Digital/automation disruptors that can redefine operational advantage (such as “emergent AI” and advanced computing, advanced robotics and uncrewed systems, quantum computing for optimization and materials)

  • Optimization of diverse energy systems in micro-grids

  • Disruptive energy systems that can provide 24/7 large-scale power anywhere including grid-scale energy storage and heat/molecular storage systems

  • Autonomous systems for the construction and operation of industrial facilities, particularly in remote locations

  • Sustainable policies that lower the uncertainties and remove bottlenecks for businesses and individuals involved in the energy transition

  • Waste as a resource, particularly waste heat, wastewater, and the by-products of new energy forms

  • New sustainable sources of materials, particularly minerals, needed for the energy transition. Advanced materials (including nanoscale and nanostructured materials)

  • Techno‑economic studies evaluating how the technologies described above may evolve based on technical inputs, including learning curves, scaling laws, first‑of‑a‑kind versus nth‑of‑a‑kind costs, and technology roadmaps.

  • Techno‑social studies examining technology adoption rates and customer willingness to pay for different performance dimensions—such as availability, carbon intensity, and cost—and how these tradeoffs may change over time.

“Fostering education and research that will transform global energy systems is central to the Energy Institute’s role at UT Austin,” said Brian Korgel, director of the Energy Institute. “The Chevron Energy Graduate Fellows Awards are an investment in UT’s continued leadership in this key area.”