2018 Annual Meeting

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy delivered the keynote address at the Nov 9 annual meeting at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. The governor declared that clean energy is central to New Jersey’s economic future and sketched his plan to bring a range of new technologies to the state. Murphy cited the planned expansion of energy storage and community solar power, increased energy efficiency measures for the state’s utilities, and plans to approve enough wind energy to power 1.5 million homes and businesses by 2030. The full-day meeting featured panel discussions on clean energy development and opportunities for industry-academic partnerships to help society transition to sustainable energy systems. Subjects included the development of wind energy, sustainable cements and low-carbon hydrogen production.

KEYNOTE

Phil Murphy

Governor of New Jersey

Philip Murphy took the oath of office as New Jersey’s 56th governor on January 16, 2018.

Since taking office, Governor Murphy has focused on making New Jersey a leader in both renewable energy and the fight against global climate change. As one of his first acts in office, he announced New Jersey’s planned re-entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Under his leadership, New Jersey is also joining its fellow states on the Delaware River Basin Commission in supporting a permanent ban on fracking within the river’s watershed region.

Governor Murphy has initiated the creation of a new Energy Master Plan to point New Jersey to a 100 percent clean-energy economy by 2050. He has committed to making New Jersey a global leader in offshore wind, and has set the state on an ambitious path to having 3,500 MW of wind-generated electricity – enough to power 1.5 million homes – online by 2030. He also unveiled a proposal for New Jersey to create a new wind-energy research institute and workforce training center. Governor Murphy is also engaged in moving the state’s solar energy market forward, and has introduced an innovative community solar energy program.

The Governor also signed a law designed to prevent fossil-fuel drilling off the Jersey Shore, a direct response to the Trump Administration’s efforts to open the region to exploration.

From 2009 until 2013, Governor Murphy served as the United States Ambassador to The Federal Republic of Germany, appointed by President Barack Obama. Governor Murphy worked for over twenty years at Goldman Sachs.

Throughout his life, Governor Murphy has remained deeply engaged in civic life and philanthropy. In 2014, Governor and Mrs. Murphy founded New Start New Jersey, a “think tank” dedicated to seeking new policy directions to grow New Jersey’s economy and middle class. The Murphys partnered with the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University to create the New Start Career Network which specifically helps long-term unemployed New Jerseyans over age 45 get back into the workforce.

Governor Murphy is a graduate of Harvard University and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

The Governor and his wife, Tammy Snyder Murphy, are the parents of four children: Josh, Emma, Charlie, and Sam. The family resides in Middletown, Monmouth County.

PANELISTS

José L. Avalos

Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University

José Avalos is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University. He is also an associated faculty member in the Princeton Environmental Institute and the Department of Molecular Biology. His research focuses on the use of biotechnology to address challenges in renewable energy, sustainable manufacturing, the environment, and human health. His lab works primarily in metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, protein engineering, systems biology, and structural biology.

Avalos earned a B.E. in chemical engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. He then received an MSc in biochemical research from Imperial College in London, and a Ph.D. in biochemistry and biophysics from Johns Hopkins University. He did postdoctoral research at The Rockefeller University in membrane biophysics; and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. He has received several awards, including the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fellowship, the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship Award in Computational and Evolutionary Molecular Biology, the Pew scholarship, and the NSF CAREER Award.

Paul Chirik

Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Chemistry, Princeton University

Paul Chirik joined the Princeton University faculty as the Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Chemistry in 2011 and served as the Associate Director for External Partnerships at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment in 2015-2017. He is a pioneer in developing catalytic processes that rely on earth abundant transition metals, rather than more commonly used precious metals. His research group currently has collaborations with the pharmaceutical, petrochemical, fine and commodity chemical, and flavor and fragrance industries. He has published over 175 peer-reviewed papers and is an inventor on approximately 20 patents.

Chirik, a Philadelphia native, earned his B.S. in chemistry from Virginia Tech and his Ph. D. from Caltech. Following postdoctoral studies at MIT, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University in 2001 and was named the Peter J. W. Debye Professor of Chemistry in 2009. His research and teaching have been recognized with an Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, the Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists, a Packard Fellowship in science and engineering, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award, and an NSF CAREER Award. He was recently recognized with the ACS Catalysis Lectureship for Excellence in Catalysis Science and the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. He has delivered over 300 lectures around the world and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Organometallics.

