Inaugural Critical Minerals Leadership Academy a Resounding Success
Published September 08, 2025
The Critical Minerals Leadership Academy (CMLA), a new initiative designed to foster expertise and collaboration in the critical minerals sector, successfully completed its inaugural session in early August.
Designed to equip participants with a comprehensive understanding of the entire critical minerals value chain, from exploration and extraction to processing, recycling, and end-use applications, the CMLA was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, and hosted by the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources (SER), with support from the National Energy Technology Laboratory, KeyLogic, Entech Strategies LLC, and multiple industry partners.
The program brought together a diverse group of emerging leaders from government, industry, and academia to address the complex challenges and opportunities surrounding the global supply of critical minerals.
Participants engaged in a series of workshops, lectures, and site visits, gaining firsthand knowledge of technological innovations, policy frameworks, and geopolitical dynamics that shape the sector. Key highlights of the program included a visit to the Rare Element Resources Bear Lodge Project in Sundance, Wyo., and Dry Fork Mine, a coal mine operated by Western Fuels and located near Gillette, Wyo.
“CMLA is a game-changer for early-career professionals in the critical minerals space. In just one week, it unlocked insights you won’t find in any textbook, put my career into sharper focus, and connected me with a powerhouse network across the industry,” says Katherine Gomes, a member of the CMLA cohort and a decarbonization engineer at Carbon Direct. “If you want to understand the full picture of this fast-moving field—and see exactly where you can make an impact—this is the place to be.”
The leadership team envisions the CMLA playing a pivotal role in developing a skilled workforce dedicated to advancing a secure and sustainable critical minerals ecosystem, serving as the foundation for a robust network that participants can utilize throughout their careers.
“Together with the SER team, I am honored to have had the opportunity to host the inaugural CMLA,” says CMLA lead and SER Director of Cross-Cutting Programs Erin Phillips. “We are grateful to the exceptional cohort, our distinguished faculty members, our sponsors, and our industry partners for making it an impactful and memorable week. I am so excited to see how the partnerships formed at the CMLA continue to grow.”
The inaugural cohort of early career professionals and graduate students included Alexander Taylor, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Geology, Energy, and Minerals Science Center; Alexander Specht, associate director of the University of Wyoming’s Center for Business and Economic Analysis; Alexandra “Sasha” Levy, a recent graduate of the Marine Biodiversity and Conservation master’s program at Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Alexis Myers, a research scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Amber Spears, a research assistant professor in the Civil and Architectural Engineering Department at Tennessee State University; Brody Loomis, a graduate research assistant and M.S. candidate in Energy and Earth Resources at the Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin; Denise Levitan, a research geologist in the Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center at the U.S. Geological Survey; Eva Allen, a materials scientist at Argonne National Laboratory; Gabriella Morales, a staff researcher in the Material Recycling and Recovery group at Idaho National Laboratory; Jacob Tidwell, a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado, Boulder; Jason Yao, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University; Kalyn Tew, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Alabama; Katherine Vaz Gomes, a decarbonization engineer at Carbon Direct; Martha Newell, the director of government and political affairs at the National Mining Association; Morgan Hill, a geologist with the Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming; Patty Webber, a geologist at the Wyoming State Geological Survey; Samuel Oswald, a U.S. policy advisor at Glencore; Veronica Wilde, a research scientist at Carbon Solutions LLC; and Yasmine Adrian, a recent M.S. graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
For more information on the CMLA, visit https://www.uwyo.edu/ser/research/critical-mineral-leadership-academy/index.html.
