Capabilities

SEAR Lab turns analytics and rapid prototyping into better decisions about energy, materials and infrastructure. This page covers how we think about infrastructure, what we can do with partners, where we work, and our research areas.

Three layers of infrastructure

Physical, digital and institutional infrastructure only work together. The physical layer does the work, the digital layer records and models it, and the institutional layer decides what it is for and who it serves.

  • Physical: the roads, ports, pipelines, power lines and factories that move people, energy and materials and make what a society uses. In our work: hardware, experiments and recovered batteries.
  • Digital: the records, measures and models that physical systems depend on and institutions decide from. They make those flows visible, accountable and optimizable. In our work: models, analytics and decision tools.
  • Institutional: the laws, policies and organizations that protect people, enforce agreements and decide who builds, who pays and who benefits. In our work: policy, programs and deployment.

Mission, vision and methods

  • Mission: Build the integrated infrastructure of the future: physical, digital and institutional.
  • Vision: Advance innovation to drive sustainable resource abundance that elevates the human condition; here and among the stars.
  • Methods: Analytics (mathematical optimization, surrogate optimization, simulation, AI and machine learning, and specialized analytics such as GIS, LCA and TEA) and rapid prototyping and piloting, informed by mechanical, electrical and chemical experiments and guided by systems engineering, with interdisciplinary teams.

What we can do with you

Everything we do starts with data-driven decision making: turning measurements, records and models into choices about where limited resources should go. We bring it to partners in all three layers, as sponsored research, pilots and joint projects.

Data-driven decision making

  • Decision support built on an organization’s own data
  • AI workflows that digest proprietary data for analysis
  • Benchmarking and process improvement backed by data and AI
  • Design of experiments for efficient resource allocation

Physical: experiments and prototypes

  • Bench-scale experiments in critical mineral recovery and battery recycling
  • Battery repurposing and microgrid prototyping, including second-life batteries
  • RFID system deployment, system and tag testing, and RFID-enabled product development, with the RAID Lab
  • Energy efficiency studies, energy asset deployment and facility layout

Digital: data processing, analysis and computational modeling

  • Energy system modeling for strategic and operational planning: capacity expansion, transmission and grid analytics
  • Energy and critical mineral supply chain modeling, from mines and recycling to trade and policy
  • Mathematical optimization, AI-enabled surrogate models and surrogate optimization
  • Custom simulation and model-based systems engineering (MBSE)
  • Asset and inventory tracking software and digital twins
  • GIS, life cycle assessment (LCA), techno-economic analysis (TEA) and material flow analysis

Institutional: working with institutions

  • Studying how agencies, utilities, companies and communities enable innovation and growth
  • Policy and program analysis
  • Industrial and commercial zoning studies, including neighborhood engagement and design
  • Community-based deployment and energy justice
  • Workforce development and engineering education

Where we work

SEAR Lab is part of an innovation ecosystem at UTA that includes the Radio Frequency and Auto-ID (RAID) Lab, which Dr. Jones directs; the Center for Stochastic Modeling, Optimization, and Statistics (COSMOS), where he is Sustainability Lab Director; and the Pulsed Power and Energy Laboratory.

Our own testbeds include the lab’s rooftop solar array and weather data, a water heater and HVAC data testbed, a bench-scale microgrid built with second-life batteries, RFID readers, tags and test equipment, and drone and robotics builds.

Research areas

Our work is organized in thirteen research areas across the three layers. Each area’s page lists its projects and publications.

Have a problem that fits? Collaborate with us.