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Assistant Professor Adam Holewinski and Associate Professor Wilson Smith have been selected as to participate in the 2020 initiative, an effort to identify bottlenecks in research and develop ways to foster breakthroughs in the field.

Scialog—which is a combination of “science” and “dialogue”—works by organizing notable early career researchers into small teams to tackle scientific issues and challenges.

Holewinski and Smith are both Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute fellows, with shared interests in the objectives of the program.

“With ever-rising levels of CO₂ and a clear link to climate change, negative emissions is critical to a sustainable future for our planet,” Holewinski said. “The program provides a great opportunity to exchange ideas with other researchers in this area and form teams for new collaborative efforts.”

Smith, who is also a senior scientist at the in Golden, was attracted to the negative emissions science topic, which focuses on technologies designed to remove carbon dioxide from the environment.

“I have been aware of previous Scialog meetings on energy conversion and storage, which featured some of my favorite scientists together in one place discussing common challenges with different approaches,” Smith said. “When I saw there was a dedicated meeting on negative emission sciences, I knew it would be a unique opportunity to share my research group’s approach to the problem but also to learn from a diverse group of like-minded scientists.”

Holewinski sees promise in the Scialog cross-disciplinary approach.

“We work on chemical conversion of small molecules, both directly on CO₂ and on value-adding processes for compounds that can be derived from CO₂,” Holewinski said. “The workshop brings together people on the chemical conversion side with people who have expertise in CO₂ capture and separations. These kinds of interactions can lead to synergistic solutions that neither group could achieve on its own.”

The fellowship entails annual meetings over the next three years with about 50 other early career researchers led by a cadre of 10 more experienced scientists.

The program’s focus on generating new ideas through collaboration stood out as a unique way of tackling scientific research problems that differs from larger conferences and workshops.

Smith spent the last decade working in the European Union, so he sees this fellowship as an invaluable opportunity to connect with other researchers in the U.S.

“I hope that by working with and learning from scientists that I am less familiar with, I can gain new perspectives and approaches to negative emissions science technologies and help bring them to my group at CU and NREL,” Smith said.

The first NES meeting in November will be virtual. Assistant Professor Oana Luca of the Department of Chemistry will be joining Holewinski and Smith as they represent CU Boulder at the Scialog meetings.