• CERAWEEK
  • March 10 - 14, 2025

Matteo Pasquali

Rice University

Director, Carbon Hub; A.J. Hartsook Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Professor, Chemistry and Materials Science and Nanoengineering

Matteo Pasquali is the A. J. Hartsook Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Chemistry, and Materials Science & NanoEngineering.  Prof. Pasquali is also the founding Director of the Carbon Hub, a partnership between academia, industry, philantropic foundations, and federal labs encompassing over 20 organizations across four continents. The Carbon Hub develops and deploys pathways for simultaneously harvesting zero-emission hydrogen and carbon materials that can slash emissions from industry and transportation. Prof. Pasquali leads an academic team that received the first Kavli Foundation Exploration Award in Nanoscience for Sustainability.  Prof. Pasquali joined Rice University in 2000 and has served as Chair of the Chemistry Department, Magister of Lovett College, Co-Director of the Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory, and Chief Scientific Advisor for Nanotechnology at Shell (sabbatical). His research lab is credited with laying the scientific foundations for the structure-property relationships and the industrial production of carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers, for the demonstration of their high performance, and for the development of scalable pathways for their manufacturing. His laboratory studies the interplay of energy, materials, and carbon, and is pioneering system-level pathways to decarbonize the industrial sector by using carbon materials while co-producing clean hydrogen.  Prof. Pasquali is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has won numerous awards including the NSF CAREER, Goradia Innovation Grand Prize, Herschel Rich Invention Award, Schlack Prize for Man-Made fibers, and the Rice Presidential Mentoring Award.  Prof. Pasquali has advised over 100 graduate students and postdocs, who are now in key positions in leading universities, industry, national laboratories, startups, and finance. Prof. Pasquali and his students have co-authored over 230 scientific articles and over 30 patents and patent applications, which have been cited over 20,000 times. Prof. Pasquali and his students have started companies focused on medical applications of CNT fibers and sustainable CNT materials.

Sessions With Matteo Pasquali

Tuesday, 19 March

  • 09:30am - 10:00am (CST) / 19/mar/2024 02:30 pm - 19/mar/2024 03:00 pm

    Circular Carbon: Exploring material transition strategies
    Policy & Regulatory

    Material transition is critical for successful energy transition. To help reduce the carbon footprint, more durable and sustainable materials should become part of our lives in the decades to come. Lowering carbon intensity of cement, steel and other materials along with recycling and utilizing carbon in petrochemicals will be key. What are the pioneering initiatives, collaborative efforts and cutting-edge technologies driving material transition and circular carbon solutions?

  • 03:30pm - 04:00pm (CST) / 19/mar/2024 08:30 pm - 19/mar/2024 09:00 pm

    Disruptors in Low-carbon Technology
    Innovation & Technology

    A wide range of technologies are being researched by academia or implemented in industry that, if delivered at scale, could significantly impact the economics and sustainability of energy use over the next 10 to 20 years. What pathways are there for innovations in low-carbon fuels, materials, AI,  etc., to change current assertions about the roadmap to net zero? To what extent is there potential for “disruption” in low-carbon solutions? Is the impact of these innovations a function the uniqueness of a new technology, or its scalability, based on markets or human capabilities?

     

Wednesday, 20 March

  • 12:00pm - 01:00pm (CST) / 20/mar/2024 05:00 pm - 20/mar/2024 06:00 pm

    Strategic Roundtable | Materials Transition

    Materials (in addition to minerals and metals) have a critical role in enabling the energy transition.   Materials with lower GHG emission intensity in their manufacturing, operation and/or disposal/reuse will be needed. High-performance carbon-based materials are expected to play a major role in this transition. Despite its importance, the materials transition is little understood by policy makers and the public.  In which sectors will the materials transition be most impactful? What role will carbon-based materials play in the materials transition? What are the implications for hydrocarbon suppliers and downstream value chain participants? What new policies will be needed to facilitate the transition to lower GHG intensity materials?