Rare earth elements (REEs) play a big role in modern technologies, including electronics, magnetics, and systems that generate clean energy. A new study explores the stability of some rare earth materials—specifically, rare earth oxychlorides—which is crucial for their future applications in clean energy and advanced electronics. Richard Riman, RCEI Affiliate and a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Materials Science …
Over 4.5 billion years ago, Earth formed through elemental and celestial processes whose chemical and isotopic signatures remain preserved in Earth and space rocks. Some of these ancient materials originate from nearby planetary bodies and fall to Earth as meteorites. For Dr. Katherine Bermingham, Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, studying these fragments of space began with curiosity …
The Rutgers Immersive Learning through Science Storytelling Lab in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences supports students from a wide variety of majors to partner with Rutgers researchers in the co-creation of compelling video narratives that communicate science as journeys of discovery for peer and public audiences. The lab’s innovative pedagogical model was recently recognized by the New Jersey State Senate …
An article from Fast Company reports on new research showing where solar energy investments can most effectively reduce carbon emissions across the United States. The study, published in Science Advances, modeled how increasing solar capacity by just 15% nationwide could cut annual carbon dioxide emissions by 8.54 million metric tons. The findings highlight that while regions like California, Texas, Florida, …
As we use more electricity for things like cars and heating, power distribution systems are becoming more stressed—especially as our electric grids get older—and power outages are becoming more impactful. But what if the local solar panels, batteries, or even electric cars and heaters themselves could help keep the lights on? That’s the big idea in a new study published …
Once a chemical engineer, forever an artist. Atif Akin calls himself a “problem-maker” rather than a problem solver. He enjoys posing skeptical questions and ruffling feathers, and he does not worry much about answering the questions he puts forward. As an artist and designer, born and raised in Türkiye, Akin’s gateway into visual arts and design was through his background in chemical engineering …
Rutgers-led researchers find survival strategies of the great apes offer lessons for human health and diet management Humans could learn a thing or two from orangutans when it comes to maintaining a balanced, protein-filled diet. Great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia, orangutans are marvels of adaptation to the vagaries of food supply in the wild, according …
The inaugural Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS) Research Fellowship cohort convened at Rutgers University’s University Inn and Conference Center to kick off their journey, welcomed by Susan Renoe, Executive Director of ARIS and Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Development & Strategic Partnerships, University of Missouri, and RCEI affiliate Janice McDonnell, ARIS co-Principal Investigator and Associate Dean of …
RCEI affiliates Robert Kopp, Pamela McElwee and Kevon Rhiney will be among hundreds of the world’s leading experts working on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment A United Nations-affiliated science panel has named three Rutgers scientists as lead authors on a report that will serve as the next worldwide assessment of climate change. Rutgers University-New Brunswick faculty members Robert Kopp, Pamela …
More than 85 scientists from the United States and nations around the world have authored a 450 page compendium reviewing a July 2025 United States Department of Energy (DOE) Climate Working Group report that has also been featured in the recent United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reconsideration of the 2009 Endangerment Finding that climate change poses a danger to human health…
