# Robert Dell (Engineer)

Robert Dell (English: /ˈrɒbərt/ /ˈdɛl/; 1950–) is an American geothermal engineer and sculptor, renewable energy expert, and was a mechanical engineering professor at The Cooper Union. He is first inventor on eleven registered patents and is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. In 2023 he was awarded the Cobb Partnership Award; The award is presented on average bi-annually to an American who has demonstrated a long commitment to fostering U.S. relations with Iceland and to the building of bridges between the two countries. He is first author on over 30 international, peer-reviewed engineering research papers. Recognized as a progenitor of sustainable art, his work incorporates art and engineering, using geothermal energy to power lasers, LEDs and create color changes in liquid crystals in his large scale stainless steel, bronze, aluminum and copper sculptures. He was a MacDowell Colony Fellow in 1980, a Fulbright Research Fellow in 1988, a Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT from 1993-1997, an American Scandinavian Foundation Fellow, and an Honorary Research Associate at the New York Botanical Garden from 2007-2008. In 2021, he was named an American Society of Mechanical Engineers Fellow.
He is the subject of a documentary film, Environmental Alchemy, by Gary Donatelli.
Robert Dell's papers are permanently housed in the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian and the MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology Archives and Special Collections.

## Personal life

Robert Dell was born in 1950 in Nyack, New York. He is married to artist Siena Gillanne Porta. He has three children, Robert, Terrance, and Malcom, and a granddaughter.

## Education

Receiving a Bachelors in Education from SUNY Oneonta in 1972, Dell then attended SUNY New Paltz, where he retrained himself as a sculptor, graduated with an MFA in Sculpture in 1975, and was befriended by the sculptor William King.

## Career

Robert worked with his brother James in their general contracting company, Dell Brothers. He also worked as a precision TIG welder for Chromalloy on jet engine repairs. At the age of 27, he exhibited his metal and laminated wood sculptures at Vorpal Gallery in the SoHo district of New York City. Subsequent solo exhibitions with Vorpal occurred in Soho, and in their branches in Chicago and San Francisco. Robert also completed Pythagoras a large scale outdoor public sculpture for the Town Hall of Orangetown, New York on a CETA grant in 1978.
In 1980, he was a MacDowell Colony Fellow and was part of the “Sculpture 1980” exhibition at Baltiomore’ Maryland Institute.
Ill health necessitated that he curtailed this work and he retrained as a classical painter and passed the highly competitive exam to become a Scenic Artist and Set Designer with United Scenic Artists Local USA 829 in New York City in 1983. He painted and sculpted scenery on television series and films including Grace Quigley (1984), One Life to Live (1990-1992), Made (2001), Swimfan (2002), in addition to sets for the Metropolitan Opera and a number of Broadway plays. On occasion, he was also an Art Director.
The sculpture work restarted, but with an acute awareness of the frailty and the ultimate persistence of life. Large quartz crystal slabs were added as an embodiment of the earth’s energy. This energy was then made visible in the sculptures by converting geothermal heat into electric light during a Fulbright Senior Research Grant to Iceland in 1988, even though he had no academic affiliation. This began his pursuit of engineering.

### Geothermal Sculpture

Dell’s geothermal sculptures have an audible hot-water circulation system that emits heat and creates light in what he calls a “slow, rhythmic ‘turtle-time’ cadence.” Using a Peltier system he directly generates electricity from the temperature difference between the geothermal heat source and ambient air. Geothermal hot water flows through pipes in the sculptures giving them what Dell calls “an almost mammalian circulation system using geothermal energy as its lifeblood.” This causes liquid crystal areas to change colors so that you can literally “see the colors of the wind.”
As a Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT, Dell developed a “geothermal simulator,” a self-contained, hot-water circulation system with adjustable temperature that uses household current, allowing him to display his pieces in locations that do not have naturally occurring geothermal sources.

#### Critical Reception

Dell's pieces were met with varied response. While D. Dominick Lombari called his work with geothermal simulators "brilliant" despite the pieces being exhibited indoors at the Blue Hill Cultural center which he likened to "riding a bicycle indoors.", his work displayed the same year at the Firehouse Gallery was called "quite unusual, possibly unprecedented" describing the same simulators as "glorified radiators" that "intrude detrimentally" in his sculptures.