David C. Dankworth

Andlinger Center Visitor in Residence; Distinguished Scientific Advisor; ExxonMobil Strategic Corporate Research

David Dankworth is a Distinguished Scientific Advisor at ExxonMobil Strategic Corporate Research. His work is currently focused on strategies for long term development and deployment of natural gas conversion technologies. He is also a visiting research scholar and scientific portfolio advisor for ExxonMobil’s sponsored collaborative research programs at Princeton University’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.

In his management career, Dankworth has led a range of global technology groups within ExxonMobil, including heat transfer, combustion, energy conservation, catalytic cracking, and hydroprocessing. He also has played roles in operations as technical manager of the Ingolstadt refinery in Germany, and managed regional engineering support for refining in both Europe and Canada. He was manager of the global Refining Process Engineering division from 2009-2013, which supported research, operations, project development and commercialization of process technology for ExxonMobil refineries and licensing customers worldwide. Most recently, he was head of strategy for EM Research and Engineering Company, working at the interface between technology development and business strategies.

Dankworth is a chemical engineer, with degrees from Rice University (B.S. 1986) University of Cambridge (CPGS 87, Churchill Scholar) and Princeton (Ph.D. 91, Hertz Fellow). He is the inventor on over 20 U.S. and international patents. His continuing interests are in the areas of chemical reactor engineering, process intensification, global energy supply, corporate and industry strategy, and technical organization effectiveness.

Judi Greenwald

Non-resident Fellow, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Principal, Greenwald Consulting, LLC

Judi Greenwald is the principal of Greenwald Consulting LLC, providing energy and environmental expert advice, strategic planning, and policy analysis to clients. In 2018 she was an Inaugural Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow at Princeton University’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Until 2017, Greenwald was the deputy director for climate, environment, and energy efficiency in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis. In this capacity, she oversaw technical, economic and policy analysis related to climate mitigation and resilience, environmental protection, and energy efficiency. Greenwald also served as a senior advisor to the Secretary for Climate Change. She has 35 years of experience working on energy and environmental policy. Prior to joining DOE, Greenwald worked for 14 years at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (formerly the Pew Center on Global Climate Change), most recently serving as the vice president for technology and innovation. There she oversaw the analysis and promotion of technology, business, state, regional and federal innovation in the major sectors that contribute to climate change, including transportation, electric power, buildings, and industry.

Greenwald co-convened the National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative, was a member of the advisory council of the Electric Power Research Institute, and has served on several National Academy of Sciences panels studying vehicles and fuels. She also served on the resource panel for the northeast Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the California Market Advisory Committee, as a policy advisor to the Western Climate Initiative, and the Midwest Greenhouse Gas Accord Advisory Group. Prior to her work at the Pew Center, Greenwald served as a senior advisor on the White House Climate Change Task Force and as a member of the professional staff of the U.S. Congress Energy and Commerce Committee, where she worked on the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, the 1992 Energy Policy Act, and a number of other energy and environmental statutes. Earlier in her career, she worked as a congressional fellow with then-Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd, an environmental scientist with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and an environmental engineer and policy analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency. Greenwald received a B.S. in engineering cum laude from Princeton University, and an M.A. in science, technology and public policy from George Washington University.

Chris Greig

Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow in Energy and the Environment, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University; Director, Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation; Director, UQ Energy Initiative

Chris Greig leads both the Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation and the UQ Energy Initiative. At Princeton, he is leading the Rapid Switch initiative, which looks at opportunities to accelerate low-carbon energy transitions by anticipating and resolving bottlenecks. He is a chemical engineer, having obtained his degree and Ph.D. at the University of Queensland, and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.

Greig’s 25-year industry career commenced in 1986 as the co-founder of a successful process technology and contracting company, which he sold in 1999 to a major European engineering company. Since then and prior to joining UQ, he held senior project and executive roles in the construction and energy resources sectors, including as CEO of ZeroGen, a large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. During his time at UQ, Greig also served as chairman of the Energy Policy Institute of Australia, deputy chairman of Gladstone Ports Corporation, and non-executive director of two ASX listed engineering companies. His main research interests lie in energy transitions, economics and policy, energy for development, mega-project implementation, and CCS.

