Energy Experts

From biofuels to batteries, UW–Madison has a wealth of expertise in energy. The researchers working in energy at UW–Madison are generating the knowledge and clean technologies that will accelerate a transition to sustainable, resilient, and affordable energy systems. This resource connects you to UW–Madison faculty conducting research in all areas of energy. If you are a UW–Madison faculty member working in energy and would like to be added to this list, please email communications@energy.wisc.edu

For specific media requests, please contact Mary Blanchard.

Name/Email Title/Department Research Interests

Robert Lasseter

rhlasseter@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor Emeritus of Electrical & Computer Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Distributed resources
  • Restructuring of electrical power system
  • Application of power electronics to utility systems
  • Simulation methods
  • Power electronic circuits and control
  • HVDC, SVC, FACTS and custom power applications

Bernard Lesieutre

lesieutre@engr.wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering & Associate Chair of Undergraduate Studies
College of Engineering

  • grid security
  • grid reliability

Benjamin Lindley

lindley2@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Assistant Professor of Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics
College of Engineering

  • Design and analysis of advanced nuclear reactors
  • Design and analysis of nuclear-renewable hybrid energy systems
  • Development of net-zero emissions energy systems

Richard Lindroth

richard.lindroth@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Vilas Distinguished Achievement and Douglas D. Sorenson Professor of Entomology
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

  • Genetic and environmental factors influencing poplar production
  • Plant chemistry
  • Sustainable forestry

Fang Liu

fang.liu3@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Assistant Professor in Materials Science and Engineering
College of Engineering

• Energy storage technology
• Batteries for transportation and power grid
• High-throughput experimentation
• Ion intercalation and separation
• CO2 capture and conversion

Steven Loheide

loheide@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Hydroecology/ ecohydrology
  • Hydrogeology
  • River restoration
  • Food-water-energy nexus
  • Remote sensing
  • Hydrologic consequences of climate change
  • Vegetative water use / vegetation patterning
  • Sustainable land-use practices
  • Stream-aquifer interactions
  • Ecosystem function / services
  • Human interaction with aquatic ecosystems

Whitney Loo

wloo@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Assistant Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Energy Storage Technology
  • Batteries
  • Polymer Electrolytes
  • Fuel Cell Membranes
  • Membrane-Based Separations

Dan Ludois

ludois@wisc.edu

Investigator

Jean van Bladel Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Power electronics
  • Electric machines
  • Wireless power transfer
  • Sustainable engineering technologies and practices

Jim Luedtke

jrluedt1@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Harvey D. Spangler Faculty Scholar of Industrial and Systems Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Stochastic optimization, especially optimization with risk constraints
  • Mixed integer optimization, linear and nonlinear
  • Applications of optimization

Zhenqiang Ma

mazq@engr.wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Lynn H. Matthias Professor & Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering
College of Engineering

  • High-speed RF devices and circuits, optoelectronic devices and nanophotonics
  • Semiconductor materials processing and heterogeneous integration
  • Flexible electronics, flexible optoelectronics and flexible photonics
  • Energy conversion semiconductor devices
  • Bioelectronics and biomimetics
  • Semiconductor device physics
  • Power electronics

John Markley

markley@biochem.wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Steenbock Professor of Biomolecular Structure & Biochemistry
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

  • Metabolomics
  • Macromolecular structure
  • Redox active proteins

Luca Mastropasqua

luca.mastropasqua@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Energy storage technology
  • Fuel cells
  • Hydrogen production
  • Decarbonization of heavy industries
  • Electrochemically-derived fuels and products

Manos Mavrikakis

emavrikakis@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Paul A. Elfers Professor, James A. Dumesic Professor, & Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Thermodynamics
  • Kinetics and catalysis
  • Surface science
  • Computational chemistry
  • Electronic materials
  • Fuel cells applications
  • Environmental chemical engineering

Luke Mawst

ljmawst@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Semiconductor lasers
  • Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth of semiconductors
  • III/V compound semiconductor materials and devices

