Published September 05, 2024
By Christine Reed
The School of Energy Resources (SER) is pleased to announce Robert Cincotta as an Assistant Research Professional in the Hydrogen Energy Research Center (H2ERC).
In his new role, Cincotta’s main focus will be on the development of the steam methane reforming processes for a Department of Energy-sponsored project integrating steam methane reforming with a produced water thermal desalinization technology for efficient hydrogen production. He has been serving the early months of his SER position as a guest scientist at Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) to utilize their facilities for this research.
Cincotta grew up in many energy-producing areas including Pennsylvania and the Rocky Mountain front range, but considers Wyoming to be home. Over the course of ten years, he earned both his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wyoming, focusing his studies on alternative uses for coal.
Under the advisement of Professor Katie Dongmei Li-Oakey in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Cincotta navigated changing funding sources to produce research on carbon engineering, the carbon core, critical mineral and rare earth elements (CORE-CM) projects within SER, and ultimately wrote his dissertation on the production of carbon nanofibers from coal-derived polymers for use as electrodes in energy storage devices, and the use of machine learning techniques to inform optimization of this process.
Cincotta worked as a graduate research assistant throughout his studies and presented his findings at multiple conference and symposia during his academic career, publishing two peer-reviewed manuscripts from his work with more forthcoming. Additionally, he served as a teaching assistant for an undergraduate Heat and Mass Transfer course and for a graduate Reaction Kinetics course.
“Robert has demonstrated incredible resilience and adaptability throughout his doctoral studies that make him and incredible asset to our research team,” says H2ERC Director Eugene Holubnyak. “His skills and expertise as a chemical engineer and his experience working on innovate projects within the energy sector have made the transition into H2ERC seamless and we are so excited to see what he learns during his visit out to LANL.”
In addition to his current role at LANL, Cincotta is involved in additional project proposals under development in H2ERC and will play a vital role in their implementation upon his return.
“I genuinely believe Wyoming is the most beautiful state in the union, and glad to be able to continue working on projects which will help the state grow and support the people who live here,” says Cincotta. “I am also very excited about this collaboration with LANL. Ten years ago, I never would have had an opportunity to work with some the smartest people in the country on some of the most important energy related projects.”
