UMass Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Merges with Energy Transition Institute
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The Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (CEERE), which has been based in the UMass Amherst Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering since 1997, has merged with the UMass Energy Transition Institute (ETI).
CEERE was founded by Mechanical Engineering Professor Lawrence Ambs and led by Director Dragoljub (Beka) Kosanovic for nearly two decades since Professor Ambs’ retirement. Under the outstanding leadership of Ambs and Kosanovic, CEERE provided dozens of engineering students with valuable training and research experience in clean energy technologies, having a significant impact on the clean energy field and energy engineering workforce in New England and beyond.
CEERE may be best known for being part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) program, in which students at selected universities around the country get hands-on experience in energy engineering while conducting energy assessments at no cost for manufacturing, water treatment, and wastewater treatment facilities. UMass was one of the longest serving universities in the IAC program, providing in-depth assessments and other technical assistance to more than 900 facilities across the Northeast, and helping them to save millions of dollars in energy costs and billions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Some small manufacturers reported that the cost-saving recommendations made in these assessments helped them stay in business. Kosanovic was recently recognized by DOE with the Outstanding Achievement in Energy Engineering by Industrial Assessment Center Alumni Award.
CEERE’s research has informed energy policy and program development, as well as supporting clean energy projects on the UMass campus, including contributing to the design and ongoing optimization of the UMass central heating plant and supporting integration of solar photovoltaics and a battery storage system into the campus microgrid. Alumni have gone on to careers at universities, utility companies, energy efficiency programs, and energy consulting companies.
CEERE Director Kosanovic retired in March 2024. Lauren Mattison, a CEERE alumna who served as its Associate Director for the past several years, has transitioned to the role of ETI Director of Technical Services and Applied Research. She is also leading Massachusetts Energy Efficiency Partnership, a professional training program sponsored by Eversource and National Grid, which has been operated by CEERE for over 20 years, and she has an ongoing affiliation with UMass Clean Energy Extension.
ETI, based in the College of Engineering, was officially launched in 2021 with the mission to enable a fast and fair transition to a decarbonized energy system in the United States. ETI does stakeholder-engaged interdisciplinary research, with a dual focus on technology systems and human systems to enable an equitable energy transition. According to Erin Baker, ETI Faculty Director and Distinguished Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, “ETI is proud to continue CEERE’s legacy of clean energy leadership at UMass Amherst.”