This has been adapted from a DOE press release.
If you reflect on the immense contributions of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s 17 national laboratories to society since the 1930s, it’s easy to conjure up discoveries and capabilities related to the multibillion-dollar, world-class national user facilities spread across the county. But the true keystone to innovation and impact lies in the people—the expertise and dedication of our national laboratory researchers, technicians, and staff—working every day to address the nation’s energy, environmental, and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions.
Without the people behind the research and the science, none of these contributions are possible. And in honor of Women’s History Month, we want to celebrate the significant contributions of the women across the national laboratories focused on energy storage. Several highlighted here represent a diversity of backgrounds and current roles at the laboratories and range from early to senior career, many of whom are behind the enabling innovation areas in which DOE is investing—energy storage.
Energy storage affects grid reliability, the transportation sector, buildings and industry needs, and energy resilience for remote communities and beyond. To meet its goals, the DOE-wide Energy Storage Grand Challenge is leveraging expertise and capabilities across the national laboratory system, from discovery to deployment, across the entire range of energy storage areas, including electrochemical batteries, fuel cells, pumped storage hydropower, compressed air, hydrogen, thermal energy storage technologies, and flexible generation and controllable loads.
Foundry Director Kristin Persson was one of several women highlighted by DOE’s Energy Storage Grand Challenge in honor of Women’s History Month. You can read her feature and those of the other women here.