To be associated with NETL and its history of innovating a robust American energy future is an honor itself. To be asked to help lead a cast of very talented people who craft energy innovations every day is a new and exciting challenge that heightens that honor. The people of NETL are special because they each bring high value skills to their teams and their work to support the goals of the Laboratory – to discover, develop and integrate innovative technologies that will help lead and elevate our nation’s safe and productive energy future.

Our people, hard at work in busy laboratory facilities in Albany, Ore., Morgantown, W.Va., and Pittsburgh, Pa., are building upon many decades of energy research progress by using talents and abilities that not only move energy innovation forward, but also contribute financially and intellectually to their home communities. I’m proud of what we have already achieved as a national laboratory, as citizens, and as colleagues.

We are embarking upon a new chapter of NETL’s mission to guarantee a healthy energy future for America. We will, as an effective team, work to build upon the successes of the past, with a new dedication to empowered relationships – relationships between colleagues within our laboratories, with our host communities, industrial collaborators, sister research organizations, and personnel in academic institutions throughout the nation.

I am looking forward to productive engagements that build upon our success, strengthen current relationships, and forge new initiatives that effectively advance our energy mission. I am grateful for the honor of being asked to help lead the Laboratory and I’m energized for a productive future.

As Acting Director of NETL, Sean I. Plasynski, Ph.D., builds on an extensive background in energy as he leads NETL in its mission to enhance the nation’s energy independence and protect the environment for future generations. For more information about Sean Plasynski's experience, please click here.