#### Exhibitions

Robert Dell’s geothermal sculpture was first installed in 1988 at Seltun hotsprings in Iceland as part of his Fulbright Grant. The next geothermal installations were at Yellowstone National Park’s Grotto, Castle and Old Faithful Geyser Groups in 1996, and at the Great Geysir in Iceland in 1999 when he was an American Scandinavian Fellow to Iceland. His work Hitavaettur Thermal Guardian is on permanent display at the Perlan in Reykjavík, Iceland where it is powered by the municipal geothermal hot water that heats the city.
Dell's work has been shown widely at galleries and museums around the world including in Iceland, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City.

#### Selected Installations, Solo and Group
##### 2020's

* MIT, ACT Cube, Cambridge, MA 2020 (solo)

##### 2000's

* The Lab Gallery, The Roger Smith Hotel, NYC 2006 (solo)
* Hafnarborg Institute of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnarborg Museum, Hrafnarfurdor, Iceland, 2002
* Reykjavik Municipal Art Museum, Harbour House, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2001 (solo)

##### 1990's

* Blue Hill Cultural Center, 1999 (solo)
* The Great Geysir, Iceland, 1999 (solo)
* Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri, Iceland, 1999 (solo)
* Firehouse Gallery, Nassau Community College, 1999
* MIT, Kresge Oval, Cambridge, Ma, 1997 (solo)
* Yellowstone National Park, Grotto, Castle and Old Faithful Geyser Groups, Wy, 1996 (solo)
* Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, 1995 (solo)
* Tufts University, Medford, Ma, 1995
* MIT, CAVS and the MIT Museum, Cambridge, Ma, 1994
* Galleri Ofeigur, Reykjavik, Iceland, 1993 – 94 (solo)
* Lehigh University, Siegel Gallery, Bethlehem, Pa, 1991mit – 92
* MIT Museum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 1990-91

##### 1980's

* American Cultural Center, Reykjavik, Iceland, 1988 (solo)
* Blue Hill Cultural Center, Pearl River, NY, 1987 (solo)
* SUNY, New Paltz, NY, 1987
* Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 1985 (solo)
* Thorpe Intermedia Gallery, Sparkill, NY, 1984, 1985
* 14 Sculptors' Gallery, New York City, NY, 1984
* Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY, 1983
* A.B. Condon Gallery, New York City, NY, 1982
* Palisades Interstate Park Commission, NY, 1982
* Vorpal Gallery, New York City, NY, 1981, 1988 (solo)
* Maryland Arts Institute, Baltimore, MD, 1980

##### 1970's

* Vorpal Gallery, Chicago, IL, 1979 (solo)
* Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 1978 (solo)
* Vorpal Gallery, New York City, NY, 1977 – 89
* SUNY, Oneonta, 1976 (solo)
* SUNY, Stony Brook, NY, 1975

#### Selected Fellowships and Awards

* 2023 Biennial Cobb Partnership Award, US Embassy and Fulbright Commission Iceland, Rekyjavik, Iceland, 2023, Awardee
* American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Metropolitan, NY, 2021, Fellow.
* The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, School of Engineering, NYC, NY, 2003-5, Artist in Residence
* New York Foundation for the Arts, Special Opportunity Grantee, NYC, 2000 - 01
* American-Scandinavian Foundation, NYC, NY, 1999, Fellow to Iceland
* Council for the Arts at M.I.T., Cambridge, Ma, Grantee 1997
* Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Ma, 1995-7, Research Affiliate
* Waterloo Foundation for the Arts, Stanhope, NJ, Grantee 1994
* Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture, Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Cambridge, Ma, 1993-5, Research Fellow
* Fulbright Senior Research Fellow to Iceland, CIES, Washington, D.C. 1988
* Artist Fellowship, NYC, Grantee, 1983
* Change Inc., NYC, Grantee, 1983
* The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH, 1980, Fellow
* Collaboration Art, Science and Technology, Syracuse, NY, Grantee, 1978

