Xavier University of Louisiana, with its long history of supporting environmental and social justice initiatives to create impactful change, has announced that it is one of fifteen partners in collaboration with The Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA). ESRA is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) energy innovation hub, uniting nearly 50 world-class researchers and leading experts from three national laboratories and 12 universities to expedite technology commercialization for cutting-edge energy storage solutions. Each institution brings unique perspectives that will accelerate ESRA’s ability to impact the global energy storage landscape. As a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), Xavier will add a breadth of knowledge that expands ESRA’s materials design and analysis capabilities.

Dr. Lamartine Meda, Bellsouth endowed professor of chemistry and material science and Xavier’s Director of the Materials and Interfaces Center for High Energy Storage and Sensing (MICHESS) program, will serve as Xavier’s principal investigator for the ESRA collaboration.

“At Xavier, we’ll work on understanding interfacial reactions in solid-state cells which is crucial for improving the performance of solid-state batteries,” said Dr. Meda. “We have developed a solid-state electrolyte and will take advantage of this electrolyte to understand how different materials interact at their boundaries, which is a key factor in optimizing ion conductivity and overall cell performance. Our primary focus is understanding interfacial reactions using a variety of techniques.”

ESRA, leveraging decades of national investment in science, seeks to enable transformative discoveries in materials chemistry, gain a fundamental understanding of electrochemical phenomena at the atomic scale, lay the scientific foundations for breakthroughs in energy storage technologies, and train the next-generation battery workforce to ensure U.S. scientific and economic leadership. Over the next five years, DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences will fund ESRA up to $62.5 million with Argonne National Laboratory as the lead organization.

The achievement of ESRA’s goals will lead to high-energy batteries that never catch fire, offer days of long-duration storage, have multiple decades of life, and be made from inexpensive, abundant materials. ESRA will also place a central focus on training a diverse, next-generation battery workforce for future manufacturing needs through innovative training programs with industry, academia, and government.

“Cultivating a diverse workforce dedicated to safeguarding America’s energy resilience is key to ESRA’s mission,” said Wei Wang, ESRA deputy director for crosscuts and director of the Energy Storage Materials Initiative at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. “Through our strategic equity and inclusion initiatives, we plan to create a robust training ground for energy storage science from the undergraduate to postdoctoral levels.”

From left to right: Kaia Y. Brathwaite (’28), Dr. Lamartine Meda, and Nila A. Beamon (’27) in the lab.

Each participating institution brings unique materials synthesis and characterization capabilities that will accelerate ESRA’s ability to impact the global energy storage landscape. As an HBCU that has spent nearly 100 years dedicated to serving those who have historically been underserved, Xavier is uniquely poised to elevate the training of the new generation of scientists who seek cleaner, safer energy.

“This partnership means a lot for Xavier as our students will have opportunities to perform research at our partner institutions in energy storage and contribute to the goal of net-zero carbon emissions, becoming future leaders of this field,” said Dr. Meda.

In constant pursuit of diversity, Xavier recognizes sustainability and resource efficiency’s environmental and economic benefits. Established university initiatives, such as Xavier’s Sustainability Office (XULA Green), reflect the university’s vision for environmental advocacy and stewardship. The Xavier and ESRA partnership supports the university’s mission of contributing to a just and humane society through advancing efforts to build a more sustainable and equitable world and a clean, secure future for all.