New UW Laboratory to Address Pressing Challenges in Energy Industry – University of Wyoming

Report on the Multidisciplinary Advanced Stimulation Laboratory and its Contribution to Sustainable Development Goals

1.0 Introduction

The University of Wyoming has inaugurated the Multidisciplinary Advanced Stimulation Laboratory (MASL), a state-of-the-art facility designed to address critical energy sector challenges. The laboratory’s research and educational activities are directly aligned with several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on innovation, clean energy, quality education, and strategic partnerships.

2.0 Core Objectives and Alignment with SDGs

The MASL’s mission is to advance the understanding of subsurface processes through integrated research. This mission supports a transition towards a more sustainable and robust domestic energy sector, with specific objectives contributing to the following SDGs:

• SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy): By conducting research into geothermal energy and carbon capture and storage, the lab directly contributes to increasing the share of renewable and clean energy.
• SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure): The establishment of the MASL itself represents a significant investment in scientific research infrastructure. Its focus on advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, promotes innovation within the energy industry.
• SDG 13 (Climate Action): Research dedicated to carbon capture and storage provides a direct mechanism to combat climate change by mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector.

3.0 Research Focus Areas and Sustainable Impact

The laboratory’s multidisciplinary approach integrates various fields to achieve its goals. Key research areas are designed to produce solutions that enhance sustainability and efficiency.

1. Optimizing Resource Management: Research aims to improve oil recovery from unconventional reservoirs and study rare earth elements. This work supports SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) by developing methods for more efficient and sustainable management of natural resources.
2. Developing Cleaner Technologies: The lab will optimize hydraulic fracturing fluids and proppant materials, contributing to a cleaner and safer energy sector in line with the targets of SDG 7.
3. Enhancing Predictive Capabilities: The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve data analysis and predictions supports SDG 9 by fostering technological upgrading and innovation in a critical industrial sector.

4.0 Fostering Education and Economic Growth

The MASL serves as a vital hub for education and professional development, directly supporting key development goals.

• SDG 4 (Quality Education): The laboratory provides invaluable hands-on experience for 16 doctoral students and one undergraduate student. This engagement with real-world problems enhances the quality of technical and scientific education.
• SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth): By strengthening students’ technical skills and career prospects through direct interaction with industry stakeholders, the lab helps build a skilled workforce. This contributes to sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth and productive employment. The goal to make Wyoming’s resources more economically viable further supports this SDG.

5.0 Strategic Partnerships for the Goals

The operational model of the MASL exemplifies the principles of SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).

• Inter-departmental Collaboration: The lab is a joint initiative led by the Department of Energy and Petroleum Engineering and the School of Energy Resources, fostering academic partnership.
• Industry Engagement: The facility actively seeks to create new opportunities for industry partnerships, ensuring that research is relevant and solutions are applicable to real-world challenges. This collaboration between academia and the private sector is crucial for achieving sustainable development.

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 4: Quality Education

  The article highlights the establishment of a new laboratory at the University of Wyoming where “16 doctoral students and one undergraduate student work.” It emphasizes that these students will “gain invaluable experience” and that the engagement “significantly strengthening their technical skills and career prospects,” which directly relates to providing quality tertiary education and relevant skills for employment.

• SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

  The laboratory’s ultimate goal is to “create real-world solutions for a safer, cleaner and more robust domestic energy sector.” The research scope includes not only improving oil and gas recovery but also advancing “carbon capture and storage, geothermal energy and rare earth elements,” all of which are critical components of transitioning to cleaner and more sustainable energy systems.

• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

  The research conducted at the lab aims to “unlock Wyoming’s resources and make them more economically viable for industry development.” By training students in fields “critical to both Wyoming’s economy and the national economy,” the initiative supports economic productivity and the creation of a skilled workforce for the energy sector.

• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

  The article is centered on the grand opening of a “state-of-the-art lab” equipped with “cutting-edge equipment.” This represents a significant investment in scientific research infrastructure. The lab’s mission to enable “advances in understanding subsurface processes” and improve predictions “using artificial intelligence and machine learning” is a clear example of fostering innovation and upgrading technological capabilities within the energy industry.

• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

  The Multidisciplinary Advanced Stimulation Laboratory (MASL) is founded on collaboration. It is a “partnership with the School of Energy Resources” and is designed to facilitate collaboration with “faculty, students and industry professionals across a variety of fields.” The article also notes the goal is to “create new opportunities for industry partnerships,” underscoring the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration to achieve its objectives.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

1. SDG 4: Quality Education

   • Target 4.3: Ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university. The lab is a part of the University of Wyoming, providing advanced tertiary education and research opportunities to graduate and undergraduate students.
   • Target 4.4: Substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship. The article explicitly states the lab’s activities are “significantly strengthening their technical skills and career prospects” for students.

2. SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

   • Target 7.a: Enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology. The lab is a new piece of energy infrastructure dedicated to research in advanced fossil-fuel technology (improving oil recovery), carbon capture, and clean energy (geothermal).

3. SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

   • Target 8.2: Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation. The lab is a center for innovation and technological upgrading in the energy sector, aiming to make resources “more economically viable for industry development.”

4. SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

   • Target 9.5: Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors… encouraging innovation and substantially increasing the number of research and development workers. The establishment of the lab enhances scientific research, and its work with 17 students and multiple faculty members increases the number of R&D workers focused on energy challenges.

5. SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

   • Target 17.17: Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships. The lab itself is a partnership between different university departments and actively seeks to create “new opportunities for industry partnerships,” representing a public-private collaboration model.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

1. SDG 4: Quality Education

   • Implied Indicator: The number of students participating in advanced research. The article mentions “16 doctoral students and one undergraduate student work in the lab.”

2. SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

   • Implied Indicator: Investment in clean energy research infrastructure. The creation of the “state-of-the-art lab” itself is an indicator of investment.
   • Implied Indicator: Number of research projects focused on clean energy. The article specifies research areas including “geothermal energy” and “carbon capture and storage.”

3. SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

   • Implied Indicator: Contribution to economic viability of local industries. The lab’s research aims to “unlock Wyoming’s resources and make them more economically viable.”

4. SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

   • Implied Indicator: Number of researchers in the energy sector. The article quantifies the initial number of student researchers (17) and mentions faculty directors.
   • Implied Indicator: Development of new technologies. The lab’s objectives include “optimizing hydraulic fracturing fluids” and “improving data analysis and predictions… using artificial intelligence and machine learning.”

5. SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

   • Implied Indicator: Number of public-private partnerships in research. The article mentions the lab’s intent to “create new opportunities for industry partnerships” and its current collaboration with “industry professionals.”

4. Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: uwyo.edu