The Center for Sustainable Energy at Notre Dame (ND Energy) is a University Research Center whose mission is to foster and grow energy related research toward sustainable and affordable energy solutions, support energy related education and outreach throughout the Notre Dame and surrounding communities, and influence the national and global discussions of the most pressing energy policy issues and questions of our time. ND Energy plays a pivotal role in developing new and improved energy technologies and systems and focuses on developing engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and social scientists to be leaders in their disciplines and literate in the systems of energy production and use. 

To support scientific advancements and new or improved sustainable energy technologies and systems, ND Energy provides world-class research facilities with state-of-the-art equipment and instrumentation. The Materials Characterization Facility (MCF) provides researchers with modern instrumentation and expertise for solid and liquid materials characterization by surface and thermal analysis and spectroscopic and spectrometric analytical methods, in-situ synthetic studies of complex actinide materials containing trans uranium elements, which is unique in the United States, and developing new functional materials engineered at the nanoscale to effectively capture solar radiation, interfaced with materials that can use that energy to drive useful chemical reactions.