\u201cThese pioneering inventions in AI, computing, and power systems are engineering a more resilient, intelligent, and equitable energy future,\u201d said ENG Dean Elise Morgan during opening remarks in the Eichenbaum Colloquium Room at the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering (CILSE). \u201cWe are tackling the biggest challenges facing our world today.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Morgan, who is also the Maysarah K. Sukkar Professor of Engineering Design & Innovation, pointed out that engineering is not often regarded as one of the \u201chelping\u201d professions, like medicine or social work. \u201cBut it is,\u201d she said. \u201cEngineering is truly a helping profession, because of the sheer numbers of people whose lives are positively affected by engineering discoveries: Hearing aids, video calls, high-speed transit, prosthetic limbs, pacemakers\u2013each of these technologies helps millions of people live healthier, more connected, more fulfilling lives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd it is engineers who will meet the biggest challenges of today,\u201d she added, \u201cfrom climate change to global health, cyber security to food insecurity, urbanization and habitat destruction to Alzheimer\u2019s disease and dementia.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n BU engineers, in particular, are well prepared to meet those challenges, Morgan said, in part because of ENG\u2019s strong sense of social responsibility. \u201cEmbedded in our ethos is the conviction that engineering should always be in service to society. That is why I believe no college of engineering is better poised to shape a future where engineering discoveries enable boundless human progress for every person, everywhere.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Sharad Rastogi (ENG\u201991) framed the challenge that was the focus of this year\u2019s Catalyst Summit: \u201cAs the pace of development accelerates around the world, billions of dollars are going to be spent to build data centers to meet the energy requirements of AI, and that will have a massive impact on its carbon footprint,\u201d said Rastogi, CEO of Work Dynamics Technology at JLL, as he introduced a faculty panel on energy innovations. \u201cAnd yet, all these companies have very aggressive net-zero goals. So how do you make all this happen? How do you drive this growth, and yet reduce your carbon footprint? And the answer is: technology.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The ENG faculty on the panel are developing some of the very technologies that might solve this challenge. Associate Professor Emily Ryan<\/a> (ME<\/a>, MSE<\/a>) studies advanced energy storage and thermal systems for clean, efficient power. She is also an associate director of the BU Institute for Global Sustainability, a co-PI on a prestigious NSF <\/span>Research Traineeship Grant<\/span><\/a> to help PhD students collaborate on energy storage solutions, and a PI on a Massachusetts state grant aimed at effecting an <\/span>equitable energy transition<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe know we have to reduce our CO2 emissions, and to do that, we need alternative sources\u2013we have to get away from fossil fuels and move toward renewables,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cBut one of the challenges with renewables is that they\u2019re variable,\u201d as wind and solar power are produced intermittently.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t just look at generating the power; we need to store it,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cAnd when it comes to storage, lithium-ion batteries are not going to be the solution we need.\u201d One alternative that Ryan and colleagues are working on is<\/span> lithium-metal batteries<\/span><\/a>, which use solid lithium metal as the anode (positive side), potentially giving them much higher energy density than lithium-ion batteries, which use a graphite anode.<\/span><\/p>\n Another promising method is to store energy as high-temperature heat in ceramic composite materials, said Assistant Professor Sean Lubner<\/a> (ME). \u201cThat at first sounds scary, but it is actually one of the safest ways to store energy at scale,\u201d Lubner said, \u201cbecause thermodynamically, heat is the only form of energy that cannot explode!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Lubner is also working on passive solar-powered systems to directly capture carbon dioxide. \u201cIf we\u2019re really shooting for true sustainability, long-term sustainability for many generations to come,\u201d he said, \u201cthen in addition to reducing emissions, we also need to actively remove a lot of the CO2 that is already released in the atmosphere.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n This challenge is daunting but solvable, Lubner said. \u201cAnd one way that engineers can solve this problem is not just by creating the technology to solve it, but also by working across fields, like economics, to align the incentives. If we can build a technology that is scalable, that helps solve these problems, and is profitable and desirable for companies to develop, then it\u2019s a win-win, and it\u2019s moving us in the right direction.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Professor Ayse Coskun<\/a> (ECE<\/a>, SE<\/a>), also advocated for a whole-system approach to the energy problem. Coskun, who is ENG associate dean for research and faculty development and director of the Center for Information and Systems Engineering (CISE), researches<\/span> sustainable AI data centers<\/span><\/a> that adapt to changing power demands.