Alumni Chair Professor of Environmental Engineering and Science Emeritus
Professor Emeritus, Engineering and Public Policy, Mechanical Engineering
Senior Fellow, Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation
Ed Rubin holds joint appointments as professor emeritus in the Departments of Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) and Mechanical Engineering. He was a founding member of the EPP Department and founding director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies and the Environmental Institute (forerunners of the Steinbrenner and Scott Institutes).
He is a Fellow Member of ASME, and recipient of awards including the CMU Distinguished Professor of Engineering Award, the AWMA Lyman A. Ripperton Award for distinguished achievements as an educator, the ASME Dixy Lee Ray Award for outstanding achievement in environmental protection, and the Greenman Award of the International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme. He shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
He has served as an advisor to state and federal government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, and the State of California Energy Commission, Air Resources Board and Public Utility Commission. He is a National Associate member of the National Academies where he served on its Board on Energy and Environmental Systems and numerous study committees related to energy technologies, environmental policy, and global climate change.
Among his international activities he was an advisor to the Alberta Energy Ministry of Canada, Board member of the UK CCS Research Centre, and a coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Rubin holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, and a B.E. in mechanical engineering from the City College of the City University of New York.
Research
Rubin’s research addresses technical, economic, and policy issues related to energy and the environment, with a strong focus on climate change mitigation and control of pollutants from industrial and power generation sources. His group pioneered the development of the Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM), a stochastic simulation model used worldwide for designing and evaluating cost-effective emission control systems for thermal power plants, including current and advanced process for carbon capture and storage (CCS). A 2019 literature review identified Rubin as the most highly cited and published author in the field of CCS economic and environmental impacts
Rubin also studies the nature and pace of technology innovation for energy and environmental systems and the factors that influence it, including the role of government policies. Insights from this work have been used to estimate future cost trends for advanced power systems, and the influence of technological change on climate mitigation strategies. Additional research on energy and environmental systems, sustainability, and other topics is pursued in collaborations with the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center (CEIC), the Center for Climate and Energy Decision-Making (CEDM), the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research, and the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation.
Publications
Rubin’s publications webpage can be accessed on his website. Publications are searchable by year, topic, keywords, or names. Copies of all papers, reports, and talks can be downloaded free of charge.
1969 Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University
1965 MS, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University
1964 Bachelor of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, City College of New York
CMU Engineering
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says carbon capture deployment is lagging if we want to meet global mitigation targets. With the stakes so high, why is this the case?
Engineering and Public Policy
Professor Ed Rubin has transitioned to emeritus professor after 53 years as faculty in engineering and public policy and mechanical engineering.
Mechanical Engineering
Ed Rubin helped to establish a program to create a new breed of engineer who could work at the interface between the social and engineering sciences through the use of a genuinely interdisciplinary curriculum.
Congratulations to the 2021 CMU Engineering Faculty Awards winners.
National Energy Technology Laboratory
EPP/MechE’s Ed Rubin and NETL researchers have co-authored a paper providing comprehensive guidelines for low-carbon technologies that are crucial to combating climate change.
Engineering and Public Policy
Professor Ed Rubin (EPP/MechE), together with a team of 13 other university, industrial, and governmental collaborators, has co-authored a newly released white paper providing comprehensive guidelines for the cost estimation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and other low-carbon technologies that are crucial to combating climate change.
Mechanical Engineering
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has chosen Ed Rubin to receive the Dixy Lee Ray Award for achievements and contributions in environmental engineering.
Next Pittsburgh
EPP/MechE’s Ed Rubin was quoted in Next Pittsburgh on Pittsburgh emissions.
U.S. News & World Report
EPP/MechE’s Edward Rubin was quoted by U.S. News about Carbon Engineering’s planned project in Texas. Carbon Engineering is a Canadian startup planning to build a new type of facility that could remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air.
Science and the Total Environment
In the field of carbon capture and storage (CCS), MechE/EPP’s Ed Rubin is the most productive researcher in the world by a variety of metrics, finds a new study. Rubin has published the most CCS papers, has the most citations, and is the author of the single most-cited CCS study. Also making the Top-10 list of CCS researchers worldwide is EPP’s Haibo Zhai (8th). The work of Rubin, Zhai, and others has made CMU the most productive academic institution doing CCS research in the world. CMU is second only to the U.S. Department of Energy in total CCS research output.
NBCNews.com
EPP/MechE’s Ed Rubin was interviewed by NBC News about fossil fuels, which are constantly in the news, but rarely discussed in their totality. “They are critically important for everything we do and value as individuals and as a society—all of which need a source of energy,” said Rubin.
Radio Valencia
EPP/MechE’s Ed Rubin recently spoke with children at a school in Valencia about climate change.
FactCheck.org
EPP/MechE’s Edward S. Rubin was quoted in a FactCheck.org article about President Trump’s use of the term “clean coal.” Rubin says that coal itself is not clean and therefore President Trump’s claims about “clean coal” do not make a lot of sense.
An interdisciplinary team of CMU Engineering and CFA students participated this summer in a workshop which challenged groups to analyze a unique project in the Valencia region and to highlight areas of improvement in both utility and sustainability.
CMU Engineering
During droughts and water shortages, power plants can put a strain on the entire water system.
Spectrum IEEE
A paper co-authored by EPP/MechE's Edward S. Rubin shines a spotlight on the shortcomings of carbon capture and utilization (CCU) efforts, such as Carbon Recycling International's process, which uses excess carbon to create methanol fuel.
Scientific American
EPP/MechE’s Edward Rubin voiced concerns over the viability of carbon capture utilization as a means of greenhouse gas reduction.
Recently, EPP’s Edward S. Rubin co-authored a study on climate change that questions the effectiveness of the carbon capture and utilization (CCU) approach, an approach that was created to curb climate change.
Gizmodo
A study conducted in 2015 by MechE/EPP’s Edward Rubin was quoted recently in an article discussing Trump’s push to increase jobs via “clean coal,” a move that may not be feasible given the current market or political climate.
EPP/MechE’s Ed Rubin delivered a keynote speech to the XVI Congress of Research on Social Economy in Valencia, Spain on Oct. 19, 2016.
