FIU’s ARC welcomes Visiting DOE Scholar Ines Triay

The Applied Research Center recently welcomed to its ranks Ines Triay, a former assistant secretary for Environmental Management (EM) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). She joins FIU as a visiting U.S. DOE scholar.

The Cuban-born, Miami-raised Triay’s work and role at FIU has her supporting the DOE Workforce Development Program to mentor STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) students and prepare them for the DOE workforce with a focus on the nuclear portfolio in technical areas of need.

Dr. Ines Triay will spend the next two years working at FIU.

FIU’s students and staff will benefit from Triay’s years of experience in the federal government and her knowledge of the DOE organization, as well as that of other federal agencies.

“I have known Ines for about four years,” said David Roelant, associate director of research at ARC. “Through her connections and wisdom, we will develop additional workforce development programs from other federal agencies to provide similar excellent training and hiring opportunities for FIU students as the DOE Workforce Development Program has done under Leonel Lagos.”

Triay remains a DOE career senior executive service employee and comes to the university under an intergovernmental personnel act.

DOE-EM was instrumental in the launch of the Hemispheric Center for Environmental Technologies (HCET) at FIU in 1995. Since then, it has provided $4 million-$7 million anually in funding to the university.

The current Applied Research Center evolved out of HCET five years ago. The DOE Workforce Development Program was launched in 2007. Through the program, four students have been hired by the Department of Energy, one by a DOE contractor company and one by another federal agency.