This is a past event.

Materials Science and Engineering Seminar

Dr. Caleb Stetson

Idaho National Laboratory

Abstract

Global demand for critical minerals and materials required for next-generation technologies is projected to surpass production in the coming years. Moreover, geopolitical strife has further restricted the exchange of CMMs on global trade markets. CMMs are a broad category of minerals and materials required for permanent magnets, lithium-ion batteries, and semiconductors. North American targets for vehicle electrification and clean energy generation are threatened by this supply chain insecurity. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has contributed research in CMM separations as a core team member of the Critical Materials Innovation (CMI) Hub, which is now in its 11th year of research operations. INL research contributions to CMI include electrochemically enhanced separations, solvent-driven separations, and biologically driven processes. Each of these technologies presents an opportunity to reduce the energy and reagent required for separations while also reducing waste generation. This seminar will give a broad overview of the CMM landscape, followed by research progress and opportunities. Individual separation technologies will be discussed. Lastly, active and future CMM resource extraction operations in the Upper Peninsula region will be discussed.

Bio

Dr. Caleb Stetson is a research scientist in the Material Separations & Analysis Department at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Prior to joining INL in 2020, he completed his PhD in Materials Science at the Colorado School of Mines, where he also completed internships in the mining and extractive metallurgy industries. His PhD research focused on the development of scanning probe microscopy (SPM)-based approaches to characterize the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on next generation lithium-ion battery anodes. This graduate research was conducted at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO). Stetson holds a BS in Biomedical Engineering and English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a MSc in Bioengineering and nanotechnology from Tampere University of Technology in Finland, where his thesis work focused on operation and maintenance of advanced X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) systems. As of 2024, he has authored 25 peer-reviewed publications and three patents. Beyond his educational and research experience, Stetson was in active-duty military service in the U.S. Air Force and spent five years in the private sector working internationally in education, engineering, and consulting in Europe, the Middle East, and China.