The program
The Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellows program is designed to attract distinguished visitors, who will collaborate with Andlinger Center faculty, researchers, and students, and enrich the research and teaching at the Andlinger Center.
Practitioners from industry, government, and not-for-profit sectors will bring different perspectives and urgency to the energy and environmental challenges that are central to the center’s mission.
Visiting Fellows
Hal May
Harold May joined the Andlinger Center in September 2022 as a Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow with a one-year appointment. May is Professor emeritus of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical College of South Carolina, where he directed wide-ranging research related to microbial applications for organic pollutant remediation, biofuels, and synthesis of fuels and chemicals from CO2. A fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, May is the founder of two companies focused on microbial production of fuels and chemicals. At Princeton, he will collaborate with Z Jason Ren on research to improve the efficiency and throughput of combined microbial-electrochemical methods for converting CO2 into fuels and chemicals, with the aim of developing scalable systems that can be used to capture CO2. To complement these efforts, May plans to organize a workshop at Princeton for the broader research community to identify key research challenges in microbial CO2 capture and foster new collaborations.
Jean-Marcel Rax
Jean-Marcel Rax joined the Andlinger Center in September 2022 as a Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow with a six-month appointment. Rax is a University Professor at Université de Paris-Saclay and École Polytechnique. Among his many accomplishments, Rax has served as Technical Advisor and Scientific Advisor to the French Atomic Energy Commission and as Director of the Laboratory for Plasma Physics and Technology at École Polytechnique. At Princeton, Rax is collaborating with Nathaniel Fisch on two projects related to plasma applications in fission and fusion energy. One project will examine reactors for rotating magnetized plasmas to enable efficient reprocessing of spent fuel from nuclear fission. The other project focuses on how injecting pulses of electrons into Tokamak fusion reactors can be used to control the plasma motion and improve reactor performance.
Non-resident Fellows
Doug Arent
Douglas Arent (Ph.D., 1987) joined the Andlinger Center in May 2022 as a non-resident fellow. Arent is an Executive Leadership Team Member and Executive Director of Strategic Public Private Partnerships at the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where he focuses on strategic public and private partnerships to transform global energy economies at speed and scale. Arent brings his extensive research and leadership experience in the energy sector to collaborate with researchers, including Jesse Jenkins, Eric Larson, Chris Greig, and Elke Weber, on developing a strategic roadmap for future growth of energy systems and energy transitions research at Princeton. His fellowship plans also include collaborative research on international Net Zero efforts, with attention to fostering connections between NREL and Princeton that leverage their unique institutional strengths and can ground long-term working relationships.
Steven C. Freilich
Steven C. Freilich is currently executive-in-residence in the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, having recently retired from DuPont after a 33 year career. For the last 12 years of his DuPont career, he served as the director of materials science in DuPont Central Research and Development. In that role, Freilich was responsible for developing and implementing the technology growth strategies in rapidly moving areas such as materials for energy, displays, and biomedical applications. He used his experience to impact corporate innovation through leadership at the interface of technology and markets.
During his tenure as director of materials science, Dr. Freilich held the additional position of CTO of the DuPont Electronics and Communication Platform, and was appointed as the chief technology advocate for North Asia. He has served on the boards of the United States Display Consortium, DuPont Photonics Technologies, the DuPont-MIT Alliance, and was the vice chair of both the advisory panel for the Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion and the advisory committee for the Clean Energy Manufacturing Analysis Center in the Department of Energy. He has also served on the advisory boards for Sandia National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the National Research Council of Canada.
Richard H. Moss
Richard H. Moss is a senior scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland. He’s also founding director of the Science for Climate Action Network (SCAN), a new collaboration designed to accelerate climate adaptation and mitigation with science and stakeholder engagement. SCAN will assess and improve methods for using the current state of knowledge of climate change and solutions to inform infrastructure design, architecture, standard setting, financing, and other practical aspects of taking climate action at state and municipal levels. While at the Andlinger Center, Moss focused on coastal adaptation, among other topics. Moss has published widely on climate scenarios, uncertainty characterization, and adaptation. He has held several public service positions including with the United States Global Change Research Program and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He has served on a number of National Academy activities and chaired a federal advisory committee on the National Climate Assessment. Moss holds a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College, Northfield, MN, and holds a Ph.D. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
Moss directed the programming behind the 2020 E-ffiliates retreat, which focused on resilience and making infrastructure and communities resilient to storms and other extreme disruptions.
