The Rice Sustainability Institute is thrilled by the incredible success of the 2024 Carbon Hub Annual Meeting held in May at Rice University. This year's event set a record for attendance, drawing a diverse crowd of industry leaders, research scientists, policymakers, and more. The meeting highlighted the exponential growth in carbon technologies and fostered a collaborative spirit among participants.
Day 1 kicked off at the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies with panel discussions on the key role of private-public partnerships to advance the carbon transition, the big science questions, and progress toward commercialization of carbon materials. Following this, attendees expected technical updates from Rice Carbon Hub research collaborators with sessions continuing into the next morning.
Day 1 concluded with a networking dinner at the Rice Faculty Club at Cohen House.
Day 2 at the Ralph S. O’Connor Building for Engineering and Science saw further technical overviews in the morning, followed by an afternoon roundtable discussion on sustainability challenges for materials led by collaborators from the Center for Energy Studies at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Notable speakers included Abby Kamin, Houston City Council Member; Scott Wright, president of the advanced materials division at the Huntsman Corp.; Ed Ganja, vice president of catalyst and analytical technology at Shell; Dhaval Shah, general manager for corporate technology and innovation at SABIC; and Jim Sledzik, director of strategic ventures at Saudi Aramco.
We look forward to raising the bar even higher at next year’s meeting, continuing to foster collaboration and innovation across industry and academia, and reinforcing Rice University’s leadership in addressing global sustainability challenges.
Stay tuned for more updates, and see you at the next Carbon Hub Annual Meeting in 2025!