A new initiative that researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, Colorado School of Mines, Stanford, and Resources for the Future are launching to help support PhD students working on critical minerals for the clean energy transition during the 2024-2025 academic year.

The Critical Minerals Research Lab is a virtual, interdisciplinary lab that brings together students from a variety of disciplines (including economics, engineering, sociology, geography, and more) to present their work to each other and receive feedback on it, learn about upcoming conferences, funding opportunities and ongoing policy discussions around critical minerals, and identify opportunities for interdisciplinary research projects. We are officially launching the lab this September, and finalizing in June 2025 with a public-facing conference for the Lab Scholars to present their work to a broad audience.

For those of you working in this space, we welcome you to nominate students to participate in this lab. The application process is simple and more information on how to apply can be found on the lab webpage. Applications are due July 30. You can also read a blog that we prepared that discusses the motivation for the lab here. There is no cost to participating in the lab, though we are seeking engaged students who are willing to actively participate in monthly virtual meetings.