Katherine (Trina) McMahon

trina.mcmahon@wisc.edu

Investigator

Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Water quality
  • Freshwater sciences
  • Wastewater treatment
  • Microbiology
  • Nutrient removal
  • Water quality modeling
  • Limnology

Franklin Miller

fkmiller@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Cryogenics
  • Thermodynamics of Superfluid 3He-4He mixtures
  • Sub-Kelvin cooling for space science
  • Energy systems

Dane Morgan

ddmorgan@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Harvey D. Spangler Professor of Materials Science & Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Computational materials science for materials design
  • Ab initio electronic structure methods and multiscale techniques for large time/length scales and thermokinetics
  • Ab initio based modeling of electrochemical systems and processes
  • Nuclear materials
  • Battery and fuel cell electrodes
  • Earth mantle materials
  • Electronic materials

Gregory Moses

gregory.moses@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Spangler Professor Emeritus of Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics
College of Engineering

  • Nuclear reactor physics
  • Computational engr.
  • Radiation hydrodynamics
  • Technology enhanced learning
  • Fusion reactor design

Kevin Myers

kmyers2@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Assistant Scientist
Wisconsin Energy Institute

  • RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, Tn-seq, TSS-seq data
  • Metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data
  • Bioinformatics
  • Development of computational pipelines and tools

Greg Nellis

gfnellis@engr.wisc.edu

Energy Expert

William A. and Irene Ouweneel-Bascom Professor of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Thermodynamics
  • Heat Transfer
  • Heat Exchangers
  • Refrigeration and Power Cycles

John Nelson

jsnelson4@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Adjunct Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Production, conversion, and consumption of energy and fuels
  • Lean facility delivery
  • Sustainable system analysis & deployment
  • Organizational value clarity

Gregory Nemet

nemet@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor of Public Affairs
La Follette School of Public Affairs

  • Energy, climate, and science & technology policy
  • Innovation
  • Low-carbon energy systems
  • Negative emissions
  • Research & development
  • Learning by doing

Todd Newman

tpnewman@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Assistant Professor of Life Sciences Communication
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

  • strategic science communication
  • science communication training, marketing, and branding
  • Public opinion and media coverage of climate and energy issues

Dan Noguera

noguera@engr.wisc.edu

Investigator

Wisconsin Distinguished Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Environmental engineering
  • Bioenergy
  • Biotechnology
  • Microbial ecology
  • Biological nutrient removal
  • Bioinformatics
  • Biodegradation pathways
  • Anaerobic digestion

Fnu Nuoendagula

nuoendagula@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Assistant Scientist
Wisconsin Energy Institute

  • Lignin/ Plant cell wall biosynthesis
  • Development of synthetic methods for biofuels and bioproducts
  • Lignocellulosics bioprocessing

Marisa Otegui

otegui@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor of Botany and Genetics
College of Letters & Sciences

  • Cell biology
  • Intracellular membrane traffic
  • Cytokinesis
  • Endosperm development

Mutlu Özdogan

ozdogan@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Associate Professor of Forest & Wildlife Ecology
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies

  • Remote sensing
  • Land-use and land-cover change
  • Hydrology
  • Climate change

Darcy Padilla

darcy.padilla@wisc.edu

Affiliate

Associate Professor of Art
School of Education

Wenxiao Pan

wpan9@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Multiscale modeling
  • Numerical methods
  • Scientific computing
  • High performance computing
  • Fluid-solid interactions
  • Complex fluids
  • Multiphase flows
  • Soft matter
  • Energy storage materials
  • Manufacturing

Xuejun Pan

xpan@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor of Biological Systems Engineering
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

  • Biomass pretreatment for bioconversion
  • Lignocellulose saccharification to fermentable sugars
  • Conversion of lignocellulose to chemicals and liquid fuels
  • Production of value-added products from cellulose, lignin, and hemicellulose
  • Plant cell wall changes during biorefining