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

Joy Altwies

altwies@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Faculty Associate/Program Director of Engineering Professional Development
College of Engineering

  • Green and High-Performance Buildings
  • Sustainable Construction
  • Building Commissioning, Commissioning Process
  • HVAC & R Systems
  • Technology Innovation and Adoption

Daniel Amador-Noguez

amadornoguez@wisc.edu

Affiliate

Associate Professor of Bacteriology
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

  • Metabolomics and metabolic regulation in biofuel producing bacteria
  • Bacterial biofilms
  • Human gut microbiome

Richard Amasino

amasino@biochem.wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor of Biochemistry
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

  • Plant genetics
  • Plant flowering
  • Vernalization 
  • Arabidopsis thaliana
  • Brachypodium distachyon

Dan Anderson

danderson@bus.wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor Emeritus of Risk Management and Insurance
School of Business

  • Sustainability risks facing businesses and organizations
  • Sustainability risk management strategies

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. 

Jean-Michel Ané

jeanmichel.ane@wisc.edu

Affiliate

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

  • Plant–microbe symbioses
  • Signaling pathways
  • Plant symbiotic genes
  • Techniques to characterize the metabolome, proteome and phosphoproteome
  • Development of tools for metabolite and peptide imaging in plant cells 

Rob Anex

anex@wisc.edu

Investigator

Professor of Biological Systems Engineering
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

  • Carbon Direct Removal and Decarbonization
  • Biological systems analysis and assessment
  • Life cycle assessment
  • Techno-economic analysis

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

 

Josh Arnold

josh.arnold@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Campus Energy Advisor
Office of Sustainability

  • Energy analysis and policy
  • Energy conservation
  • Energy efficiency
  • Renewable energy projects
  • Stakeholder engagement and market development

Styliani Avraamidou

avraamidou@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Duane H. and Dorothy M. Bluemke Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Circular economy systems engineering
  • Computational modeling and optimization
  • Energy infrastructure planning and operational scheduling
  • Energy systems engineering
  • Food-energy-water nexus

William Banholzer

wbanholzer@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Research Professor, Honorary Fellow of Chemical & Biological Engineering; Senior Advisor, Wisconsin Energy Institute
College of Engineering

  • Commercialization of technology
  • Materials and process development with emphasis on the intersection with business opportunities

Sebastian Bednarek

sybednar@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor of Biochemistry
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

  • Plant cell biology
  • Intracellular protein trafficking
  • Membrane biogenesis
  • Plant cell cytokinesis

John F. Berry

berry@chem.wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor of Chemistry
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

  • Coordination chemistry
  • Catalysis 
  • Electronic structure
  • Metal-metal bonding

Arganthael Berson

berson2@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Lecturer of Mechanical Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Multiphase flow and flow at interfaces
  • Flow boiling and condensation
  • Evaporation-driven self-assembly
  • Advanced flow diagnostic techniques (PIV, hot-wire anemometry, high-speed microscopy, thermoreflectance)
  • Energy systems  

Vicki Bier

vicki.bier@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor Emeritus of Industrial & Systems Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Critical infrastructure protection
  • Security
  • Technology hazards
  • Risk analysis
  • Decision analysis
  • Operations research

Mary Blanchard

mary.blanchard@wisc.edu

Investigator

WEI Associate Director
Wisconsin Energy Institute

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

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

John Booske

jhbooske@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Duane H. and Dorothy M. Bluemke & Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering
College of Engineering

  • Plasmas, metamaterials, metasurfaces and media that have a strong interaction with electromagnetic radiation
  • Electromagnetic field effects
  • Microwave vacuum electronics
  • Innovative teaching and learning methods and instructional space design

Eric Booth

egbooth@wisc.edu

Investigator

Associate Scientist
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

Water quality

Impacts of climate and land-use change

Urban stormwater management

Wetland/stream restoration

Dominique Brossard

dbrossard@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

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

  • Public opinion, new media, and the perception of risks and benefits surrounding controversial science and technology
  • The role of values in shaping public attitudes
  • Cross-cultural analysis

Grace Bulltail

bulltail@wisc.edu

Investigator

Assistant Professor
Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies

  • water resource engineering
  • natural resource management
  • nexus of water, energy, and land use
  • environmental justice in Indigenous communities

Alan Carroll

carroll@geology.wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor of Geoscience
College of Letters & Sciences

  • Continental tectonics
  • Basin evolution
  • Ancient lakes
  • Petroleum geology
  • Paleoclimatology
  • China geology

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

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

Kaiping Chen

kchen67@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

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

  • Civic engagement in sustainability policymaking
  • Climate justice
  • Computational social science
  • Discourse on controversial and emerging technologies
  • Science communication

Kyoung-Shin Choi

kschoi@chem.wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor of Chemistry
College of Letters & Sciences

  • Synthesis of semiconductor electrodes for solar energy conversion
  • Catalyst development for solar fuel production
  • Electrochemical and photo-electrochemical biomass conversion
  • Development of materials for electrochemical water desalination

Joshua Coon

jcoon@chem.wisc.edu

Affiliate

Professor of Biomolecular Chemistry & Chemistry
College of Letters & Sciences

  • Chemical instrumentation including ETD, dissociation, ion/ion reactions. PRM, and theory
  • Informatics including molecular identification, quantitation, and data visualization
  • Proteomic and metabolomic technologies

Michael Corradini

corradini@engr.wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Wisconsin Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics, Former Director of the Wisconsin Energy Institute
College of Engineering

  • Multi-phase fluid mechanics and heat transfer
  • Fission and fusion reactors
  • Nuclear reactor safety
  • Severe accident phenomena
  • Power plant operation and design
  • Energy policy
  • Nuclear fuel cycle

Adrien Couet

couet@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies, Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics
College of Engineering

  • Nuclear Materials
  • Irradiation Damage
  • Corrosion of Metals and Alloys
  • Oxidation Model
  • Electrochemistry
  • Molten salt corrosion
  • Defect Transport in Oxides

Ian Coxhead

ian.coxhead@wisc.edu

Energy Expert

Professor and Department Chair of Agriculture & Applied Economics
College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

  • Economics of development
  • Effects of globalization and global market shocks on production, employment, wages and household income, and welfare
  • Impacts and incidence of domestic policies on growth, trade and environment
  • Economies of East and Southeast Asia