This event provided an opportunity for chemists to collectively geek out about non-oxidative conversions, triazollium-based ionic liquids, and rhodium catalysts — for example — and for chemical supply companies to showcase contraptions that jostled, stirred, shook, rotated, inverted, injected, and swirled chemical compounds. This all made very little sense to me as a non-chemist, though I came close to purchasing a turbo vortex evaporator, just to say I own one, but please don’t ask me what it does.

What made sense to me as a transportation policy analyst, however, was the amazing potential of these studies and equipment to dynamically impact our transportation future, especially when it comes to hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) — a technology that is a piece of our plan to cut projected U.S. oil use in half over the next 20 years.