The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s Kaspar J. Willam Assistant Professor Mim Rahimi recently represented the University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering while connecting with US policymakers at Carbon to Sea’s 2026 Hill Day to discuss ocean-based carbon dioxide removal (oCDR) research and developments.
These meetings with Republican and Democratic Members of Congress and their staffs provided key opportunities for federal support in this emerging field, including through increasing bipartisan support for oCDR solutions.
The Carbon to Sea initiative cultivates and maintains connections with experts in the field who research relevant technological developments. Rahimi was contacted to serve as a subject matter expert in the field for this year’s event.
“In general, my training is in electrochemistry and, specifically, on electrochemical separation, including CDR,” said Rahimi. “Different offices recognize the need to reduce CO2 emissions, and there is growing awareness that the ocean could play an important role in that conversation. It can complement both point-source emission reduction efforts and direct air capture.”
The most energy-intensive step in carbon capture is the separation of CO2 from other gasses. The ocean, Rahimi says, is a natural carbon sink — this means that nature is taking of the energy-intensive separation step.
“So our job is to find a technology that can treat seawater in a way that removes its absorbed, or separated, CO2 and sequesters it before discharging the water back into the ocean. It’s essentially an indirect method of air capture,” he said.
“The whole goal of this trip, and this Carbon to Sea initiative, is to leverage marine carbon dioxide by speaking to Members of Congress to raise awareness about its potential, its technological advancements and the previous investments the US has made into this field’s R&D,” Rahimi added. “We need to continue this, and it should be a part of the conversation for federal funding that can be routed through the Department of Energy and NOAA.”
Rahimi spent the bulk of his time with offices from California and Texas — two states with some of the greatest combined potential for increasing oCDR technologies and implementation — and felt encouraged by the background knowledge they already displayed as the conversations began.
“I think faculty at the University of Houston can do more of this kind of work. Meeting with Members of Congress gives us a chance to help policymakers better understand the science and engineering happening at our university. That kind of engagement is an important part of moving new technologies forward. It also shows how the work we do on campus can have a real impact on communities beyond the university.”
For more information about Carbon to Sea’s third annual Hill Day, which took place on March 18, 2026, click here.