Darren Hammell

Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow in Energy and the Environment, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University; Founder and CEO, Princeton Power Systems

Darren Hammell took home first place in the Princeton University business plan contest and co-founded Princeton Power Systems in 2001, serving as President and CEO and on the Board of Directors. Since its founding, Princeton Power Systems has been a pioneer in energy storage, renewable microgrids, and power electronics technologies. Under Hammell’s leadership, the company has deployed over 1,000 projects and $200MM in energy storage and renewable microgrids on six continents, leading the global transition to distributed renewable generation and advanced energy storage.

In 2018, Hammell joined Princeton University as the Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow in the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. He was named one of Red Herring Magazine’s ‘Young Moguls’ and New Jersey-BIZ’s Forty Under 40 business leaders, and is a frequent invited speaker at industry events. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the non-profit New Jersey Technology Council and the Einstein’s Alley Technology Collaborative, and an investor in early-stage technology companies. Hammell graduated with honors from Princeton University with a B.S.E. in Computer Science and an honorary mention for the Donald Janssen Dike Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.

Laurel Harmon

Vice President, LanzaTech

Dr. Harmon provides policy direction and leadership on international legislative and regulatory matters and develops collaborative research and demonstration projects for LanzaTech. LanzaTech is the global leader in gas fermentation technology, offering novel and economic routes to a variety of products, including aviation fuel, from waste carbon streams. By recycling carbon, LanzaTech’s solutions mitigate carbon emissions from industry without adversely impacting food or land security. LanzaTech’s unique process, certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials and currently protected by over 400 granted patents, produces sustainable fuels and platform chemicals that serve as building blocks for everyday products such as rubber and plastics. Dr. Harmon received her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Michigan and has over 30 years experience in policy matters and technology development.

Marcus Hultmark

Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University

Marcus Hultmark is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. His research interests include a variety of problems related to fluid mechanics, with a focus on problems involving turbulence such as wind energy, heat and mass transfer, as well as drag reduction. Unique experimental approaches are combined with theoretical work and the development of novel sensors to investigate these flows with high accuracy. He was awarded the 2016 Air Force Young Investigator award, the 2017 NSF Career award, and the 2017 Nobuhide Kasagi Award. He received his M.Sc. degree from Chalmers University in Sweden and his Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Eric Larson

Senior Research Engineer, Energy Systems Analysis Group, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University

Eric Larson is a Senior Research Engineer with the Andlinger Center’s Energy Systems Analysis Group. He is also affiliated with the Woodrow Wilson School’s Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy Program and the Princeton Environmental Institute, and he has an appointment as a Senior Scientist with Climate Central.

Larson’s research interests intersect engineering, environmental science, economics, and public policy. His work is aimed at identifying sustainable, engineering-based solutions to major energy-related environmental problems, especially global climate change, and at informing relevant public policy debates. A recent research emphasis has been on the design and techno-economic assessment of advanced processes for production of clean transportation fuels and electricity from carbonaceous sources with CO₂ capture and storage. He also has been collaborating with ecologists at the University of Minnesota and Colorado State University to better understand the potential of biomass-based energy options to deliver negative carbon emission transportation fuels in the U.S. He is currently helping to create a global, multi-disciplinary network of collaborators addressing the question How rapidly can the world’s energy system be decarbonized? This initiative seeks to anticipate the most significant bottlenecks and constraints that are likely to limit the pace of global energy-system decarbonization and to identify approaches to overcoming these.

Larson maintains long-term collaborations on energy and sustainability with colleagues in China (Tsinghua University) and in Australia (University of Queensland). He has over 85 peer-reviewed papers and more than 250 publications in total. He holds a B.S.E. from Washington University in St. Louis (1979) and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota (1983).

Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo

Director, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Professor in Engineering; Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University

Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo is the Theodora D. ’78 & William H. Walton III ’74 Professor in Engineering, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University. Loo’s research interest is in the processing and development of materials for lightweight and flexible solar cells and circuits, the combination of which is being explored for “smart” windows to increase building and energy efficiencies. More recently, her research expanded into economic modeling of liquid fuels production from non-food biomass after her stint at NewWorld Capital Group, a private equity firm that invests in environmental opportunities.

Having received her Ph.D. in 2001 from Princeton University, Loo returned in 2007 after starting her academic career at the University of Texas at Austin. As the Associate Director of External Partnerships at the Andlinger Center from 2011 to 2015, she launched and led Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership. Loo served as Acting Vice-Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science in the spring of 2016.

