The MIT Energy Initiative’s second round of seed grants for energy research, announced this week, will go toward a wide array of research topics ranging from micro-hydropower and solar-thermal power projects for developing countries, to the development of novel materials for insulation or for power generation, to computer software that can help to optimize energy use in cities or in a whole nation.

Among the recipients are Prof. Gerd Ceder for “A high-throughput computational approach to finding novel thermoelectric materials,” Prof. Gene Fitzgerald for “Scalable thermoelectric power with novel thin film technology,” and Prof. Don Sadoway for “Supervalent battery.”