Mechanical and aerospace engineering researchers have received $1.35 million to build a pipeline that trains students from elementary school through college for careers in battery and energy storage technology.

The three-year grant, funded through the National Science Foundation’s Energy Storage Engine Scholars Initiative program and administered by the Griffiss Institute, went to Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department Chair Quinn Qiao, will serve as principal investigator. Professor Zhenyu Gan is co-principal investigator. Anthony Terrinoni, director of Orange Works is also a co-principal investigator.

The initiative, called “Charged for the Future: Building Central New York’s Battery Workforce,” runs from July 2026 through June 2029 and is designed to give students a continuous path from grade school to college that uses energy storage as a common theme.

The program starts with an Interactive Book Series that will reach 75 to 100 elementary school students annually through BOCES and local schools to build early energy literacy. Middle schoolers follow with two-day Battery Discovery Workshops at Syracuse University, where 25 to 30 students each year get hands-on experience with battery teardowns, circuit design and real-time data monitoring in a university lab.

At the high school level, students can join the Orange Works Summer Research Program, a six-week program in which 20 to 25 students annually build autonomous systems powered by lithium polymer batteries and complete safety certification while gaining applied power engineering experience. The program drew 28 students in its 2025 cohort and 23 in 2026.

Students from Onondaga Community College and Mohawk Valley Community College will take part in a multi-day summer workshop at Syracuse modeled on the Battery Seminar, covering cell fabrication, testing and materials science to prepare them to transfer into four-year engineering programs or enter the energy storage workforce directly.

At Syracuse, students can pursue applied research in a battery development lab, complete capstone projects tied to Energy Storage Engine research, development and training challenges, and work as teaching assistants in Orange Works, mentoring the high schoolers who follow the same path that started their own research careers.