The author of over 150 publications, Loo has delivered more than 200 invited and plenary lectures globally and she serves on numerous international advisory boards of peer academic institutions, non-governmental organizations, journal publishers, and private companies. She is a fellow of the American Physical Society, a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, and a Strategic Advisor for NewWorld Capital Group. Her scholarly work has been recognized by numerous other accolades, including Sloan and Beckman Fellowships, the John H. Dillon Medal from the American Physical Society, and the Alan P. Colburn Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Kris Ohleth

Senior Manager, Stakeholder Engagement, Ørsted North America

Kris Ohleth has worked in the offshore wind industry in the United States for nearly 15 years, helping to develop the market in the States for this new technology since its first inception. As the Director of Permitting and Stakeholder Relations for several offshore wind developers, she has gained critical insights into federal and state offshore wind regulations and processes. Kris has extensive experience with offshore wind stakeholders in the region and has expert knowledge of ocean planning, having worked on ocean policy issues and stakeholders at all levels, from industry, state, and NGOs perspectives. A New Jersey native, she currently serves as Senior Manager of Stakeholder Engagement for Ørsted North America and lives in northern New Jersey with her husband and two greyhounds, Melvin and Mickey.

Sean O’Sullivan

Managing General Partner, SOSV

Sean is Managing General Partner of SOSV. SOSV, “the accelerator VC”, is one of the most active seed and early stage investors globally, investing over $50 million per year in 150 new startups annually in the areas of hardware, life sciences, food, and Asia cross-border Internet.

Sean got his entrepreneurial start in 1985 as a founder of MapInfo, bringing street mapping technology to personal computers. MapInfo went on to become a $200 million public company with over 1,000 employees worldwide. In 1996, while at the helm of his second company, NetCentric, he created “software for inside the Internet” and is credited with co-creating the term “cloud computing” alongside George Favaloro from Compaq.

Sean has continued as a visionary entrepreneur and investor, creating and supporting a range of business, humanitarian and educational endeavors. A major promoter of economic and social development, he founded JumpStart International in 2003. JumpStart was a leading humanitarian engineering organization based in Baghdad and which operated throughout Iraq during the post-war period of 2003-2006. He spent a few years running JumpStart, which for a time had a staff of over 3000, running up to 80 projects at a time in Fallujah, Najaf and the Baghdad region. As benefactor of the O’Sullivan Foundation, Sean has also been a primary funder of organizations such as Khan Academy, Mathletes and CoderDojo.

Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall

Distinguished Professor of the Practice, Georgia Institute of Technology; Senior Fellow, Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School

Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall is Distinguished Professor of the Practice at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. She served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy from 2014-2017, providing strategic direction for DOE’s broad missions in nuclear security, science and energy, emergency response, and environmental management. As the Department’s statutory COO, she oversaw a budget of nearly $30 billion and a workforce of more than 113,000, including at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. She led bilateral and multilateral energy, climate, and nuclear security dialogues with global counterparts and launched a major initiative to improve energy sector emergency preparedness and response.

Serving previously at the White House, Sherwood-Randall was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs on the National Security Council from 2009-2013, and White House Coordinator for Defense Policy, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Arms Control from 2013-2014. In the Clinton Administration, Sherwood-Randall was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia. She received her B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard University and her D.Phil. from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She is the parent of a Princeton sophomore and serves on the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment Advisory Council.

Tom Schuler

President and CEO, Solidia Technologies, Inc.

A leader in the worldwide building materials and construction sectors, Solidia Technologies® President and CEO Tom Schuler has more than 25 years of experience in international executive management and shepherding new technologies to market. After heading two global businesses at DuPont®, including as President of DuPont Building Innovations, Tom joined Solidia Technologies in 2011 to lead the cement and concrete technology company towards global commercialization.

An expert in sustainable innovation, Tom emphasizes the need to disrupt by first solving industry challenges, guided by his philosophy, “It can’t just be green; it has to be better.” Solidia Technologies is a cement and concrete technology company that makes it easy and profitable to use CO₂ to create superior and sustainable building materials. Solidia’s patented processes start with a sustainable cement, cure concrete with CO₂ instead of water, reduce the carbon footprint of concrete by up to 70%, and recycle 60 to 80% of the water used in production.