John Pickering
John Pickering, chief behavioral scientist, is the founder and chief executive officer of Evidn, LLC with extensive experience in the analysis, design, delivery and evaluation of behavior change programs for large scale complex problems. Pickering is the co-chair of the Nature Sustainability Expert Panel on Behavioral Science, Design and Sustainability, a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) expert steering group on agri-environmental behavior economics, and was recently appointed to the Queensland Government’s Health and Wellbeing Advisory Board to oversee the development of behavioral change strategies for improving health outcomes across the state. Pickering has various scholarly positions at universities worldwide including an appointment at Princeton University (non-resident fellow), Darden Business School, University of Virginia (visiting scholar), and The University of Queensland (industry fellow). Pickering has published extensively in the areas of behavior change, psychology, sustainability and innovation, and is a regular commentator in state and national media outlets.
Harry A. Warren
Harry A. Warren, Jr. is president of CleanGrid Advisors LLC, a renewable energy consulting firm focused on Mid-Atlantic markets. Warren is also a co-founder of the Center for Renewables Integration, a non-profit working to advance the deep penetration of renewable energy on the grid.
Warren was formerly executive vice president of Community Energy, Inc. where he was responsible for business planning on community solar, virtual net metering, and other retail customer access programs. Prior to joining Community Energy, Warren spent 17 years as president of Washington Gas Energy Services, Inc., a leading retail electricity and natural gas marketer in the mid-Atlantic region, and served in several positions at WGES’ utility affiliate, Washington Gas prior. Warren negotiated the corporation’s first solar PPAs in 2008 and 2009. Prior to joining Washington Gas, he worked in research, development and design of renewable energy systems. At the Andlinger Center, Warren studied how energy resources and building energy systems can be designed and operated to help meet the challenges power grids face from increasing percentages of variable, renewable energy supplies.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Princeton University and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.
During his time as a visiting fellow, Warren, a 1979 alumnus, curated a full-day conference aimed at facilitating conversation between diverse players within the energy industry, from renewable energy developers to utility regulators, in collaboration with Energy Dialogues LLC.
Former Fellows
Visiting Fellows in the News
- Andlinger Center Speaks: Bridging the gap between climate commitments and clean energy fundingIn this Q&A, experts discuss why the world is falling behind on clean energy investments and the changes needed to get back on track.
- Making the switch to a net-zero mindsetIllustration by Matilda Luk by Denise Valenti, Office of Communications Green technology holds the promise of significantly reducing carbon emissions and helping humanity to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. ...
- Big but affordable effort needed for America to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, Princeton study showsBy Molly A. Seltzer With a massive, nationwide effort the United States could reach net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 using existing technology and at costs aligned with historical spending ...
- Comprehensive look at U.S. fuel economy standards shows big savings on fuel and emissionsResearchers cite that CAFE standards saved $5 trillion in fuel costs and prevented 14 billion metric tons of carbon from being released into the atmosphere. (Photos: Adobe) By Molly A. ...
- Tailoring climate science for users is key to coastal adaptation and resilience, say experts at E-ffiliates retreatBy Molly A. Seltzer Making the latest climate science accessible to mayors, planners, and local officials is the only way coasts will be able to prepare for sea level rise and ...
- Andlinger Center appoints Chris Greig, Australian energy leader and former industry executive, as senior scientist, strengthening energy systems expertiseBy Molly A. Seltzer When Chris Greig’s time at Princeton as a Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellow in Energy and the Environment came to a close, he faced a critical juncture ...
- Energy industry veteran and top climate advisor appointed Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting FellowsHarry Warren and Richard Moss are the newest Gerhard R. Andlinger Visiting Fellows in Energy and the Environment, beginning September 1, 2019.
- Rapid Switch project to assess practicality and pace of global climate strategiesRapid Switch is a Princeton-led, international research collaboration that aims to investigates the factors that slow the pace of a global transition from a carbon-intensive to a low-carbon economy. It ...
- Alcatraz Island is unlikely place of learning for students of energy innovationFrom left to right, undergraduate students Neil Slighton, Evan Wildenhain, Diego Fierros, and Erin Redding walk along the solar rooftop of Alcatraz Island. Photos by Jana Ašenbrennerová By Molly A. ...
- Andlinger Center visiting fellowship yields high-impact research and long-lasting collaborationsBy Molly A. Seltzer When Fabian Wagner came to Princeton, he was already an expert on air quality and greenhouse gases, with over a decade of research experience at the Austrian-based ...