Johns Hopkins University has announced a $20 million gift from the estate of trustee emeritus and alumnus Ralph S. O'Connor ('51) to establish a sustainable energy institute in its Whiting School of Engineering.

The Ralph S. O'Connor Sustainable Energy Institute will serve as an interdisciplinary hub for research and education focused on the development of clean, renewable, and sustainable energy technologies. To that end, the institute will work to advance renewable energy solutions and address challenges in its production, storage, transmission, and distribution; further develop fuel technologies that capture carbon and repurpose it in new materials for buildings, agriculture, and transportation; and promote the affordable and equitable implementation of sustainable energy solutions, with a focus on policy, regulation, market incentives, outreach efforts, and partnerships with industry, public utilities, federal agencies, and national labs. The institute will be launched with seven core faculty and twenty-six affiliated faculty members, including scholars from the Whiting School, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Bloomberg School of Public Health, School of Advanced International Studies, and Applied Physics Laboratory.

O'Connor, who died in 2018, graduated from Johns Hopkins with a bachelor's degree in biology and was an entrepreneur, civic leader, and philanthropist whose support for the university over several decades included gifts in support of financial aid, endowed faculty chairs, athletics, the arts, undergraduate entrepreneurs, and the Homewood campus recreation center that bears his name.

"Hopkins has never shied away from tackling enormous, complex societal problems — and this is one such challenge," said Ben Schafer, the Willard and Lillian Hackerman Professor of Civil and Systems Engineering and the O'Connor Institute's founding director. "With researchers from across the university collaborating and addressing these issues holistically, we can have a huge impact on advances in energy-related research and in informing policy that ensures the benefits of our work will be enjoyed by all."