Center for Energy Research, Training, and Innovation (CERTAIN)

CERTAIN serves as an interdisciplinary, STEM-focused knowledge resource and catalyst for connecting energy- and environment-focused faculty, students, and administrators at Ohio State and beyond. CERTAIN effectively organizes and mobilizes competencies into an interdisciplinary university center that serves as an unbiased entity at Ohio State to interface between industry, regulatory agencies, national laboratories, non-government organizations, and federal and private research foundations.

The vision of CERTAIN to establish a premier center known worldwide for the creation and dissemination of STEM-focused knowledge related to renewable (RE) and non-renewable energy resources (NRE) and their associated environmental issues.

Mission: Catalyze transformative research, education and outreach that addresses society’s grand challenges related to rapidly growing global energy demands in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner, while balancing the importance of robust economic development, growth and resiliency. 

Technical Goals: Become Ohio State’s STEM-focused locus of technically-sound, data-driven energy- and environment-related science that leads to:

• knowledge generation, dissemination, and public outreach and engagement; 
• technical innovation related to all forms of energy (solar, wind, biofuels, geothermal, fossil fuels, nuclear, fusion, batteries, subsurface waste storage and CO2 management)
• sound decision-making geared toward responsibly developing, managing and transforming the future of energy resource utilization from carbon-intensive fossil fuels (coal) to lower carbon-emitting fuels (nuclear, natural gas and oil) or renewables (wind, geothermal, solar, biofuels)
• guidelines for industry best practices 

In order to promote technological improvement and address environmental and other issues related to energy resource development, the primary functions of CERTAIN are to:

• facilitate communication, research collaboration, education, outreach and proposal development among faculty and staff researchers within Ohio State.
• serve as a communication link and research partner involving industry, government agencies, NGOs and universities throughout the region.
• provide a forum to facilitate discussion of energy and environmental issues related to renewable and non-renewable resource development.

The evolutionary transformation from SERC to CERTAIN reflects the progressive maturation of the oil and gas industry both in Ohio and in the U.S., and the inevitable need for a more balanced representation of renewable as well as non-renewable energy development and their environmental and socio-economic impacts to Ohio and the U.S. The strategic transition capitalizes on the wealth of expertise at Ohio State that can contribute to the understanding of the complex science, technologic, socio-economic and environmental challenges associated with development and deployment of renewable and non-renewable energy resources.