Energy Frontier: The Wyoming Landscape

Episode 79: The Diplomatic Lens: Navigating the Geopolitics of Critical Minerals with Melissa Sanderson

In this episode of Energy Frontier: The Wyoming Landscape, Dr. Erin Phillips, Acting Senior Director of Research at the School of Energy Resources, explores the intersection of international diplomacy and domestic resource security with Melissa Sanderson, a former senior U.S. diplomat, Director at American Rare Earths, and Co-Chair of the Critical Minerals Institute. As the United States races to secure a reliable supply of rare earth elements, Sanderson discusses why Wyoming’s Halleck Creek project is a vital strategic asset and shares her unique perspective on navigating geopolitical shifts, building "social license" in the mining sector, and mentoring the next generation of leaders tasked with securing the American energy frontier.

Episode 78: Reclamation, Resiliency, and Relationships: The Science of Collaborative Land Management

In this episode of Energy Frontier: The Wyoming Landscape, Dr. Erin Phillips, Acting Senior Director of Research at the School of Energy Resources, chats with Dr. Brian Mealor, Interim Director of the Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station and Director of the Sheridan Research and Extension Center about solving the complex puzzles of high-altitude reclamation.

Episode 77: Subsurface Wisdom: Lessons in Leadership with Dr. Brian Horn

In this episode of Energy Frontier, we sit down with one of the most influential voices in global geoscience, Dr. Brian Horn. As Managing Director of Hatteras Energy Group and the current President of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), Brian brings a holistic perspective to the conversation, moving beyond the polarized debates of the energy transition to focus on what he calls the Energy Evolution.

Episode 76: The Graduate Pipeline: Dr. Peng Li on Research, Rock Physics, and Stanford

In this episode of Energy Frontier: The Wyoming Landscape, Dr. Erin Phillips, Acting Senior Director of Research at the School of Energy Resources, visits with Dr. Peng Li, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Standford University. A proud UW alumnus, Dr. Li discusses how his Wyoming-based research prepared him for a postdoctoral role at one of the world's top institutions.

Episode 75: Innovation and the Coal Renaissance: A Discussion with Dan Connell

In this episode of Energy Frontier: The Wyoming Landscape, we explore the shifting view of coal solely as a fuel source to recognizing it as a critical raw material for the 21st-century economy. Joining us fresh from a site visit to the Center for Carbon Capture and Conversion (CCCC) in Gillette, Dan Connell, President of CONSOL Innovations, which is the innovations arm of Core Natural Resources, discusses the industrial transformation taking place in the Powder River Basin in a conversation with Dr. Erin Phillips, Acting Senior Director of Research at SER.