[7] The school was the university's response to the years surrounding the Civil War that transformed Pittsburgh's industrial base from regional to international.

[13] Comprising more than 70 faculty members and 200 students and postdocs, the center was scheduled to be housed on a floor of Benedum Hall undergoing a $15 million renovation.

[14] The center was created in 2008 to bring together energy innovators across a range of engineering and academic disciplines.

It also sought to develop stronger collaborations with energy industry partners in the Western Pennsylvania.

[15] The center's faculty focus on five key areas of research that include energy delivery and reliability, carbon management and utilization, high-temperature and other advanced materials, energy efficiency, and unconventional gas resources.