Inaugural HyPT Distinguished Webinar April 3, 2025 at 22:00 GMT

Dr. Huyen N. Dinh, Director of HydrogenGEN EMN, NREL

Huyen N. Dinh is the director of HydroGEN Energy Materials Network (https://www.h2awsm.org ), a consortium comprised of five US Department of Energy laboratories (NREL, LBNL, SNL, INL, LLNL). It focuses on accelerating R&D of innovative and advanced water splitting materials and technologies for hydrogen production. Huyen is the manager for the Hydrogen Systems and Technologies Advanced Research Group and the Electrons to Molecules lead for Materials, Chemicals, and Computational Science Directorate at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Huyen has been at NREL for over 17 years and has more than 25 years of experience in renewable hydrogen production and fuel cells at national laboratories and in industry.

Presentation Title: Hydrogen R&D at National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

This presentation will provide an overview of the hydrogen R&D activities at NREL, including make, store, move, and use hydrogen. At NREL, our research spans the advanced water splitting materials (AWSM) and hydrogen storage R&D, performed within the HydroGEN and HyMARC Energy Materials Networks (EMN), respectively, to the materials integration and scale up work done within the H2NEW consortium, to fuel cell R&D within the M2FCT consortium, to stack and systems testing at the MW-level. These R&D activities are funded by U.S. Department of Energy Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office.

Dr. Fiona Simon, CEO, Australian Hydrogen Council

Fiona Simon leads the Australian Hydrogen Council (AHC), the peak body for the Australian hydrogen industry. AHC connects the hydrogen industry and its stakeholders in building a secure, clean and resilient energy future that sustainably produces and uses hydrogen within the energy mix. AHC’s members are from a range of sectors, including energy, transport, consulting, banking and technology. Prior to joining AHC, Fiona worked for close to 20 years in energy policy and regulation, specializing in energy retail competition and consumer protection matters. Fiona holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Melbourne. She has published a well-regarded academic book on retail energy regulation in Australia.

Presentation Title: Hydrogen in Australia: what have we learned and where are we going? Recent media reports about delayed or cancelled hydrogen projects have led to some speculation — and in some cases, outright claims — that the hydrogen industry is collapsing before it even came into being. To be clear: the industry is not collapsing. Hydrogen projects are still progressing, with many still in multi-year engineering processes, as expected for first-of-a-kind, complex projects. The negative reports have been discouraging, but it is important to note that building the hydrogen industry was always a long-term effort, and it being difficult does not mean it is not worth doing. This presentation will discuss what we have learned so far, and what we may need to do differently for the future.

Prof. Murray Thomson, University of Toronto

Murray Thomson is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto and cross-appointed with the Department of Chemical Engineering. He is also Cofounder and Chief Science Officer of Aurora Hydrogen, a company that is developing hydrogen production from microwave-driven methane pyrolysis. He received a BEng from McGill University (1986) and PhD from University of California, Berkeley (1994). He was made a Fellow of the Combustion Institute in 2018, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineers in 2016, and a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada in 2012. Dr. Murray Thomson’s research is in the area of methane pyrolysis, hydrogen production, and carbon material synthesis. He has supervised the thesis research of 105 graduate students and published 142 journal publications.