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAI power demand is explosive,\u201d Coskun said. \u201cTens of gigawatts of power is expected to be demanded by AI data centers over the next five to ten years, and we can\u2019t just magically expand our power grid. It\u2019s not just a matter of how to generate new power; it\u2019s a matter of how we build energy systems and computing systems in a way that\u2019s sustainable and can enable fast and sustainable AI growth and growth of our energy system. It has to be done together, so it\u2019s not just an add-more-power kind of problem; it\u2019s truly an interdisciplinary, convergent problem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Associate Professor Emiliano Dall\u2019Anese<\/a> (ECE), who is working on real-time control strategies for distributed energy resources for resilient, efficient power grids, agreed. \u201cConvergence in research and critical thinking is essential for developing transformative solutions in modern power and energy systems,\u201d he said. \u201cConvergence has an additional dimension, where academic research is integrated with industry practices and policies to maximize technological impact.\u201d To that end, Dall\u2019Anese is organizing a <\/span>CISE workshop<\/span><\/a> in November, he said, \u201cto bring together technical experts, industry, and government to discuss transformative solutions for the future grid.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A centerpiece of Catalyst Summit was the conferring of this year\u2019s distinguished alumni awards, recognizing exceptional alumni who are making an impact in their professions and their communities. For 2025, <\/span>Huntley Myrie<\/span><\/a> (ENG\u201995) received the BU Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award, while Devika Gholap (ENG\u201918) received the BU Engineering Distinguished Young Alumni Award.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Myrie is former vice president of strategy and business development, commercial, at Spirit Aerosystems. After growing up in rural Jamaica, serving honorably in the U.S. Army for six years, and putting himself through college in New York, Myrie earned a master\u2019s degree in mechanical engineering from BU while working full-time for General Electric and embarking on a career as an aerospace engineer and executive.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHuntley has said that his studies at BU opened his eyes to systems-level thinking and served as a catalyst for helping him merge his technical experience with his financial and business experiences to be an effective leader in the aerospace industry,\u201d said Morgan. \u201cHuntley is also being recognized for his philanthropic and community involvement,\u201d including serving as executive sponsor for a STEM partnership between GE and the Cincinnati Public Schools.<\/span><\/p>\n Gholap is chief product officer of OptraSCAN, a company dedicated to revolutionizing the adoption of digital pathology. \u201cWith a mission to democratize access to precision diagnostics, Devika has spearheaded the development of innovative technologies, including AI-powered cancer screening tools, virtual staining platforms, and digital imaging scanners used in over 30 countries,\u201d said Morgan. \u201cShe is also actively involved in mentoring women in STEM and supporting early-stage founders in the health technology space.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDevika shared with me that hands-on projects in BU\u2019s EPIC Lab\u2014particularly reverse-engineering exercises\u2014were pivotal in shaping her technical mindset and approach to problem-solving. They taught her to analyze complexity, think systematically, and create meaningful solutions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Devika Gholap was unable to attend Catalyst Summit in person, but she appeared via a recorded message, and her sister Eesha Gholap (CAS\u201922) accepted the award on her behalf.<\/span><\/p>\n A recipient of the BU Alumni Award, Russ Wilcox (CAS\u201913), CEO of urban planning tech startup Artifex AI, moderated a discussion about entrepreneurship with guests Ryan Eriksen (CAS\u201910, ENG\u201915) and Tom<\/span>\u00e1<\/span>s Villal<\/span>\u00f3<\/span>n Jr. (ENG\u201918, \u201918)<\/span><\/p>\n Eriksen discussed the path to commercialization for the technology he and Annie Rabi Bernard (ENG\u201915, \u201920) developed in the lab of Malay Mazumder, former ENG research professor of electrical and computer engineering and materials science and engineering. (Bernard, who was unable to attend due to travel issues, responded to Wilcox\u2019s questions via a recorded message.) The duo\u2019s system uses small amounts of static electricity to clear dust and sand from a solar panel in less than two minutes. They estimate that if this electrodynamic screen technology could be scaled up, it could save the world at least four billion gallons of water a year. After co-founding a start-up, Sol Clarity<\/a>, Bernard is now working with the International Development Company to pilot the technology in the Middle East, while Eriksen has become director of engineering at Heliotrope Photonics, where he is leading the development of advanced <\/span>coatings to improve solar panels’ efficiency.