An interdisciplinary team led by Corey Oses, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the Whiting School of Engineering, and Avi Bregman, a senior scientist at the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), has received a 2025 Nexus Award to host a conference in spring 2026. “From Laboratory to Launchpad: Transition Pathways for Climate Science and Energy IP” will focus on bridging the gap between climate-science research and real-world energy solutions. The team also includes Jonah Erlebacher, professor of materials science and engineering, and Steven Cohen, professor at the Carey Business School.
The Nexus Awards support innovative ideas from Johns Hopkins faculty in teaching, research, or event planning at the Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C. Additional funding from the Institute of Planetary Health will help underwrite the conference.
“We want to bring people together to foster conversations about climate science and energy across academia, industry, and federal agency partners,” says Oses. “We’ll explore ways to bring materials discoveries from the laboratory to a real company, informing this group of people how to transition their research to the public sphere successfully.”
Their idea was inspired by Oses’ and Bregman’s 2024 SURPASS award, a grant that supports projects between the Whiting School of Engineering and APL that solve the world’s pressing issues and have the prospect of generating over $100 million in revenue.
“One of the obvious ways to do that is to start a company,” says Oses. “We want to translate our product from the SURPASS project to the market, and we’re sure there are other researchers who have the same goal with their science.”
The Nexus project brings together complementary expertise in materials commercialization. Erlebacher launched ETCH, a startup that uses a novel process to convert natural gas into hydrogen and solid carbon for clean energy or as an alternative for construction materials, while Oses and Bregman bring experience in producing hydrogen as a source of clean energy for cars, houses, and more. Cohen has extensive experience helping academics and researchers frame messages, use data, and tell stories to raise capital and create lasting impact.
“We are keenly interested in the development of hydrogen and how we can transfer this technology from academia to industry,” says Oses. “We are exploring ways to market other science discoveries and transition them into industry or government. The Nexus award will allow us to bring experts together to benefit the future of cities like Baltimore.”