A regular guest of international trade, industry, investor and sustainable growth groups, Tom shares his advocacy of sustainability, not only as a societal necessity, but one that is consistent with future business prosperity. He has spoken at the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival, The Economist Sustainability Summit, Cleantech100, Cleantech Europe, the International Concrete Conference, the International Concrete Sustainability Conference, Euro Energy Venture Fair, Batimat Paris, NeoCon, UVA’s TomTom Festival, the Jeffries Global Industrial Conference, and more.

He has appeared on business television and radio programs, including Bloomberg’s “Money Moves,” American Urban Radio Network and Metro Network News. He has been published and quoted widely, including in The Smithsonian, Sustainable Business Magazine, Le Point, Green and Design, IP Frontline, Science & Vie, Carbon Market Review, Metropolis, Batiactu, Concrete Products, World Cement, and more. Under his leadership, Solidia has been honored extensively, including: the 2016 Sustainia100; 2015 NJBiz Business of the Year; 2014 Global Cleantech 100; 2013 R&D Top 100; 2014 CCEMC Grand Challenge First Round finalist; 2013 Katerva Award finalist, MIT’s Climate CoLab shortlist, and…Tom’s favorite…a 2014 NJBiz Best Place to Work in NJ.

Tom has a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Virginia, has completed extensive graduate study in Finance and Marketing, and has a mastery of conversational German and French. He serves on UVA’s Jefferson Scholarship Foundation’s Alumni Advisory Council and national selection committee.

Based in Piscataway, N.J. (USA), Solidia’s investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Bright Capital, BASF, BP, LafargeHolcim, Total Energy Ventures, Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) Climate Investments, Air Liquide, Bill Joy and other private investors. Follow Solidia Technologies at www.solidiatech.com and on LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter: @SolidiaCO2. Follow Tom on LinkedIn and Twitter: @Tom_Schuler.

Vijay Swarup

Vice President of Research and Development, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company

Vijay Swarup joined the company in 1987 as an engineer at Exxon Research and Engineering in Clinton, New Jersey. Over his career, he has progressed through a variety of engineering, planning and managerial roles at company locations in Redwater, Alberta, Canada; Baytown, Texas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Houston, Texas and Fairfax, Virginia.

In 2006, Swarup became the Global Technology Planning Manager for ExxonMobil Chemical. In 2008, he was appointed Global Olefins Marketing Manager for ExxonMobil Chemical Company. He moved from Houston, Texas to Fairfax, Virginia in 2010 to become Vice President of Basestocks, Specialties and Asphalt for ExxonMobil Lubricants and Specialties Company. He was appointed Manager of Planning and Business Development for ExxonMobil Chemical in April, 2012. In April, 2013, Swarup was appointed Corporate Strategic Research Manager, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company.

On November 1, 2014, Swarup was appointed Vice President, Research and Development, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company. He holds Bachelor of Science degrees in chemistry and in chemical engineering from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Rutgers University.

Claire White

Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University

Claire White is an Assistant Professor at Princeton University in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, with associated faculty status in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, and the Princeton Institute for Computational Science and Engineering. White completed her graduate studies in 2010 at the University of Melbourne supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award from the Australian government. After receiving her Ph.D., she worked as a postdoc at Los Alamos National Laboratory and was awarded a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellowship to research the atomic structure of low-CO₂ alkali-activated materials.

White’s research focuses on understanding and optimizing engineering and environmental materials, with an emphasis on controlling the chemical mechanisms responsible for formation and long-term degradation of low-CO₂ cements. This research spans multiple length and time scales, utilizing advanced synchrotron and neutron-based experimental techniques, and simulation methodologies. She is the recipient of a number of awards including an NSF CAREER Award and the Howard B. Wentz Jr. Junior Faculty Award (Princeton University), and has been listed several times on the Princeton Engineering Commendation List for Outstanding Teaching.

Wayne Xu

Chief Technology Officer, National Institute of Clean and Low-Carbon Energy (NICE), China

Dr. Wayne Xu currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at the National Institute of Clean-and-low-carbon Energy (NICE). In this role, Dr. Xu shapes the company’s vision for science and technology and is responsible for a broad portfolio of research programs with an annual budget of $120 Million. He also serves on the board of directors for the NICE PV Research Ltd. and Chongqing Shenhua Thin Film Solar Technology Co., Ltd. At NICE, he has created a customer-focused culture that emphasizes innovation in support of a strategic vision to bring new clean energy technologies to the global market.

