There’s no single solution to climate change—and developing the technologies we’ll need will require expertise from across the scientific and engineering disciplines.
At Northern Arizona University, students are getting the chance to address climate change through research focused on climate technology, carbon dioxide removal and sustainable cooling.
Led by mechanical engineering professor Dr. Jennifer Wade, the research brings together students from mechanical engineering, environmental engineering, chemistry, physics and earth science to explore different pieces of a complex problem: How can we develop technologies that help address a changing climate?
For Wade, the answer starts with looking at the problem from multiple scales—from the behavior of individual materials all the way up to complete engineering systems.
And students are involved at every step.
Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
One major area of Wade’s research is carbon dioxide removal, an approach that focuses on separating carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere.
The idea is relatively straightforward, even if the engineering behind it is not: Develop materials and processes that can capture CO₂ from the air, concentrate it and then determine what to do with it.
Wade’s research explores this challenge from several angles.
At the materials level, students study materials that can capture and release CO₂. At the process-engineering level, they explore how those materials can be incorporated into systems that actually perform the separation.
One example is a process called vacuum moisture swing, or VMS. Wade and her research team developed the process using materials that respond to changes in moisture to help capture and release CO₂.
The work has progressed from an idea to an actual reactor built by NAU students.
A group of capstone students designed and built the reactor, and undergraduate researchers are now helping test how much control the system provides while working alongside graduate students.
That progression—from classroom project to active research—is a key part of Wade’s approach to undergraduate research.
From a capstone project to climate research
Wade often begins research projects as capstone projects, giving students an opportunity to tackle a real engineering challenge before continuing the work through undergraduate research.
That’s exactly what happened with another project focused on passive radiative cooling.
Everything emits heat as radiation. Certain specially designed coatings can take advantage of this phenomenon by emitting heat at wavelengths that can pass through a part of Earth’s atmosphere known as the atmospheric window.
In simple terms, the technology could allow a surface to release heat toward outer space.
Wade’s students first explored the concept by building a test system as part of a capstone project. Since then, multiple groups of undergraduate students have continued working on the project, helping test and refine the system.
The team is now investigating whether the technology could eventually help cool facilities such as data centers, which require significant amounts of cooling.
The concept is to use coated panels as part of a cooling system. Heat from a building could be transferred through the panels, where it would be released toward the sky, potentially reducing the amount of work required from conventional cooling equipment.
For students, that means working on a problem that connects fundamental heat-transfer concepts from the classroom to an emerging technology with potential real-world applications.
Learning from graduate students—and becoming mentors themselves
Students in Wade’s group don’t just gain experience working with advanced research equipment and technologies. They also gain experience working as part of a research team.
Wade pairs many undergraduate researchers with graduate students, creating a mentoring structure that gives undergraduates an approachable source of day-to-day guidance while giving graduate students opportunities to develop their own leadership and supervisory skills.
It’s a model shaped in part by Wade’s own undergraduate experience.
As a student, Wade participated in extensive undergraduate research and was paired with a graduate student who became an important mentor. That experience helped shape her path toward academia—and now influences how she works with her own students.
The approach is already helping students take their next steps beyond NAU.
One former undergraduate researcher, Sierra Binney, an environmental engineering student, went on to work for a direct air capture startup based out of Los Alamos.
Real research. Real opportunities.
Over the past six years, Wade estimates that approximately 15 undergraduate students have worked with her in different research capacities.
Some begin through capstone projects. Others join through undergraduate research opportunities or programs such as the ¡MIRA! Scholars Program. Students can work alongside graduate researchers, contribute to experiments and help develop technologies that are still being refined.
For students interested in climate technology, that can mean much more than adding a research experience to a résumé.
It can mean figuring out how the concepts learned in an engineering classroom apply to problems that don’t yet have easy answers.
From capturing carbon dioxide to exploring new ways to cool buildings, NAU students are helping investigate what future climate technologies could look like—and gaining the hands-on experience to help build them.