Biographical Sketch

Dr. Chelsea Zeringue is a Sustainability Engineer with the Energy Institute of Louisiana and the Louisiana Energy Extension Service (LEES) at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from UL Lafayette, where her research and academic focus centered on sustainable processes, system optimization, and advanced technology evaluation.

Dr. Zeringue brings extensive experience in sustainability engineering and the commercialization assessment of emerging alternative energy and environmental processes. She has played a key role in providing industries and state agencies with the critical data and technical insights needed to evaluate new energy configurations, ensuring that strategic selections are grounded in sound science, practical feasibility, and long-term environmental and economic benefits. Her background features a strong foundation in both chemical engineering principles and macro-scale systems analysis, allowing her to bridge fundamental bench research with industrial-scale technical assistance.

Her work supports Louisiana in adopting effective, sustainable, and reliable technologies as the regional energy landscape continues to evolve. In addition to her technical assessments, Dr. Zeringue serves as an active research mentor within the university's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) frameworks and Chemical Engineering pipelines, managing technical projects, organizing lab infrastructures, and training future engineering professionals. Her collaborative research appears in prominent peer-reviewed journals, focusing on state-level climate planning, environmental mitigation, and renewable chemical design.

Recent Projects

• Climate Action Plan Evaluation: Directing comparative technical reviews assessing the origin, structural construct, and emission mechanics of state-level climate action plans across the United States to envision viable pathways for regional carbon neutrality.

• Renewable Bio-Adhesive Design: Managing multi-investigator research tracks assessing chemical denaturation agents to optimize the structural and adhesive performance of biopolymer matrices derived from industrial and agricultural waste feedstocks.

• Ecological Carbon Mitigation: Evaluating carbon dioxide absorption dynamics within freshwater ecosystems alongside the simulated cultivation of specialized microalgae strains for localized mitigation programs.

• Commercialization Technical Assistance: Collating, evaluating, and disseminating critical data points to municipal developers and state agencies considering utility-scale alternative energy implementation options.