Laboratory Program Manager for Advanced Manufacturing, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
As the laboratory program manager for advanced manufacturing, Matt Ringer oversees NREL’s portfolio of science and engineering research completed on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) and the Industrial Efficiency & Decarbonization Office (IEDO). He ensures NREL researchers and engineers working on AMMTO- and IEDO-funded projects provide high-quality, groundbreaking results to our clients. NREL’s almost $15 million annual research budget from the AMMTO and IEDO is focused on advanced composites manufacturing, power electronics, supply chain and circular economy analysis, polymer upcycling and water. Additionally, Ringer is the partnerships director for the National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI), a five-year, $100-million Energy-Water Desalination Hub funded by DOE.
Group Research Manager II-Mechanical Engineering, National Wind Technology Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Jennifer King (Annoni) is a research engineer at NREL working at the National Wind Technology Center primarily on wind farm controls and optimization, autonomous energy systems, optimal design and dispatch of hybrid energy systems. She is passionate about finding new ways to better integrate and operate renewable energy into the grid of the future. She obtained her Ph.D. in aerospace engineering and mechanics from the University of Minnesota where she developed her passion for renewable energy and controls, where her primary focus was on reduced-order modeling and control of wind farms. Her current research focus areas are in modeling and distributed control/optimization of large-scale hybrid systems.
Aspire Shell Endowed Chair and Executive Director for Energy Transition, Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Joe Powell (Joseph B. Powell, PhD) is Executive Director of the University of Houston Energy Transition Institute, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, Fellow and former Director of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He served as Shell’s first Chief Scientist – Chemical Engineering from 2006 – 2020, culminating a 36-year industry career where he led R&D programs in new chemical processes, biofuels, enhanced oil recovery, and advised on global strategy for the energy transition to a net-zero carbon economy. He is co-inventor on more than 125 patent applications (60 granted), has received AIChE / ACS / R&D Magazine awards for Innovation, Service, and Practice, and is co-author of Sustainable Development in the Process Industries: Cases and Impact (2010).
