Lightbulb Moments Episode 7: Defining the Problem, Designing the Future

Podcast/Vlog Title: Defining the Problem, Designing the Future
Episode Number: S1E7
Guest: Vijay Swarup
Date Published: August 27, 2025

Episode Summary

This episode features Dr. Vijay Swarup, Senior Director of Climate Science and Technology at ExxonMobil, as he explores the foundational role of energy in society and the importance of problem definition in driving innovation. Drawing on over 30 years of experience leading research, technology, and policy engagement, Dr. Swarup reflects on the scale and complexity of the energy industry, the lessons learned from decades of R&D, and why progress depends on collaboration across disciplines. He emphasizes the need to frame problems clearly, design for scalability, and align technologies with policy and market realities. The conversation highlights how curiosity, persistence, and communication fuel discovery and why global energy access and emissions reductions must be solved together—not separately.

Key Topics 

The Fundamentals of Energy and Innovation

• Energy as the capacity to do work: Dr. Swarup reframes energy as a functional metric that underpins all modern systems, from thermal conversion to mechanical propulsion.
• Problem definition as engineering discipline: True innovation begins with rigorous problem framing—reading, rewriting, and quantifying the challenge to enable targeted solutions.

Technology, Policy, and Market Alignment

• • Coupling scalable energy technologies with policy: Breakthroughs like carbon capture, hydrogen, and LNG only scale when paired with supportive regulatory and market frameworks.
  • Scalability as a design constraint: Technologies must be evaluated not only for feasibility but for their ability to expand economically and reliably at a global level.

Global Collaboration and Knowledge Transfer

• • Energy transition as a global challenge: Reducing CO₂ emissions requires distributed capability-building, with developed nations helping emerging markets through infrastructure and knowledge transfer.
  • Interdisciplinary solutions: Addressing the dual challenge of growing global energy demand and lowering emissions demands cross-sector collaboration—engineering, science, policy, and social sciences.

Research and Innovation Mindset

• • Failure as a driver of learning: Documenting and modeling failed experiments is essential to refining hypotheses and accelerating technical readiness.
  • Molecule management expertise: ExxonMobil’s identity as “molecule managers” reflects its deep strengths in extraction, conversion, and transport, positioning it to scale technologies like hydrogen and CCS

• Guest Speaker

• Dr. Vijay Swarup is the Senior Director of Climate Science and Technology at ExxonMobil, where he leads the corporation’s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change. His portfolio spans climate policy and advocacy, with a focus on the critical interface between policy and the advancement and deployment of scalable energy technologies. 

  With over 30 years at ExxonMobil, Dr. Swarup has held diverse leadership roles across business and technology functions. From 2014 to 2022, he led the company’s global research and development organization, overseeing pioneering work in biofuels, carbon capture and storage (CCS), direct air capture, and hydrogen technologies—each central to the energy transition. 

  Dr. Swarup holds dual bachelor’s degrees in chemical engineering and chemistry from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Rutgers University. He currently serves on the National Academies Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology and the Rutgers Industrial Advisory Board. His previous advisory roles include the MIT Energy Initiative, Singapore Energy Center, Princeton’s Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment, India’s International Think Tank for Energy, and the Liberty Science Center. 

  Dr. Swarup is widely recognized for his systems-level thinking, deep technical expertise, and commitment to collaborative innovation in addressing one of society’s most complex challenges: delivering more energy with fewer emissions. 

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• Resources Mentioned in the Video: 

• Dr. Vijay Swarup LinkedIn Profile
  ExxonMobil LinkedIn 
  Imagine Solutions Conference – Science of Energy Video 
  Purdue College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni