Faculty Leaders

At CU Boulder, research faculty from a broad spectrum of disciplines collaborate to advance renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies.

Dragan Maksimovic

Dr. Dragan Maksimovic鈥檚 research is developing a new modular power conversion approach for electric vehicles that uses both silicon and wide-band gap devices to address the fundamental power conversion, loss and component stress mechanisms.

  • EERE Awardee
  • Charles Victor Schelke Endowed Professor,
Zhiyong Jason Ren

Zhiyong Jason Ren is refining a method to purify wastewater by using an electrochemical reaction that absorbs more CO2 than it releases, creating renewable energy in the process. This energy-positive, carbon-negative method could potentially contain huge benefits for many emission-heavy industries. 

Al Weimer

ALD Nanosolutions (ALD = 鈥淎tomic Layer Deposition鈥) spun out of the labs of Chemical Engineering professors Al Weimer and Steve George. A major focus for the company鈥檚 lead technology鈥攁 proprietary process for creating sub-nanometer coatings on battery electrodes鈥攊s improving the performance, efficiency and durability of rechargeable lithium ion batteries, which are commonly used in home electronics.

Steve George

ALD Nanosolutions (ALD = 鈥淎tomic Layer Deposition鈥) spun out of the labs of Chemical Engineering professors Al Weimer and Steve George. A major focus for the company鈥檚 lead technology鈥攁 proprietary process for creating sub-nanometer coatings on battery electrodes鈥攊s improving the performance, efficiency and durability of rechargeable lithium ion batteries, which are commonly used in home electronics.

Julie Lundquist

Dr. Julie Lundquist is helping improve wind forecast models, enabling more reliable and efficient energy production from wind turbines. Advances from her work could set up wind farms and power grid operators to be more successful, while lowering costs for consumers.

Gregor Henze

Dr. Gregor Henze鈥檚 research explores methods to achieve greater system efficiencies through enhanced integration of buildings with electric grid operations. Such integration could allow buildings to actively participate in energy markets, which in turn can enable greater amounts of renewable generation by creating elasticity in the demand for electricity.

Greg Rieker

A team of CU Boulder, NIST and NOAA researchers led by Dr. Greg Rieker successfully developed a long-range methane leak detection system capable of scanning several square miles in just a few minutes. The team formed a Colorado-based commercial spin-out company to transition the technology to market.