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Energy - Windmills

 

Swanson School of Engineering

foulke

Larry Foulke
Director,
Nuclear Engineering Program
Web site

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact
Morgan Kelly
office: 412-624-4456
cell: 412-897-1400
mekelly@pitt.edu

Background
Larry Foulke, director of the nuclear engineering program in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, is a noted 40-year veteran of the nuclear industry. Among the first generation of nuclear engineers, Foulke was president of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) from 2003 to 2004 and, while serving as chair of the ANS Public Policy Committee from 2005 to 2008, met regularly with members of Congress about matters pertaining to nuclear science and energy.

Foulke managed reactor safety, training, and simulation programs for Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric Company—one of the world’s largest vendors of nuclear reactor technology—and the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program research laboratory in West Mifflin, Pa., a joint Navy and U.S. Department of Energy lab owned by Bechtel Bettis Inc.

Foulke joined Pitt’s faculty in 2006 after the Swanson School created the nuclear engineering program in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science to meet a growing demand for nuclear engineers. The program provides the only nuclear engineering track in Western Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania host one of the world’s highest concentrations of nuclear engineering experts from such companies as Bechtel Bettis, Westinghouse Electric Company, and FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company, which operates the Beaver Valley Power Station nuclear power plant in Shippingport, Pa.

Brian Gleeson
Professor of materials engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, and director of Pitt's Center for Energy
office: 412-648-1185
bgleeson@pitt.edu
Web site

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact
Morgan Kelly
office: 412-624-4456
cell: 412-897-1400
mekelly@pitt.edu

Background
Brian Gleeson is a materials engineering professor in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering and director of Pitt’s Center for Energy.

Housed in the Swanson School, the center comprises more than 40 faculty members and their research teams working on a range of energy-related projects as well as education and outreach activities. The center's five research areas are energy diversification, renewable energy, clean coal technologies, hydrogen, and environmental solutions. The center, launched in 2008, also will be linked to the Pitt-Bradford energy initiative, which facilitates education and outreach programs in energy, particularly the regional resources of petroleum and renewable sources such as wind power.

Gleeson’s research interests include the high-temperature degradation behavior of metallic alloys and coatings, phase equilibria and transformations, deposition and characterization of metallic coatings, and diffusion and thermodynamic treatments of both gas/solid and solid/solid interactions. He is associate editor of the international journal Oxidation of Metals and an international advisory board member of the journals Advanced Engineering Materials and Materials and Corrosion.

Reed
Gregory Reed
Professor of electrical engineering and director of the Power and Energy Initiative
office: 412-383-9864
reed5@pitt.edu
Web site

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact
Morgan Kelly
office: 412-624-4456
cell: 412-897-1400
mekelly@pitt.edu

Background
Gregory Reed, a professor of electrical and computer engineering in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering and director of the school’s Power and Energy Initiative, is a recognized authority on advanced electric power generation, transmission and distribution systems, and power electronics technologies with 25 years of experience in the power industry.

Before coming to Pitt, Reed focused on creating more efficient and advanced electric power systems. He has written or coauthored more than 60 papers and technical articles on power system analysis and the application of power systems technologies. He is currently the vice president of membership and image for the Power and Energy Society governing board of IEEE, the world’s leading professional association for the advancement of technology. Reed also serves on the IEEE PES Engineering Workforce Collaborative Steering Committee and the IEEE USA Energy Policy Committee. He was a major contributor to the drafts and proposals of the 2005 U.S. Energy Policy Act, including written language pertaining to energy-related research, education, and market initiatives.

Reed worked previously at the international power and energy consulting firm KEMA Inc. as senior vice president of the power system planning and management group where he advised North American firms on power systems management, power transmission, and technology applications. He spent most of the previous decade at Mitsubishi Electric Power Products Inc., most recently as director of business and technology development. Reed began his career in the electric power industry as an engineer at the Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.

Univeristy of Pittsburgh at Bradford

Panah

Assad Panah
Professor of geology and environmental science and director of the Petroleum Technology Program
office: 814-362-7569
aap@pitt.edu
Web site

For assistance in reaching this faculty member, contact
Morgan Kelly
office: 412-624-4456
cell: 412-897-1400
mekelly@pitt.edu

Background
Assad Panah is a professor of geology and environmental science and director of the Petroleum Technology Program at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford and an expert on the Marcellus Shale formation.

Pennsylvania sits atop the formation—which experts have estimated contains up to 500 trillion cubic square feet of natural gas with about $500 billion of recoverable gas—and the state stands to be a center of activity as natural gas extraction evolves. Panah also is familiar with the burgeoning extraction techniques that will help expand the use of natural gas. These include introducing heat to deep, nonconventional oil deposits, such as oil shale, and horizontal drilling techniques that could broach multiple deposits from a single entry point.

Panah has published nearly 60 articles on geology, renewable energy, and geothermal energy, among other subjects. He was recently invited to join the editorial team of International Journal of Energy. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Geological Society of America. He served as president of the National Association of Academies of Science and the American Junior Academy of Sciences from 2003 to 2004.