When Dr. Shelley Minteer decided to make a big career move, relocating not just herself, but also her lab, equipment and research staff, the power of the Kummer gift played a major role in her decision.
The gift, she says, puts Missouri S&T in a league of its own.
“It’s not unusual for universities to have sustainability officers and committees,” says Minteer, an expert in energy storage and conversion and the electrification of chemical manufacturing, who began her duties as founding director of the Kummer Center for Resource Sustainability on Oct. 1. “Being able to put the resources from the Kummer Institute behind the work in sustainability is something most universities simply cannot do.”
Minteer joined S&T from the University of Utah, where she was the Dale and Susan Poulter Endowed Chair of Biological Chemistry. In addition to academic and administrative duties, she led a research group that worked at the interface of electrochemistry, biology, synthesis and materials chemistry to address challenges in the areas of catalysis, wastewater treatment, fuel cells, sensing and energy storage.
“Being able to put the resources from the Kummer Institute behind the work in sustainability is something most universities simply cannot do.”
One aspect of her new role she finds particularly appealing is leading the effort to strengthen collaboration between S&T’s faculty and industrial partners and research centers beyond the university. That responsibility aligns with her commitment to approaching sustainability as a deeply interconnected system rather than systems that are disparate and often disconnected.
“Sustainability is a theme that runs through water quality and availability, wastewater treatment, energy, mining, and the electrification of the chemicals and materials industry, but in most institutions work in those areas is done separately, in silos,” she says.
She believes S&T’s Center for Resource Sustainability stands alone in its commitment to removing those silos, which is critical to preventing solutions to pressing problems from leading to more issues later.
In her role at S&T, she plans to work with researchers and organizations across various disciplines, paying close attention to the inherent connectedness of natural resources.
“I want to build bigger teams with a broad array of expertise that can address bigger issues,” she says.