Sarma Pisupati is a professor of energy and mineral engineering, chemical engineering and Director of the Center for Critical Minerals (C2M) at Penn State. He also co-directs the Coal Science and Technology Program of the EMS Energy Institute. He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Fuel Science. He has been studying and teaching energy and environmental issues for the past 40 years. He worked in the industry for five years before joining The Pennsylvania State University. Sarma was inaugural Chair of Energy Engineering Program. Sarma’s research interests are oxy-fuel combustion; chemical looping combustion; slagging and fouling in gasification; coal and biomass co-gasification, and extraction of critical and rare earth elements from secondary sources. He was the Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI on 65 externally funded scientific research projects and was involved in 15 other projects with specific responsibilities. He co-authored over 225 research publications and has one US patent.