Terrence Mosley is one of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s leaders in ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion are woven into EERE activities, programs, and engagement. As senior advisor for diversity, Mosley is focused on ensuring broad diversity in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) development, engagement, and recruitment programs.
Based in his native Jackson, Mississippi, Mosley brings an extensive knowledge of the STEM field, having earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering at Southern University and A&M College, a historically Black university in Louisiana, and an M.S. in mechanical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He worked in the automotive industry for nearly two decades in various engineering and management roles with industry leaders like General Motors and Delphi Packard Electric Systems.
One of his proudest STEM outreach accomplishments occurred during his time at Delphi, when he served as the executive sponsor for a new Jackson Public School FIRST Robotics competition team. A group of volunteers turned the team into multiple-award winners at the regional and national levels over 10 years.
Mosley then pivoted his career to entrepreneurship and became the president of a small construction firm that redeveloped foreclosed properties into affordable homes, before he joined the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
His DOE journey began in 2019 when he became an American Association for the Advancement of Science and Technology Policy Fellow. His background in construction and engineering made him a perfect match for the work underway in EERE’s Building Technologies Office. There, he tackled initiatives focused on diversifying the pipeline of the STEM workforce, particularly in the sustainability and efficiency fields.
Today Mosley is expanding on this work across all of EERE’s program areas. “A really big part of my role is continuing to find creative means for us to do more business with historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions (MSIs), as well as minority-owned businesses,” he says.
Some initiatives and collaborations he’s working on include the Minority-Serving Institutions STEM Research and Development Consortium (MSRDC), a consortium of more than 70 MSIs that promote innovative research and development (R&D) in the clean energy space. The program has active projects focused on building technologies and solar power, with potential projects in bioenergy, water, and wind power.
“With the continued interest increasing from EERE program offices, I believe we can triple our current MSRDC funding levels devoted towards R&D work at minority-serving institutions over the next two to three years,” Mosley says.
Another initiative is the Graduate Education for Minority Students (GEM) fellowship, which recruits underrepresented students seeking graduate degrees in applied science and STEM fields. “It’s an ongoing challenge to expose students to what we do and careers in our industry, so programs like the GEM fellowship can help us to bring more highly skilled minority students into the clean energy field,” Mosley says.
Moving forward, much of Mosley’s focus is on partnering with other government agencies, like the National Science Foundation, to pool efforts and connect talented people in underrepresented groups with a range of STEM programs that EERE has to offer.
Thanks to Mosley’s efforts, EERE continues to make daily strides to ensure all young Americans, regardless of background, can find pathways to pursue opportunities in clean energy and technology. EERE is proud to call Mosley a Clean Energy Champion.
