NRT Climate Care Kickoff Meeting

10:15am – 10:45am

Learn about the Penn Water Center and its water leadership programming

Brenton McCloskey, Director of Strategic Development and Communications
University of Pennsylvania, The Water Center

The Water Center at Penn supports communities in meeting their critical water challenges by identifying resilient and sustainable solutions, combining natural and built systems, and based on equitable principles that reflect community voices. We focus on several strategic areas including Community Climate Resilience, Water Leadership, Water Equity and Affordability, and Water Innovation, to name a few. This presentation and discussion will focus on how the Center supports the development of future water leaders in our local communities and the larger water sector so that water decision-makers reflect the communities they serve, continue working in the water-sector field, and have a network to support them to advance their leadership skills.

11:15am - 11:45am

Advancing Sustainability in Coatings: Dow Coating Materials

Wenqin Wang (Sunny), Senior TS&D Scientist
Dow

Sustainability in architectural coatings is an evolving field that addresses the need to reduce environmental impact and improve health and safety, while maintaining performance and cost competitiveness. This presentation will discuss several technologies developed by Dow to improve the sustainability of water-based coatings, including reducing carbon footprint, improving indoor air quality, and advancing a renewable economy through bio-based materials.

11:45am – 12:00pm

Adoption Readiness Level

Vanessa Chan, Vice Dean of Innovation & Entrepreneurship
University of Pennsylvania, SEAS

Addressing technical challenges is necessary but not sufficient to successfully commercialize and scale a new technology. Technology commercialization also requires addressing non-technical market and adoption challenges. The Adoption Readiness Level (ARL) framework can help identify adoption risks and opportunities and support the successful commercialization of new technologies.

1:00pm – 2:00pm

Ethics in Design

Franca Trubiano, Associate Professor of Architecture - Chair, Graduate Group of Architectur
University of Pennsylvania, Weitzman School of Design

At Penn, Franca Trubiano conducts funded research on “Architectural Ethics and Forced Labor in the Building Industry,' as well as on “Fossil Fuels, the Building Industry, and Human Health.” Professor Trubiano was Principal Investigator and inaugural member of the Consortium for Building Energy Innovation (CBEI), a DOE funded project which resulted in the creation of industry ready Advanced Energy Integrated Design Roadmaps of use by all members of the AEC in pursuit of advanced energy retrofits. She has also conducted funded research on Building Information Modeling (BIM), for improving facility management processes and for the translation of BIM authoring models into custom masonry protocols.

2:45pm - 3:15pm

Bridging the Gap: Scaling Lab Research for Industrial Impact

Congwang Ye, R&D Engineer
LLNL

In this talk, Dr. Congwang (CW) Ye will discuss his research in advanced manufacturing techniques aimed at developing innovative microcapsules and materials for CO₂ removal/utilization and other applications. Leveraging mature technologies like microfluidic systems and LLNL's innovative In-air Drop Encapsulation Apparatus (IDEA), Dr. Ye has created unique sorbents that combine the advantages of liquid and solid carbon capture sorbents, offering enhanced efficiency and expanded application possibilities. Additionally, he will introduce the Livermore Risk Assessment and Mitigation Protocol (L-RAMP), a comprehensive methodology designed to guide early-stage technology scale-up and commercialization efforts. This talk promises to provide valuable insights into connecting lab-scale innovation with industrial implementation.