Duke Students, Apply for the 2021 Clean Energy Prize

The Duke University Energy Initiative (EI) and Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative (I&E) announce the return of the Clean Energy Prize to support the development of energy technologies, products, and services at Duke. The Prize makes a $10,000 award to support novel ideas, potential products, and services that advance an accessible, reliable, affordable, and clean energy future.

The Prize invites all Duke students, including May 2021 graduates, to propose innovative projects that could lead to new products or services that will advance a clean energy future. This could mean demonstrating the feasibility of an idea or innovation for a commercial or social venture; developing a working software, service, or device prototype; or developing new applications or markets for a technology in development.

"Securing a clean energy future is an urgent imperative—and one that demands transformative approaches," said Energy Initiative director Dr. Brian Murray, a faculty member at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Sanford School of Public Policy. "The Clean Energy Prize aims to spur Duke University students' creativity and fuel new solutions for one of our world's greatest challenges."   

Past recipients of the Clean Energy Prize include Arsheen Allam MBA '17 and Towqir Aziz MA '18, who received the prize in 2018 for GOLeafe, which developed a new production process for graphene, a promising nanomaterial with potential applications in solar energy production and energy storage. Allam, a Forbes "30 Under 30 in Energy" honoree, was recently named to the fifth cohort of Chain Reaction Innovations, the U.S. Department of Energy's elite entrepreneurship program at Argonne National Laboratory.

The deadline for submissions closed 11:59 pm EDT on Friday, May 28, 2021.