Meeting U.S. Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Targets

Michael M. Whiston is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. As a postdoctoral researcher, Michael has elicited the assessments of over 100 fuel cell experts and presented his findings on Capitol Hill and at international conferences. Michael has published research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Power Sources, and Journal of Fuel Cell Science and Technology. Michael received his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in Mechanical Engineering. During his graduate work, Michael performed cost analyses of SOFC systems and developed a dynamic SOFC model. Professor Ines M.L. Azevedo is an Associate Professor of Energy Resources Engineering at Stanford University. Her work focuses on the transitions to sustainable and low-carbon energy systems. She has published 70+ journal publications and graduated 26 Ph.D. students. Since 2010, she has been serving as PI/co-PI of the NSF sponsored Climate and Energy Decision Making Center (CEDM). Professor Azevedo participated as a committee member and co-author on several reports from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. She was awarded the “40 Scientists under 40” award by the World Economic Forum (WEF) (2014) and the C3E Research Award for Women in Energy (2017). Shawn Litster is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Victoria in Canada. His current research focus is micro- and nano-scale transport phenomena in energy conversion technologies where electrochemistry and electrokinetics play a dominant role, including fuel cells, batteries, and ultra-capacitors. He is the author of over 60 journal publications on fuel cells and batteries. Constantine Samaras is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a Fellow in the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University. His research spans energy, automation, and climate change. He has contributed to U.S. National Academies of Sciences reports, the Fourth National Climate Assessment, and the Global Energy Assessment. He received a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University and a M.P.A. in Public Policy from New York University. He was named 2018 Professor of the Year by the American Society of Civil Engineers Pittsburgh Section. Kate S. Whitefoot is an Assistant Professor of Engineering and Public Policy and of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Professor Whitefoot's research bridges engineering design theory and analysis with that of economics to understand how product and process design affects enterprise and social-welfare objectives, such as expected profits, customer adoption, productivity, energy efficiency, emissions, and consumer welfare. Her work is featured in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Popular Mechanics, and Bloomberg Business and referenced in the 2017–2025 Corporate Average Fuel Economy rulemaking. Professor Jay F. Whitacre started his career at the California Institute of Technology/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Since joining Carnegie Mellon University in 2007, Dr. Whitacre has focused on the synergistic fields of energy storage and energy system techno-economic assessment. He has developed a novel battery chemistry/design that is manufactured and sold by Aquion Energy, a company he founded in 2008. He is the recipient of multiple awards, including the 2017 Leigh Ann Conn Prize for Renewable Energy, the 2015 Lemelson-MIT Prize, and the 2014 Caltech Resnick Institute Resonate Award, and has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.