### Engineering

Ill health again demanded retraining, this time in engineering and writing. He joined the Cooper Union’s Albert Nerken School of Engineering , initially as an adjunct professor of Design and Artist in Residence (MIT archive) and soon became an Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering and taught senior projects, mechanical engineering independent study and co-advised Masters Thesis. He was Principal Investigator for Consolidated Edison on numerous Steam Engineering grants and was Project Engineer and Research Fellow for the Cooper Union and the Cooper Union Research Foundation. In 2005, he became a Member of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers following a review by the Membership Committee, without a formal engineering degree. He went on to be named an ASME fellow in 2021.
Robert Dell was the Founding Director of the Laboratory for Energy Reclamation and Innovation since 2008, and was the Founding Director of the Center for Innovation and Applied Technology from 2012 -2019.
He was appointed at the Cooper Union as Director of the Special Project on Select Patent Monetization, with additional appointments as the Research Fellow for the C.V. Starr Research Foundation. Other appointments include Guest Lecturer with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, and Advisory Board Member with Borealis GeoPower Inc. in Canada and Visiting Scientist with Iceland’s Keilir Institute of Technology.
Dell is the First Inventor on eleven patents through his work at the Cooper Union. He is the First Author of numerous research papers for venues including the International Conference of Experimental Mechanics (IMECE), The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), The World Geothermal Congress (WGC), The Geothermal Resources Council (GRC), The Geo-Heat Center at the Oregon Institute of Technology, and the Cooper Union Research Foundation. He is an active member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Geothermal Resources Council (GRC), the American Welding Society (AWS), the Order of The Engineer, and the Municipal Planning Federation of Rockland County.

#### Patents

* First Inventor, Bimetallic Leaf Spring and Clamping Device, owned by The Cooper Union, (with Stan Wei and Tae Young Lee) European Patent . EP 2 148 991 B1 Registered in France, Germany and England
* United States Patent. US 8,418,342 R2 Bimetallic Leaf Spring and Clamping Device, 2013
* Canadian Patent CA 2685530 C 2015/02/24 Bimetallic Leaf Spring and Clamping Device, 2015
* Canadian Patent CA 2685530 C 2015/02/24 Bimetallic Leaf Spring and Clamping Device, 2015
* First Inventor, Thermoelectric Power Generation Device, owned by The Cooper Union, (with Stan Wei and George Sidebotham) European Patent . EP 2 095 440 B1 Registered in France, Germany and England
* United States Patent and Trademark Office, US 8,829,326 B2, Thermoelectric Power Generation Device, 2016 United States Patent and Trademark Office Notice
* United States Patent and Trademark Office, US 9,590,160 Thermoelectric Power Generation Device, 2017
* Canadian Patent CA 2671995 C 2015/02/24 Thermoelectric Power Generation Device, 2015

#### Selected Academic and Consulting Appointments

* National Autonomous University of Mexico, Engineering Institute, Mexico City, Mexico, Guest Lecturer, 2017
* Borealis GeoPower Inc. GeoPark project, Calgary, Canada, Advisory Board, 2017
* United States Department of Energy, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase 0 Assistance Program, Technical Consultant, 2015- 6
* City of Hveragerdi, Iceland, Consultant, 2014 - 7
* New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), PON 2244, 2012
* Metering Requirements, Equipment, Software and Protocol for Quantifying Elevator Regenerative Potential, Project Research Scientist, 2012-2015
* Center for Innovation and Applied Technology, Cooper Union, Founding Director 2012 –
* Keilir Institute of Technology, Reykjanesbaer, Iceland, Visiting Scientist, 2010 – 2019
* Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland, Visiting Academic, 2009 – 12
* C.V. Starr Research Foundation, Cooper Union, Research Fellow, 2008 – 17
* Albert Nerken School Of Engineering, Cooper Union, Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering, 2003 – 23
* Metropolitan Building Consulting Group, Director of Research and Development, 2007 – 20
* Town Planner, Town of Orangetown (Population 50,000), Planning Board Memember, 2001 – 21, Chairman 2007 – 9

#### Selected Peer Reviewed Papers
##### 2021

* American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE) 2021, Cascade Utilization of Geothermal Waste Heat for Enhanced Outdoor Crop Production. Christopher Mignano, Enea Dishaj, Runar Unnthorsson, Robert Dell, DOI: 10.1115/IMECE2021-70001. 2021.