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t have been able to spin off without the BU Office of Technology Development,\u201d Eriksen said. \u201cWhen you start off as a scientific founder, you think you know what you need to do to succeed, but it turns out that you have <\/span>no <\/span><\/i>idea, and the Office of Technology Development was really good at showing us that [and] getting us to go out there and talk to people\u2014get out of the lab, out of the ivory tower, and talk to people out in the field who are actually doing what you want to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Villal<\/span>\u00f3<\/span>n is CTO and co-founder of Phoenix Tailings, whose mission is to become the world\u2019s first clean mining and metals production company. Villal<\/span>\u00f3<\/span>n is leading the development of innovative technologies for extracting value from mining byproduct, or \u201ctailings,\u201d in an economically sustainable and environmentally friendly way. Currently, most rare earth metals\u2014which are critical to renewable energy technology\u2014are produced overseas in ways that generate toxic waste elements. But rare earth metals do exist and can be mined in the U.S. Villal<\/span>\u00f3<\/span>n\u2019s team processes the mining tailings and produces additional metals, with no waste.<\/span><\/p>\n Praising his former ENG advisor and mentor, Villal<\/span>\u00f3<\/span>n said, \u201cProfessor Uday Pal [ME, MSE] is an industrialist who happens to be an academic, and that preparation was exactly what I needed, because in my industry, the margins are so thin, there\u2019s no margin for error. And at the same time, you\u2019re trying to innovate. He knew how to bridge that.<\/span><\/p>\n Eriksen and Villal<\/span>\u00f3<\/span>n both said that in retrospect they appreciated BU\u2019s size and its diversity of backgrounds, disciplines, expertise, and perspectives. \u201cYou don\u2019t even realize it until you leave campus that this is a rather unique environment,\u201d said Villal<\/span>\u00f3<\/span>n. \u201cOne of the things I took away from this is, the people component. I learned the technical stuff, the trial and error, the modeling, yes, but in heavy industry, it\u2019s the people that will be your greatest pain or your greatest asset. So finding that network, knowing how to engage the right person at the right time\u2014that\u2019s one thing I was able to get here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n That variety and breadth was evident at Catalyst Summit across the poster presentations by BU ENG student clubs, such as BU Gliding & Soaring, <\/span>Terrier Motorsport<\/span><\/a>, and the <\/span>BU Rocket Propulsion Group<\/span><\/a>, as well as the BU chapters of national organizations, including the <\/span>National Society of Black Engineers<\/span><\/a>, Graduate Women in Science and Engineering, and <\/span>Engineers Without Borders<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n In fact, one of the college\u2019s strategic goals going forward, Morgan said, is to strengthen community and inclusion. \u201cThe world needs <\/span>more <\/span><\/i>engineers\u2014we can\u2019t afford to exclude or lose talent, nor can we accept conditions that keep our talent from flourishing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Student attendees also appreciated the chance to hear from Terriers who are already crafting engineering solutions, translating them into financial reality, and making a difference in the world. Circulating the CILSE lobby during the networking luncheon that capped off Catalyst, Will Sheppeck (ENG\u201926) said, \u201cHearing the stories of alumni who got their degrees just five to ten years ago and are now accomplished, articulate professionals and even leaders in industry is very motivating. That’s why I come to events like this.”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This year’s Catalyst Summit showcased groundbreaking research and fresh ideas in energy, AI, and sustainability technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2662,"featured_media":168174,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[236,257,982,1046,907,1041,1262,1222,1156,909,908,1390,910,1218],"tags":[288,983,1240,379,1277,1197,595],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167832"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167832"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168259,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167832\/revisions\/168259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Engineering is a helping profession<\/b><\/h4>\n
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How do you make all this happen?<\/b><\/h4>\n
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Working across fields<\/b><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"\/eng\/files\/2025\/09\/54844035290_75a388bd02_k-636x424.jpg\")
<\/b>Converging on solutions<\/b><\/h4>\n
Recognition for exceptional alumni<\/b><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"\/eng\/files\/2025\/10\/Huntley-Myrie-crop-502x636.jpg\")
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Fireside chat with founders<\/b><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"\/eng\/files\/2024\/12\/24-1462-ENGSOLAR-001.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"\/eng\/files\/2025\/09\/54843965263_674bbf3d42_k-636x424.jpg\")
Student showcase<\/b><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"\/eng\/files\/2025\/09\/DSC030041-636x424.jpg\")
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