CATAPULT Advanced Energy Tech

Advisory Board

Co-Chairs: Andrew W. Lo, John Parsons, Dennis Whyte

Academics

  • Rupinder Grewal
  • Zachary Hartwig
  • Eric Lander
  • Lesley Millar-Nicholson
  • John Parsons
  • Michael Short
  • George Tynan
  • Dennis Whyte
  • Boleslaw Wyslouch
  • Deirdre Zammit

Industry

  • Peter Hancock, AIG (retired)
  • Heather Jackson, US Department of Energy
  • Phil Larochelle, Breakthrough Energy Ventures
  • Ray Rothrock, Shield Capital
  • Kiyoshi Seko, Kyoto Fusioneering
  • Guinevere Shaw, REV
  • Derek Sutherland, Realta Fusion
  • Ally Yost, Commonwealth Fusion Systems

Curriculum

Certificate Requirements: One foundational Sloan graduate-level course including a project-based component and three electives determined by field-specific departments, including one action-learning course.

Foundational Course: 15.S05 Special Seminar in Management

The foundational CATAPULT course is organized as a hub-and-spokes model. The first half of the semester forms the common “hub”: five shared sessions focused on management, institutional, and professional issues that arise in translational work across STEM fields. In the second half of the semester, students choose a domain-specific “spoke” consisting of five focused sessions followed by a shared wrap-up session at the end.

Units: 3-0-6
Schedule: Tuesdays 4:00–7:00pm plus weekly recitations
Location: 34-101
Faculty: Andrew W. Lo, John Parsons

Fall 2026 Preliminary Syllabus

**Sloan bidding not required. Enrollment is by Permission of Instructor by completing a short application here.

H1 CATAPULT Hub

Class 1: STEM Career Paths and Core Skills for Success
Class 2: Writing and Delivering STEM Topics Effectively
Class 3: Creating and Managing Your IP in Academic Settings and Navigating Conflicts of Interest
Class 4: Managing Scientific and Commercial Collaborations
Class 5: Dealing with People, Failure, and Success

H2 CATAPULT Advanced Energy Technologies Spoke

Class 6: Introduction to Career Paths in Advanced Energy Tech
Class 7: Building a Power Plant: Case Study on Fission and Fusion
Class 8: The Commercialization Journey
Class 9: The Role of Techno-Economic Analysis and Other Quantitative Economic Modeling
Class 10: How to Start an Advanced Energy Tech Company (If You Must)
Class 11: The Future of Translation: Course Wrap-Up and Next Steps

Eligibility Requirement(s) and Electives

Students may select their department below to view eligibility requirement(s) and the current list of pre-approved electives as determined by participating departments and fields of study. Core course requirements within participating PhD programs and departments will generally satisfy the elective requirement. In addition to the pre-approved electives listed below, students may petition to count other relevant courses toward the elective requirement.