Wood Stove Design Challenge
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Raymond J. Albrecht, P.E. is the technical representative for National Biodiesel Board in northeastern United States, providing biodiesel energy and environmental information support to State and local government agencies, not-for-profit organizations and industry organizations. Previously, he was a technical consultant to Lopper Kesselbau GmbH in Rohr/Alzhausen, Germany. Raymond is fluent in German and performs German-English translations of technical and marketing documents for combustion technology and renewable energy subject areas for various companies and organizations. He has been a member of industry advisory groups for several NYSERDA, NESCAUM and USEPA energy and environmental research programs
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Dr. Butcher received his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1987. He is a Research Engineer at the Senior Scientist level and Head of the Energy Conversion Group at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, NY. His long standing research interests include advanced concepts for building heating and cooling and the application of conventional and biofuels in stationary combustion applications. He has been a part-time lecturer at Stony Brook University since 2008 and acts as a mentor at BNL in programs for visiting engineering students.
Bill Clarke serves as President of the Osprey Foundation, which seeks to empower individuals and communities in Maryland and overseas through education, health, economic opportunity and human rights in a sustainable way. He is very involved in an initiative to build clean cook stoves in Guatemala, and is also a promoter of the electric car. He and his wife also travel regularly to Cuba and Guatemala to do mission work through the Baltimore Presbytery.
Prior to creating the Osprey Foundation, Bill was a partner in the investment advisory firm Campbell & Company, starting in 1977 as one of four employees. When he retired in May 2007 as executive vice president of research, the company had grown to 140 and was the largest commodity trading advisor in the country.
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Bill serves on the board of WYPR-FM and the board of IMA World Health, a faith-based nonprofit in New Windsor, Maryland, which provides products and services for global emergency, health and development programs. He also serves as the Advisory Board Chair of Open Society Institute-Baltimore, an urban laboratory of the Open Society Foundations, George Soros' public charity committed to making systemic societal change.
Bayard D. Clarkson Distinguished Professor, Director, Center for Air Resources Engineering and Science, and Director Institute for a Sustainable Environment, Clarkson University
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Dr. Philip K. Hopke is the Bayard D. Clarkson Distinguished Professor at Clarkson University, the Director of the Center for Air Resources Engineering and Science (CARES), and the Director of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment (ISE). Dr. Hopke is the past Chair of EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), and has served on the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB). Professor Hopke is a Past President of the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR), and was a member of the more than a dozen National Research Council committees. He is a member of the NRC's Board of Environmental Studies and Toxicology. He served as a Jefferson Science Fellow at the U.S. Department of State during the 2008-09 academic year. Professor Hopke received his B.S. in Chemistry from Trinity College (Hartford) and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Princeton University. After a post-doctoral appointment at M.I.T. and four years as an assistant professor at the State University College at Fredonia, NY, Dr. Hopke joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as a professor of environmental chemistry, and subsequently came to Clarkson in 1989. On July 1, 2010, he took on the directorship of the ISE that houses Clarkson's undergraduate and graduate environmental science degree programs as well as managing its sustainability initiatives. For the past 5 years, he has been actively studying solid fuel combustion systems with an emphasis on emissions and efficiency.
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Mark Knaebe is a Natural Resources Specialist at the USDA Forest Service Technology Marketing Unit, located at the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin. His work focuses on Bioenergy. Mark tests and evaluates wood gasification systems that are used to generate electricity from wood pellets. He advises on kiln heating systems and has designed wood heating systems for residential use. Currently, he is constructing a condensing wood boiler that he designed to maintain flue gasses below 212°F so that all the energy of boiling is recaptured. Mark is a frequent speaker on the many aspects of bioenergy and the advantages of converting biomass directly to thermal energy.
James B. Meigs was named editorial director of Hearst's Men's Enthusiast Group in June 2011. In this newly created position, he leads the editorial and content development for Car and Driver and Road & Track, both recently acquired by Hearst. Meigs also continues as editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics, a position he has held since June 2004. Meigs was formerly the executive editor of National Geographic Adventure, where he had worked since 2001. Prior to that, he was editor-in-chief, vice president of Premiere from 1996 to 2000.
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​James B. Meigs was named editorial director of Hearst's Men's Enthusiast Group in June 2011. In this newly created position, he leads the editorial and content development for Car and Driver and Road & Track, both recently acquired by Hearst. Meigs also continues as editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics, a position he has held since June 2004.