##### 2020

* World Geothermal Congress (WGC) 2020+1, Repurposing Waste Geothermal Hot Water for Outdoor Agricultural Enhancement in Hveragerdi. Robert Dell, Michael Thomas Petralia, Runar Unnthorsson. 2020.
* WGC 2020+1, Thermoelectric Monitoring Systems in Iceland. Robert Dell, Michael Thomas Petralia, Runar Unnthorsson. 2020.

##### 2019

* ASME IMECE 2019, A Detachable Thermoelectric Generator As a Power Source for a 3G Camera Network Using a Steam Pipe As a Heat Source. Robert Dell, Michael Thomas Petralia, Ashish Pokharel, Gudmundur Gislason, Runar Unnthorsson, DOI: 10.1115/IMECE2019-12250. 2019.
* ASME IMECE 2019, Open Field Heating of Green Roofs and Small Arable Land Plots Using Waste Steam and Hot Water From Geothermal, Municipal and COGEN Sources to Enhance Plant Growth. Robert Dell, Michael Thomas Petralia, Ashish Pokharel, Runar Unnthorsson, DOI: 10.1115/IMECE2019-12252. 2019.
* ASME IMECE 2019, Thermoelectric Generator-Based System for Energizing Low-Power Communication and Geolocation Electronics. Mamdouh Eldaly, Ashish Pokharel, Michael Thomas Petralia, Runar Unnthorsson, Robert Dell, DOI: 10.1115/IMECE2019-12254. 2019.
* Geothermal Resources Council (GRC) Annual Meeting 2019, Open Field Heated Agriculture for Enhanced Crop Production Using Waste Geothermal Steam, Condensate, and Hot Water to Produce Marketable Crops in Iceland. Robert Dell, Michael Thomas Petralia, Ashish Pokharel, Daniel Abes, Runar Unnthorsson. 2019.
* The Eighteenth International Conference of Experimental Mechanics (ICEM), Thermoelectric Powered Security Systems in Iceland Using a Geothermal Steam Pipe as a Heat Source. Robert Dell, C.S. Wei, Michael Thomas Petralia, Gudmundur Gislason, Runar Unnthorsson, DOI: 10.3390/ICEM18-05309. 2018.

##### 2017

* GRC Annual Meeting 2017, 3G Security Camera Network Using a Thermoelectric Generator Powered by a Geothermal Steam Pipe in Iceland. Robert Dell, C.S. Wei, Michael Thomas Petralia, Gudmundur Gislason, Runar Unnthorsson, Jonathan Lam. 2017.

##### 2016

* ASME IMECE 2016, Design of a Clamp for a Thermoelectric Generator Using Bimetallic Thermal Properties, Robert Dell, C.S. Wei, Nicholas Mitchell, Runar Unnthorsson, IMECE2016-68179. 2016.
* ASME IMECE 2016, Design and Construction of a Heated Garden System Utilizing Steam Condensate from an On-Site Boiler, Robert Dell, C.S Wei, Raj Parikh, Runar Unnthorsson, Nicholas Mitchell, William Foley IMECE2016-68180, 2016.
* GRC Annual Meeting 2016, A Thermoelectric Powered Quadruped Robotic System for Remote Monitoring of Geothermal Open Field Heated Gardens in Iceland, Robert Dell, C.S Wei, Runar Unnthorsson, Nicholas Mitchell, 2016.

##### 2014

* GRC Annual Meeting 2014, Enhanced Agricultural Production From an Intensive Bottom Heat System Using Waste Geothermal Hot Water and Steam Condensate in Iceland, Robert Dell, C.S. Wei, Runar Unnthorsson, William Foley, Portland Oregon, 2014.

