University of Michigan student team recognized in 2023 Financial Times Responsible Business Education Awards 

This unique issue of the newsletter features the University of Michigan (U-M) student team that was one of 19 student teams across the world that was recognized in the 2023 Financial Times Responsible Business Education Competition. The team originated as part of the “Innovation for Impact Climate Change” (formerly known as “TechLab Climate Change”) course taught at the U-M Center for Entrepreneurship (CFE).

The Innovation for Impact course is a Company-in Residence program, for emerging companies making a significant impact on the carbon balance of the planet. The program is an immersive learning experience for students who work side-by-side with the companies on the deployment and market development of their breakthrough innovations. This unique course is co-taught by Dr. Jonathan Fay, Hub Director - NSF I-Corps Hub: Great Lakes Region, and Dr. Volker Sick, Director of the Global CO2 Initiative. 

Recently, Dr. Sick was also appointed to serve as the Faculty Director of the CFE, an organization that has provided broad and inclusive access to a wide variety of educational opportunities, immersive learning experiences, timely and powerful mentorship, and meaningful connections to global industry leaders since 2007.

The student team consisted of four U-M students from diverse disciplines: Jessica Liang (MBA/MPP), Brandon Gordon (Economics), Annika Dahlmann (Data Science) and Shagun Parekh (Mechanical Engineering). 

The students worked with Brett Henkel, co-founder of carbon capture company Svante, and Dan Miller, Managing Director at the Roda Group, on a market study of carbon capture for blue hydrogen production. Their project findings turned out to have a surprisingly important impact.

“Techlab Climate Change, now called Innovation for Impact Climate Change, teams a student group with an emerging company to work on a project defined and approved by the instructors,” explained Sick. “The core of this two-semester course sequence is independent study work with guidance by the company mentors and the class instructors. The team working with Svante demonstrated outstanding independence in identifying key needs and opportunities to characterize the optimum selection of a hydrogen production plant as a potential partner for carbon dioxide capture.”

“The team achieved the academic requirement for the course. But, most importantly, and what I am especially proud of, the outcome of that study had an immediate and profound impact on the company’s success in winning a large new contract.” 

When asked to describe their project, Liang responded “Our Techlab team created a blue hydrogen market analysis report for Svante executives. We identified top plant candidates for partnership with Svante’s technology by measuring plants’ CO₂ output, distance to CO₂ pipelines, geologic storage opportunities, and government incentives programs. The report was used with clients to help Svante secure a carbon capture contract with a large lime company and assisted Svante in its $100M series D fundraising round.”

Team members were grateful for the opportunity to participate in such a unique, hands-on course. “Working with the start-up was a great learning experience for me. Svante had a fast-paced and innovative work environment, and I was able to contribute at the cutting edge of a space that could have a significant impact on reducing carbon emissions,” commented Gordon. “I was able to work with a talented and dedicated team of professionals, mentors, and fellow teammates, learning a lot from them throughout.”

“I would absolutely recommend this course to other students. It provides a unique opportunity to work on real-world projects and gain valuable experience in a growing and important industry. Additionally, being able to sit down weekly with Professor Sick and Professor Fay in small group sessions provided indispensable exposure to esteemed professors that cannot be found in typical lecture formats.” 

Liang remarked that, although she appreciated the recognition from the Financial Times competition, the best part of the experience for her was the people that she was able to work with. “It was such a nice surprise and honor to find out that our team had won an honorable mention next to so many student projects and companies doing incredible environmental work. The greatest privilege, however, was being on a team with Annika, Brandon, and Shagun--all of whom are extremely talented and impressive--and being part of the TechLab Climate Change program that gave us the opportunity to work with a groundbreaking company like Svante while also learning from the very knowledgeable professors Volker Sick and Jonathan Fay.”

News in a Nutshell

Groundbreaking Flue2Chem carbon capture project secures £2.7m funding

DOE Invests More Than $130 Million to Lower Nation’s Carbon Pollution

Carbon capture and utilization: More than hiding CO₂ for some time

Aker Carbon Capture awarded decarbonization study for German chemicals company Röhm

Decarbonizing cement and concrete value chains: Takeaways from Davos

Concrete traps CO₂ soaked from air in climate-friendly test

Imminent Events

Carbon to Value Initiative Applications Now Open!

March 31, 2023

The Carbon to Value Initiative is now accepting applications for its third cohort! Join the world’s first and only accelerator dedicated to carbontech

TEA/LCA Workshop on Harmonizing CCUS Assessments

May 16-18, 2023

This fifth workshop in the series is planned and conducted by the International CCUS Assessment Harmonization Group with members from the USA (GCI at U-M, NETL, NREL, ANL), Canada (NRC), Germany (RIFS, formerly known as IASS), Switzerland (ETH Zürich), and Japan (NIAIST). We are looking forward to one-and-a-half days of intense dialog and work that will advance transparent and uniform assessments of CCUS technologies and products.

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