Before joining NICE, Dr. Xu held a variety of leadership and technical roles with multinational companies including Formica, Akzo Nobel, Shaw Industries, and Brady Corporation. His work on the synthesis, formulation, and processing of eco-friendly ultra-low VOC resins with superior translucency created a new generation of interior home decorative laminates and led to new, tighter VOC emissions standards for the industry. His research has led to over 30 innovative products, many of which are on the best seller lists at Home Depot, Lowe’s and Menards. Billions of pounds of resins based on Dr. Xu’s work have been produced.

Dr. Xu obtained his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Among his many honors and awards, the most recent include: China Thousand Talents Program, Scientific Chinese ‘People of The Year Awards 2016’ and First Prize of Science and Technology Award in 2016 of the China Occupational Safety and Health Association. He is the Chemical Division Vice Chairman of China Thousand Talent Association; he also serves on the Expert Panel of the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation in the Department of Engineering and Materials Science. He is an advisor to the Simulation & Virtual Process Engineering Committee of the Chinese Chemical Industry and Engineering Society, and a member of the Expert Panel of China Coating Association.

Mark Zondlo

Associate Director for External Partnerships, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University

Mark A. Zondlo is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Associate Director of External Partnerships in the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University. He leads the Atmospheric Chemistry and Composition Group where his research focuses on natural and anthropogenic trace gases in the atmosphere and their associated impacts on air quality, cloud formation, carbon and nitrogen cycles, and climate. He develops novel optical instrumentation for field measurements and bridges across scales through the use of satellite and model products. He is also a Principal Investigator on the NASA Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team.

Zondlo received a B.A. from Rice University (chemistry) in 1994, a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado (physical chemistry) in 1999, and was a National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Advanced Study Program Postdoctoral Fellow from 1999-2002. Before joining the Princeton faculty in 2008, he was a senior research scientist at Southwest Sciences, Inc., where he developed new laser-based technologies for atmospheric and industrial sensing. Zondlo is also an associated faculty with the Center for Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE), Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM), and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.

Governor Murphy’s Keynote Address to the Andlinger Center &
Princeton E-ffiliates Partnership Annual Meeting

Mark Zondlo, Associate Director for External Partnerships, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo, Director, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Theodora D. ’78 and William H. Walton III ’74 Professor in Engineering; Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Rapid Fire Presentations

Judi Greenwald, Non-resident Fellow, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment; Principal, Greenwald Consulting LLC (view slides)
Eric Larson, Senior Research Engineer, Energy Systems Analysis Group, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment (view slides)

Panel Discussion: Global challenges to rapid, deep decarbonization

Moderated by Chris Greig, Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow in Energy and the Environment; Director, Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation; Director, University of Queensland Energy Initiative
Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Distinguished Professor of the Practice, Georgia Institute of Technology; Senior Fellow, Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School
Wayne Xu, Chief Technology Officer, National Institute of Clean and Low-Carbon Energy, China
Vijay Swarup, Vice President of Research and Development, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company

Industry-academic perspectives on energy technology RD&D: breakthrough opportunities, priorities, hurdles and big questions

Moderated by Darren Hammell, Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow in Energy and the Environment; Founder and CEO of Princeton Power Systems

Topic 1: Offshore wind energy
Kris Ohleth, Senior Manager, Stakeholder Engagement, Ørsted North America (view slides)
Marcus Hultmark, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (view slides)

Topic 2: Sustainable cements
Tom Schuler, President and CEO, Solidia Technologies, Inc. (view slides)
Claire White, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment (view slides)

Topic 3: Low-carbon hydrogen for fuels and chemicals
David Dankworth, Andlinger Center Visitor in Residence; Senior Scientific Advisor, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (view slides)
Paul Chirik, Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Chemistry (view slides)

Topic 4: Microbial production of fuels and chemicals
Laurel Harmon, Vice President, LanzaTech
Jose Avalos, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment (view slides)

Panel Discussion: Getting low-carbon technologies to market and achieving scale

Moderated by Sean O’Sullivan, Founder, SOSV

David Dankworth, Andlinger Center Visitor in Residence & Senior Scientific Advisor, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company
Laurel Harmon, Vice President, LanzaTech
Kris Ohleth, Senior Manager, Stakeholder Engagement, Ørsted North America
Tom Schuler, President and CEO, Solidia Technologies