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

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

Linda Graham

lkgraham@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor of Botany
College of Letters & Sciences

  • Algal/plant-microbe symbioses
  • Metagenomics & genomics
  • Wastewater remediation

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

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

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

Mark H. Anderson

manderson@engr.wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Consolidated Papers Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Salts, liquid metals, supercritical water (SCW), supercritical CO2 (SCO2) 
  • Supercritical fluids
  • Brayton cycle for nuclear, solar and fossil advanced power generation
  • Fluoride-cooled nuclear reactors
  • Salt chemistry, purification, and materials compatibility. 

Mark Finster

mark.finster@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor Emeritus
School of Business

  • Sustainable strategy, design, and improvement of complex systems in a wide variety of industries and sectors, including for profit, government, education, not-for-profit, large and small organizations

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

Mary Blanchard

mary.blanchard@wisc.edu

Investigator

WEI Associate Director
Wisconsin Energy Institute

  • Energy policy and regulation
  • Energy research collaboration
  • Energy stakeholder networks

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

Michael Casler

mdcasler@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Research Geneticist, U.S. Department of Agriculture
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

  • Genetics and breeding of perennial forage, biofuel, and turf grasses
  • Genetics of plant traits related to nutritional value, cell-wall structure, cell-wall degradation, and bioenergy conversion; pest resistances; stress tolerances
  • Quantitative and molecular genetics
  • Evolution and domestication of perennial grasses

Michael G. Thomas

michael.thomas@wisc.edu

Affiliate

Professor of Bacteriology, Alfred Toepfer Faculty Fellow
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

  • Antibiotic discovery and development
  • Metabolic engineering

Michael J. Wagner

mike.wagner@wisc.edu

Investigator

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Coupled energy systems modeling and simulation
  • Renewable electricity generation technology performance characterization and software tool development
  • Energy storage dispatch optimization 
  • High-temperature power generation technology design
  • Concentrating optics

Mikhail Kats

mkats@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dugald. C. Jackson Faculty Scholar
College of Engineering

  • Optics and photonics
  • Nanoscience and nanotechnology
  • Optical materials
  • Thermal radiation
  • Metasurfaces
  • Thin-film optics
  • Device physics
  • Human vision

Morgan Edwards

morgan.edwards@wisc.edu

Affiliate

Assistant Professor of Public Affairs
La Follette School of Public Affairs

  • Just transitions, fossil fuels, and stranded assets
  • Leaks in natural gas distribution systems
  • Measuring impacts of local climate action
  • Negative emissions technologies
  • Valuing impacts of non-CO2 emissions

Michael Arnold

msarnold@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor of Materials Science & Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Carbon nanotubes
  • Atomically thin sheets of graphene
  • Two-dimensional materials
  • Semiconducting molecules and polymers
  • Heterostructures that integrate these components with conventional, macroscopic materials

 

Marcel Schreier

mschreier2@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Richard H. Soit Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Electrified interfaces
  • Electrochemical energy storage
  • Electrocatalysis
  • Interfacial charge transfer

Mario F. Trujillo

mtrujillo@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Liquid sprays in a crossflow
  • Liquid breakup and particle advection dynamics
  • Multiple droplet impingement heat transfer
  • Two-phase flow heat transfer numerics
  • Computational characterization of plunging of liquid jets on a quiescent pool
  • Interface capturing methods 

Natalia DeLeon

ndeleongatti@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

  • Plant breeding and quantitative genetics
  • Population enhancement for biomass increase and cell wall composition
  • Interface of plant breeding and quantitative and molecular genetics
  • Phenotypic, genotypic and expression data
  • Genetic analysis of developmental traits in maize

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

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

Juliana Pacheco Duarte

pachecoduarte@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Assistant Professor of Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics
College of Engineering

Nuclear energy
Safety analysis 
Multi-phase flow and heat transfer
Nuclear policy and regulation

Jonathan Patz

patz@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Director, Global Health Institute
Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies

  • Health effects of climate change
  • Global health

Paul Block

paul.block@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Methods, models, and tools for managing climate variability and change
  • Hydrologic forecasting and integration into decision models
  • Addressing water quality and quantity extremes
  • Hydro-economics and policy mechanisms
  • Risk, reliability, and uncertainty
  • Sustainable approaches

Paul Kelleher

paul.kelleher@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Associate Professor of Medical History and Bioethics, Philosophy
School of Medicine & Public Health

  • Ethical and philosophical aspects of climate change policy
  • Ethics and economics of pricing carbon dioxide emissions
  • Health and environmental policy

Paul P.H. Wilson

paul.wilson@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Chair of Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics
College of Engineering

  • Monte Carlo methods
  • Nuclear fuel cycles
  • Energy policy
  • Proliferation analysis
  • Transmutation/depletion/activation

Peter Carstensen

peter.carstensen@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor Emeritus of Law
University of Wisconsin Law School

  • Relation of competition policy and law to regulated industries
  • Relationship between antitrust law and regulation
  • Buyer power issues
  • The operation and regulation of markets for agricultural commodities