3D Printing Metal for Ocean Energy Devices, Unlocking AI’s Potential, Early Career Spotlight

It’s the 50th episode of The NREL Podcast! Today, you’ll hear about: 

1. A new tool that lets researchers and partners cut prototyping costs, wait times, and design barriers for ocean energy technologies. 
2. A recent gathering at NREL where experts explored how artificial intelligence can accelerate materials synthesis, characterization, and modeling—unlocking new insights and speeding technologies to market. 
3. NREL data scientist Hilary Egan's creative career path from astrophysics to applied artificial intelligence. 

This episode was hosted by Kerrin Jeromin and Taylor Mankle, written and produced by Allison Montroy, Hannah Halusker, and Kaitlyn Stottler, and edited by Taylor Mankle, Joe DelNero, and Brittany Falch. Graphics are by Brittnee Gayet. Our title music is written and performed by Ted Vaca and episode music by Chuck Kurnik, Jim Riley, and Mark Sanseverino of Drift BC. Transforming Energy: The NREL Podcast is created by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. Email us at podcast@nrel.gov. Follow NREL on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Threads, and Facebook.

Transcript

[intro music, fades]  

Taylor: Welcome to The NREL Podcast, brought to you by the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for energy systems research, development, and integration. We’re highlighting the latest in research and innovations happening at the lab. It’s Wednesday, September 3rd. I’m Taylor Mankle. 

Kerrin: I’m Kerrin Jeromin. And this is...are you ready for it? 

[fanfare] 

Kerrin: Our 50th episode! Woohoo! 

Taylor: Wooo, 50 episodes! What a ride it’s been, Kerrin.  

Kerrin: I know, this has been awesome. We’ve talked about so many incredible technologies…  

Taylor: Impressive and passionate people… 

Kerrin: Yeah, groundbreaking research…  

Taylor: We’ve made some great puns… 

Kerrin: Great is an overstatement, we’ll say we’ve made some puns, though. 

Taylor: Fair enough, but we’ve made a bunch friends along the way!  

Kerrin: Yeah, that we absolutely have. And hey, thank to you, our listeners, for sticking with us for these 50 episodes. You’ve been awesome, and we can’t wait to share the next 50 with you.  

Taylor: Can’t wait is right. But, let’s get through this episode first.  

Kerrin: That sounds good, let’s go for it.  

[music] 

Kerrin: Alright, when it comes to marine energy, metal is metal.  

[quick guitar riff effect] 

Taylor: Oh, rock on Kerrin, yeah!  

Kerrin: Okay, not quite that kind of metal; I like your style though. But like those power chords, ocean technologies need to be strong.   

Taylor: That’s right. Marine energy devices have to be able to withstand some intense force. We’re talking about the coastline-eroding, ship-tossing, surfer-dragging forces produced by ocean waves.  

Kerrin: All that force contains tons of energy potential. Just a small portion of the energy of the ocean could provide a reliable and affordable source of electricity for coastal security and maritime industries, like seafood farms and scientific research. So, if there’s so much energy there for the taking, you might ask, why is it not powering homes and businesses?  

Taylor: Well, it’s tough to get seaworthy designs when it is expensive and time-consuming to design, build, and test each new full-scale prototype. And that’s where the metal comes in. Specifically, a new laser-powered metal 3D printer here at NREL.   

Kerrin: Yes, this metal 3D printer lets researchers quickly etch out the metal components that form the skeleton within marine energy machines, and test at minimal cost and waste. They can also easily build and trial whole, full-scale prototypes—including those with unusual geometries—so developers can rapidly confirm their device's strength and move it closer to commercial success. 

Taylor: The laser in the new 3D printer must reach—get this—temperatures of at least 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit—or, as hot as the hottest magma – to be able to manipulate stainless steel. After the 1.2-kilowatt laser melts the metal, those droplets are then deposited in layers that bind and cool quickly. And, because the machine can rotate and tilt, NREL scientists can create unusual shapes that cannot be easily replicated. That customization is critical for an industry like marine energy, where devices must be optimized for their environment.   

Kerrin: So basically, what we’re saying is, this 3D printer will help researchers test devices like never before!  

Taylor: Now that’s metal!  

[repeat guitar riff] 

[music]   

Taylor: In May of this year, NREL hosted more than 50 leaders in materials science, chemistry, artificial intelligence, and robotics at the Autonomous Research for Real-World Science, or ARROWS, workshop. 

Kerrin: Right, this group of experts was there to talk about the emerging field of Autonomous science, which is an approach that uses AI, robotics, and advanced computing to design and execute experiments at larger scales and more quickly than human researchers could achieve otherwise. While the underlying direction is still largely human-driven, autonomous experiments could help speed up research. 

