Hampton Roads is emerging as a hub for hydrogen innovation
The Speakers:
Chelsea Jenkins Olivieri is the managing director of the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center - Newport News.
The Corporate Research Center integrates Virginia Tech research with state and national entities igniting the growth of key industrial sectors, especially energy. It is the for-profit subsidiary of Virginia Tech Foundation.
Olivieri has held a diverse set of leadership roles within academic, nonprofit, private sector, and governmental organizations for over 20 years with a career emphasis on the energy, mobility, environmental, and economic development sectors.
Prior to her role as managing director, Olivieri served the Commonwealth of Virginia as the Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Trade in Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration.
Prior to joining state government, Olivieri served as vice president of government and external affairs and as vice president of business development of the global engineering consulting company ROUSH CleanTech for 11 years.
Olivieri previously served as the Virginia Clean Cities executive director and program coordinator. She was a recipient of the 2009 Department of Energy’s Clean Cities Coordinator of the Year award. She was also inducted into the Department of Energy’s Hall of Fame in 2011.
In 2023, she received the Ally of the Year award from the Hampton Roads Alliance for her significant contributions to regional economic development and advocacy for clean energy and innovation in Hampton Roads.
She holds a degree from James Madison University in Integrated Science and Technology with a triple concentration in energy, environment, and transportation.
Alex Taylor serves as a senior business manager at the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, where he oversees projects in the data center and emerging energy industries.
He is very interested in the future of the energy ecosystem in Virginia and its impacts on residents and industry, as well as the innovation that is occurring to create innovative energy solutions for the rapidly growing data center industry.
Taylor attended James Madison University where he received his Bachelors and Masters degrees. He lives with his family in the Shenandoah Valley.
Ryan Dorland is an economic development and energy analyst for the Virginia Department of Energy, working across the agency’s economic development and state energy offices to support the Commonwealth in a reliable and responsible energy future.
In his role at Virginia Energy, Dorland has worked on teams responsible for bringing in over $235 million dollars of competitive federal grants to the agency in the past two years, supporting key objectives in Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s 2022 All of the Above Energy Plan.
Dorland received the State Energy Office’s Employee of the Year Award in 2023.
He has worked across academic, biotechnology, and state government positions for nearly two decades, with a focus on development of innovative environmental and energy projects.
Prior to relocating to Virginia to be closer to family and joining Virginia Energy in 2022, Dorland was a professor at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine working on National Science Foundation grants to prepare students for the data and information technology-driven future of environmental science.
Dorland holds degrees in physics from Minnesota State University, Mankato and the University of Minnesota Duluth, and a doctorate in Environmental Science from the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Hampton Roads is emerging as a hub for hydrogen innovation.
Tune in on Wednesday Oct. 2 at noon to learn about how hydrogen fits into the Commonwealth of Virginia’s energy and economic growth plans and how Hampton Roads is emerging as a hub for hydrogen innovation.
Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Newport News is spearheading the Hydrogen Tech Center initiative, a collaborative hydrogen research and demonstration project that aims to better define and showcase how clean hydrogen and other emerging technologies could play a role in the region’s energy mix.
The project is being funded by a grant from GO Virginia Region 5 and from other public/private partners.
Representatives from Virginia Tech’s Corporate Research Center, a subsidiary of the Virginia Tech Foundation, the Virginia Department of Energy, and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, will review opportunities and challenges related to catalyzing more investment in non-carbon emitting hydrogen.
Specifically, the presenters will cover the following topics:
A snapshot of hydrogen development and investment in the Commonwealth of Virginia
Forms of hydrogen and clean hydrogen production including from nuclear, renewable energy and natural gas
Opportunities and challenges related to hydrogen production, processing, delivery, storage, and use
Lessons learned from the Hydrogen Tech Center industry stakeholder engagement process, including learnings on top-use cases identified for the Hampton Roads region