Newswise — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has named Claus Daniel as Associate Laboratory Director for Advanced Energy Technologies (AET). He will begin his new role on Monday, May 1. 

Daniel will join Argonne from Carrier Corporation, where he leads engineering partnerships and sustainability as part of Carrier’s strategy and innovation team. He manages the effort to decarbonize the product portfolio, with activities spanning 16 time zones in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Prior to joining Carrier, Daniel spent 16 years with DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in a number of roles.   

“It is an exciting time for Argonne and its AET directorate, to help shape and advance the country’s goals for a net-zero economy.” — Paul Kearns, Argonne director 

Daniel has a proven record of impact. At ORNL, he helped create the strategy that elevated the lab to a key energy storage player among the national labs and was one of the creators of the energy storage multilab consortium. As applied energy programs director, he led the research development and management for a $270M, 400 researcher lab portfolio encompassing intelligent mobility, fossil energy, advanced manufacturing and sustainable electricity and including multilab collaborations as well as industry partnerships. 

“During the last couple of centuries, the creation of wealth and economic activity has been directly tied to greenhouse gas emissions,” said Daniel. ​“Our generation will need to lay the foundation to untie that intimate relationship and enable economic growth and personal wellbeing while reducing and eliminating the emission of greenhouse gases and rebalancing atmospheric carbon concentration. Argonne brings essential expertise, capabilities and facilities to this effort.” 

Daniel holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in materials science from the Saarland University and two master’s degrees in materials science and engineering — one from the École Européenne d’ingénieurs en Génie des Matériaux and one from the Saarland University. 

“It is an exciting time for Argonne and its AET directorate, to help shape and advance the country’s goals for a net-zero economy,” said Argonne Director Paul Kearns. ​“Claus brings a vision for talent acquisition and development, facility transformation and partner collaboration to help Argonne drive globally needed solutions to deeply decarbonize the economy in an affordable, equitable and inclusive manner.” 

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.