Taylor: Understanding the opportunities to appropriately use AI in research has been a big question mark for the industry. But NREL materials data scientist and ARROWS workshop organizer, Steven Spurgeon, said, “After convening with experts across all the relevant fields, we came to understand that the true revolution in autonomous science isn't just about making discoveries faster, but about fundamentally changing the way we innovate—from the initial idea all the way to the real-world impact.”  

Kerrin: The group believes that AI could accelerate scientific discovery by helping researchers to more quickly gather data, search that data for patterns, and—eventually—generate insights that researchers might have otherwise missed. So we’re not talking about replacing real people, but identifying ways to speed up the work. This acceleration is critical for tackling urgent challenges, from developing next-generation batteries for electric vehicles to discovering new materials for advanced energy production. 

Taylor: The group sees it as a tool to assist, not to replace.  

Kerrin: Right. 

Taylor: At the workshop, the group also identified new opportunities for collaboration—and surfaced critical challenges that must be addressed to make autonomous science widely useful. Among these challenges is bridging the “valley of death”— the gap where promising lab discoveries, which work perfectly on small scale, fail to become viable products because of the immense challenges in manufacturing them at a large scale and ensuring they work reliably in the real world.  

Kerrin: “Valley of death” does not sound like a fun thing, and it’s certainly not—we’ve talked about this one before.  

Taylor: You’re right, it’s a big issue in getting science and tech out of the lab and into the real world.  

Kerrin: So autonomous research could help us get through that valley by producing “born-qualified” materials: materials that are designed from the very beginning with real-world factors like cost, scalability, and performance in mind. 

Taylor: This is really cutting-edge stuff. Autonomous science is still in its infancy, but the potential is enormous.  

Kerrin: Yeah, and it’s so cool that NREL is the place where all these experts come together to chart the path forward. It’s definitely a space to watch in the coming years!  

[music] 

Kerrin: We’ve talked a lot about NREL scientists across these past 50 episodes.   

Taylor: No kidding, we certainly have, and for good reason!  

Kerrin: Yeah, and something that a lot of them have in common is their path to their chosen fields. They weren’t necessarily straight forward, you know? They all tried a few different things before they found the right thing.   

Taylor: Totally. It’s pretty encouraging, isn’t it? Even I have a similar story. You gotta keep trying new things until you find where you belong.  

Kerrin: Yeah same, I’m in that same boat. And that’s definitely how Hilary Egan, NREL data scientist, feels. Her career in science was not a straight line but rather one shaped by curiosity, adaptability, and a deep interest in computational problem solving. 

Taylor: In college, Egan majored in physics with minors in math and computer science. She worked in a laser lab early in her career, but said she was a little bit too clumsy for it.   

Kerrin: That sounds...quite dangerous actually, to work in a laser lab and be clumsy. But Hilary, it’s okay, we can all relate to being a little bit clumsy. Plus, she wanted something that connected all of her passions. She eventually found her way to an astronomy lab doing computational research. Then through an internship at NREL, she started working in AI.   

Taylor: Astronomy, AI, lasers, Egan likes to try a little bit of everything. And that jack-of-all-trades approach means she’s constantly having opportunities to learn new things.  

Kerrin: Definitely. And today, Egan applies her expertise in AI and computational science to a wide range of energy challenges, from enhancing energy efficiency in data centers, to using AI to accelerate building retrofits, to developing autonomous laboratory systems. 

Taylor: Egan says she’s not interested in narrowing her focus, which is awesome. She exemplifies the spirit of scientific exploration and innovation that drives NREL forward. 

[music] 

Taylor: Well Kerrin, happy 50th episode again—so glad we’ve been able to go on this journey together!  

Kerrin: I know, you’re the best cohost I could’ve asked for Taylor, thank you! 

Taylor: Right back at ya!  

Kerrin: Oh yes, you’re the best. It really has been a pleasure to share all of these stories of NREL with you and with our listeners.  

Taylor: That’s right, onto the next 50, everybody.  

Kerrin: And thank you all so much for joining us today for another episode of The NREL Podcast. If you’ve enjoyed the last 50 episodes, please leave us a review on your podcast player of choice or send us an email. You can write to us at podcast@nrel.gov.  

Taylor: We’ll be back in two weeks with more news from the lab.  

[music] 

Taylor: This episode was adapted from NREL news articles from July and August 2025 written by Caitlin McDermott-Murphy, Harrison Dreves, and Julia Thomas. Our theme music is written and performed by Ted Vaca and episode music by Chuck Kurnik, Jim Riley, and Mark Sanseverino, of Drift B-C. This podcast is produced by NREL’s Communications Office.