Since joining Popular Mechanics, Meigs has deepened the magazine's commitment to covering the major technological issues of our time, including infrastructure, national defense and the environment. At the same time Meigs has bolstered Popular Mechanics' position as the definitive men’s how-to magazine, both in print and online, covering crucial skills for the home, auto, digital technology, and outdoors.
In summer 2010, Meigs and his team unveiled the tablet edition of Popular Mechanics for iPad. Available monthly since November 2010, the app has garnered rave reviews from Gizmodo and Mashable, among other influential tech sites, and was the recipient of the Advertising Age "Media Vanguard Award."
Under Meigs, Popular Mechanics has received five National Magazine Award nominations, including for "General Excellence" and for the iPad tablet edition. In 2008, the magazine won the National Magazine Award for "Personal Service," for “Know Your Footprint," a three-part series on environmental responsibility in and around the home.
Meigs was formerly the executive editor of National Geographic Adventure, where he had worked since 2001. Prior to that, he was editor-in-chief, vice president of Premiere from 1996 to 2000. The country's leading movie magazine, Premiere earned two National Magazine Award nominations under his leadership.
Meigs also served on the team that launched Entertainment Weekly in 1990, and edited the home technology magazine Video Review. As a freelance writer he has covered topics including technology, education and sports for Rolling Stone; O, The Oprah Magazine; Popular Mechanics; and other publications.
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Dr. Ellen Burkhard is a Senior Project Manager with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority's Clean Energy Research and Market Development group. Ellen manages projects that evaluate air quality and health effects from energy production and use. These include projects that measure diesel and wood combustion emissions from various technology designs and fuel types, long-range transport of pollutants from upwind sources, localized air-quality effects of high-emitting sources, and cardiovascular and pulmonary effects from air pollution exposure. For the past five years Ellen has co-managed NYSERDA's biomass heating program which: works with manufacturers to develop high-efficiency and low emitting heating systems; supports third-party performance evaluations of technologies and; demonstrates new technologies in representative applications to support market transformation. Ellen earned a Ph.D. in Environmental Health and Toxicology from the State University of New York's School of Public Health.
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Norbert Senf has been building masonry heaters since 1979. He joined early efforts to write codes and standards, and was a founding member of the Masonry Heater Association of North America (MHA). As the need to measure masonry heater performance and emissions became evident, he worked through MHA to develop in-house testing expertise and build a database on PM emissions performance. He hopes that the recent development of simpler testing technology will accelerate the search for the cleanest ways to burn cordwood.
Kirk Smith is Professor of Global Environmental Health and is also founder and director of the campus-wide Masters Program in Global Health and Environment. He serves on a number of national and international scientific advisory committees. He participated, along with many other scientists, in the IPCC's 3rd and 4th assessments and shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and is Convening Lead Author for Climate and Health for the 5th Assessment. In 1997, he was elected member in the US National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors awarded to US Scientists by their peers. In 2009, he received the Heinz Prize in Environment and in 2012 was awarded the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.
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Professor Smith is Professor of Global Environmental Health and is also founder and director of the campus-wide Masters Program in Global Health and Environment. Previously, he was founder and head of the Energy Program of the East-West Center in Honolulu before moving to Berkeley in 1995. He serves on a number of national and international scientific advisory committees including the Global Energy Assessment, National Research Council's Board on Atmospheric Science and Climate, the Executive Committee for WHO Air Quality Guidelines, and the International Comparative Risk Assessment. He participated, along with many other scientists, in the IPCC's 3rd and 4th assessments and shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and is Convening Lead Author for Climate and Health for the 5th Assessment. He holds visiting professorships in India and China and bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees from UC Berkeley and, in 1997, was elected member in the US National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors awarded to US Scientists by their peers. In 2009, he received the Heinz Prize in Environment and in 2012 was awarded the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.
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Rod is a recognized wood heating appliance expert, educator, and public speaker, who works for Washington State Department of Ecology's Air Quality Program. Washington State is recognized nationally for its sector leading, conservative approach to regulating the use of wood heating appliances. Rod works closely with federal, state and regional air quality organizations and wood heating appliance manufacturers, on compliance, emissions, and standards initiatives. Prior to Dept. of Ecology Rod was a member of the teaching faculty at Washington State University. Rod received his Master of Science in Forest Resources from the University of Idaho.