##### 2013

* ASME IMECE 2013, Repurposing Waste Steam and Hot Water to Accelerate Plant Growth in Heated Green Roofs. R Dell, C.S. Wei, R. Unnthorsson, W. Foley, IMECE2013-65200, ASME 2013 International Congress, San Diego. Ca, 2013.
* ASME IMECE 2013, Developing a Methodology for Measuring the Comparative Energy Efficiency of Elevators. J. Bos, R. Dell, C.S. Wei, W. Foley, IMECE2013-66663, ASME 2013 International Congress, San Diego. Ca, 2013.
* Geo-Heat Center Quarterly Bulletin, Vol. 31, No. 4, A Thermoelectric-Based Point of Use Power Generator for Steam Pipes. R. Dell, C. Wei, G. Sidebotham, M. Jonsson, R. Unnthorsson, R. Dell, R. Unnthorsson, C.S. Wei, Geo-Heat Center Oregon Institute of Technology, Klamath Falls, Oregon, 2013.
* ASME 2013 Power Conference, Waste Geothermal Hot Water for Enhanced Outdoor Agricultural Production. R. Dell, R. Unnthorsson, C.S. Wei, Power 98172.

##### 2012

* ASME IMECE 2012, Thermoelectric-Based Power Generator for Powering Microcontroller Based Security Camera. R. Dell, R. Unnthorsson, C. Wei, G. Sidebotham, M. Jonsson, W. Foley, E. Ginsburg, S. Paul, S. Kim, A. Morris, ASME 89611.

##### 2011

* Geo-Heat Center Quarterly Bulletin, Vol. 30, No. 3, Geothermal Heat in Agriculture: Preliminary Results of an Energy Intensive System in Iceland, R. Dell, C Wei, G. Sidebotham, V. Guido, J. Cataldo, R. Unnthorsson, M. Jonsson, T. Thordarson, K. Smolar, A. Bronfman, Geo-Heat Center Oregon Institute of Technology, Klamath Falls, Oregon, 2011.
* GRC Annual Meeting 2011, A Thermoelectric-Based Point of Use Power Generator for Steam Pipes, R. Dell, C. Wei, G. Sidebotham, M. Jonsson, R. Unnthorsson. Geothermal Resources Council Transactions Volume 35, Davis, California, 2011.
* GRC Annual Meeting 2011, Geothermal Heat in Agriculture: Preliminary Results of an Energy Intensive System in Iceland. R. Dell, C. Wei, G. Sidebotham, V. Guido, J. Cataldo, R. Unnthorsson, M. Jonsson, T. Thordarson, K. Smolar, A. Bronfman, Geothermal Resources Council Transactions, Volume 35, Davis, California, 2011.

##### 2009

* Consolidated Edison, Develop and Cultivate a Garden Utilizing Heat from Steam to Maintain the Soil and Vegetation, R. Dell, C. Wei, G. Sidebotham, V. Guido, 2009.
* Cooper Union Assessment of the Maurice Kanbar, US Patent 5850126 Screw-In LED Lamp. R. Dell, C. Wei, 2009.
* Consolidated Edison, Proof of Concept Thermoelectric Module (TEM) Prototype Field Tested in a Steam Manhole. R. Dell, C. Wei, G. Sidebotham, 2009.

##### 2008

* Charles A. and Ann Morrow Lindbergh Foundation, Harvesting and Re-circulating Surplus Heat to Warm the Soil of Small Urban Gardens in New York to Accelerate Plant Growth and Extend the Growing Season. R. Dell, 2008.

##### 2007

* Consolidated Edison, Development of Five Prototype Thermoelectric Modules for Steam Vortex Flowmeters. R. Dell, C. Wei, G. Sidebotham, New York, 2007
* Consolidated Edison, Thermoelectric Power Generation from Exposed Steam Pipes, Phase II-Technical Report. R. Dell, C. Wei, G. Sidebotham, 2007

##### 2006

* Consolidated Edison, Thermoelectric Power Generation from Exposed Steam Pipes. R. Dell, C. Wei, G. Sidebotham 2005