Westinghouse CTO Lou Martinez Sancho visits CMU to strengthen collaboration

Carnegie Mellon’s collaboration with Westinghouse Electric Company spans several projects and disciplines. So, when Westinghouse’s Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of R&D, Lou Martinez Sancho, gave a Distinguished Lecture at the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation in January (watch the video), it was a chance to expand the collaboration even further.

Students attending from across CMU’s seven schools learned about the variety of talent Westinghouse needs — not just nuclear specialists. Indeed, Westinghouse and CMU have already formed a strong pipeline of opportunities for students and faculty. For example, Jack Beuth, a professor of mechanical engineering and a faculty affiliate of the Scott Institute, collaborated with Westinghouse to 3D print a critical component for nuclear reactors. Chemical engineering undergraduates Abby Umscheid and Catherine Kress interned at Westinghouse last summer. Ongoing research from Westinghouse and faculty affiliate Pingbo Tang focuses on safety guidelines and regulations with remote operations of microreactors.

There is something unique about the constructive collaboration between CMU and Westinghouse, according to Matthew Bartman, the College of Engineering’s Director of Research Partnerships, because of what each represents to the Pittsburgh region in terms of history and innovation. Westinghouse pioneered nuclear energy, so it’s not surprising that around 50 percent of the world’s nuclear plants operating today use Westinghouse technology. Thanks to boundless AI expansion and demand for global energy security, shuttered nuclear plants such as Three Mile Island are coming back online to support growth. 

“For me, it’s not a question of technology,” Martinez Sancho said of bringing nuclear to scale. “We’re exploring the right business model to finance the technology,” referring to Westinghouse’s AP1000®, AP300™, and eVinci™ reactors that operate at different scales and have their own maintenance requirements. Martinez Sancho noted that scaling nuclear energy requires a multi-pronged approach that includes revamping the supply chain, building new infrastructure, and training a workforce. The deepening collaboration between Westinghouse and CMU helps make this vision a reality now and into the future.