Peter Nico speaking at the ALS Users Meeting (2014).
On September 19, Energy Geosciences Division (EGD) Director, Jens Birkholzer announced Peter Nico as the new Program Domain Lead for Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure (formerly called the Sustainable Energy Systems Program Domain) (this role was previously held by Birkholzer).
Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure (formerly ‘Sustainable Energy Systems’) is the newest and the most aspirational of EGD’s three Program Domains. Its mission is to apply EGD’s existing scientific strengths and expertise—such as multiscale modeling, field testing and experimentation, laboratory based process investigations, cleanup and mitigation planning-in order to better understand and support key areas of societal impact that have strong links to energy use and production and whose function and reliability are strongly controlled by earth processes. Currently, the four initiatives that comprise the Sustainable Energy Systems Program Domain are motivated by our need to balance an over-stressed water system (Water-Energy Nexus), to protect our critical infrastructure (Critical Infrastructure), to vastly expand our energy storage technologies (Grid Scale Subsurface Energy Storage), and to assess and predict the risks faced by these complex and interconnected systems (Risk Assessment/Systems Analysis).
Peter’s focus in the coming time will be to develop an integrated and compelling vision for the Program Domain, and to work closely with EGD staff and initiative leaders to develop these areas into robust programs on par with the other excellent programs within the Division.
Peter is a Soil and Environmental Biogeochemist who studies transition metal redox processes and their impact on the fate and transport of environmental contaminants. Over the past years, Peter previously served as the Geochemistry Department Head, the LBNL lead of the Predictive Ag initiative, the LBNL point of contact for the UC Global Food Initiative, and one of the leads of LBNL’s Resilient Water Systems at Scale initiative.
(This page was updated on January 6, 2017, changing the Program Domain name from Sustainable Energy Systems to Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure)