Princeton, New Jersey, USA: Satish Myneni jointly leads an initiative focused on speeding up the formation of naturally occurring hydrogen gas.
Satish Myneni, a geosciences professor of Indian origin at Princeton University, has been selected as a recipient of the 2025 Schmidt Transformative Technology Fund award for pioneering research in hydrogen science.
Myneni is co-leading a research effort aimed at accelerating the natural production of hydrogen gas by examining mineral-based chemical processes. The work seeks to develop a sustainable, carbon-negative energy source that could serve as a clean alternative to traditional fossil fuels.
The research team also includes Catherine Peters and Emily Carter.
Peters holds the George J. Magee Professorship in Geological Engineering and serves as a professor of civil and environmental engineering, as well as the director of the Program in Geological Engineering.
Carter serves as senior strategic advisor and associate laboratory director for applied materials and sustainability sciences at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. She is also the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and a faculty member at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, with additional expertise in applied and computational mathematics.
The initiative has been recognized for its strong potential to advance scientific understanding needed to expand sustainable hydrogen gas production, a critical milestone in reducing carbon emissions across the national energy infrastructure.
The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Transformative Technology Fund is designed to help scientists and engineers achieve major breakthroughs rather than gradual progress in natural sciences and engineering. The program supports projects that result in the creation of disruptive technologies with the capacity to significantly influence a research field, or the development of tools and enabling technologies that fundamentally reshape scientific investigation.
