DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Senior Advisor
- Senior Advisor at the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Alexander T. Bok currently serves as a Senior Advisor at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) at the U.S. Department of Energy.
Prior to his appointment, he was the General Counsel and Director, Government Affairs, at an energy storage technology platform that was the recipient of an ARPA-E award in 2014. Prior to that he served with a lithium-ion battery manufacturer based in Massachusetts as corporate counsel with responsibilities for government affairs and business development. An experienced litigator, Bok has over two decades of experience as a general counsel for two leading national government relations/public relations firms. Bok is also a serial entrepreneur, having served in a variety of senior roles in several early-stage start-ups. Bok served as the Chairman of the Environmental League of Massachusetts Action Fund and as an executive committee member of the Environmental League of Massachusetts board prior to joining DOE. He co-chaired the Energy, Environment and Open Spaces transition team for Boston Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh in 2013-14.
Bok earned a M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, a J.D. from Boston College Law School, and a B.A. in Government from Harvard College.
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer
- Chief Information Officer at the U.S. Department
Ann Dunkin currently serves as Chief Information Officer at the U.S. Department of Energy, where she manages the Department's information technology (IT) portfolio and modernization; oversees the Department's cybersecurity efforts; leads technology innovation and digital transformation; and enables collaboration across the Department. She served in the Obama Administration as CIO of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Prior roles include Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Dell Technologies; CIO, County of Santa Clara, CA; CTO, Palo Alto Unified School District, California; and various leadership roles at Hewlett Packard focused on engineering, research and development, IT, manufacturing engineering, software quality, and operations.
Ann is a published author, most recently of the book Industrial Digital Transformation, and a frequent speaker on topics such as government technology modernization, digital transformation, and organizational development. Ann received the 2022 Capital CIO Large Enterprise ORBIE Award, and she has been given a range of previous awards, including DC's Top 50 Women in Technology for 2015 and 2016, ComputerWorld's Premier 100 Technology Leaders for 2016, StateScoop's Top 50 Women in Technology list for 2017, FedScoop's Golden Gov Executive of the Year in 2016 and 2021, and FedScoop's Best Bosses in Federal IT 2022.
Ms. Dunkin holds a Master of Science degree and a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering degree, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a licensed professional engineer in the states of California and Washington. In 2018, she was inducted into Georgia Tech's Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni.
Job Titles:
- under Secretary for Infrastructure
David Crane is a leading business voice in the field of sustainability, clean energy, and climate change. Prior to his confirmation as Under Secretary for Infrastructure he served as Director of DOE's Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations. Outside of government, Crane was the CEO of Climate Real Impact Solutions and served on the Boards of Heliogen Inc, Source Global, JERA Co. Inc., and Tata Steel Ltd, along with the not-for-profit Boards of Elemental Excelerator and The Climate Group NA. He was also a part of The B Team, serving as a leader and chairing the organization's Net Zero Initiative.
Previously, Crane was CEO of NRG. During his 12-year tenure, he took NRG from Chapter 11 to a Fortune 200 company. Crane also led NRG to the forefront of next-generation clean energy development through large scale initiatives in utility scale renewables (now Clearway), residential solar, post combustion carbon capture (Petra Nova) and DC fast charging (EVGO). Prior to NRG, Crane was CEO of International Power Plc, a UK-domiciled FTSE-100 company. During Crane's tenure, NRG won numerous industry, community, and environmental awards, including multiple "transaction of the year" awards. Crane was named Energy Industry "CEO of the Year" by EnergyBiz in 2010, top CEO in the electric utility sector by Institutional Investor in 2011, and "Entrepreneur of the Year" by Ernst & Young in 2010. Crane was also awarded the Corporate Environmental Leadership award by GlobalGreen in 2014 and the Equinox Solar Champion Award and the C.K. Prahalad Award for Global Sustainability Business Leadership, both in 2015. NRG, under Crane's leadership, was a key member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership from 2008 to 2011.
Crane is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Princeton University.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department
Job Titles:
- Communications
- DOE STEM Communications
Job Titles:
- Program Director
- Program Director for the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Dr. Ahmed Diallo currently serves as a Program Director for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). His focus at ARPA-E is on potentially transformative research & development to enable commercial fusion energy.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Technology - to - Market Advisor
Dr. Apoorv Agarwal serves as a Technology-to-Market Advisor at the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) where he supports technology development and commercialization efforts for energy storage and transportation programs. Dr. Agarwal has extensive experience in the energy commercialization space and is passionate about clean energy, sustainable mobility, alternative fuels, and waste-to-clean energy technologies.
Dr. Agarwal began his professional career at the Research & Advanced Engineering organization of Ford Motor Company as a technical specialist focusing on engine combustion and friction modeling. Over a 15-year career, he developed innovative engine technologies like a dual fuel engine and was among the first wave of Six Sigma Black Belts trained by Ford. Dr. Agarwal also worked in the electrified powertrain division and helped develop powertrain strategy for Ford's full hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and battery electric vehicles. He has been active with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Dr. Agarwal has published more than a dozen peer reviewed technical papers, given multiple technical presentations and holds one US patent.
In 2014, Dr. Agarwal become the General Manager of Organic Transit, a North Carolina based start-up that designed, manufactured, and sold a novel solar-human powered vehicle. Prior to joining ARPA-E, Dr. Agarwal served as a technical and commercialization consultant for several years on projects related to use of alternative fuels and development of decentralized sanitation systems.
Dr. Agarwal received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, where he graduated at the top of his class. He earned a Master's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. (both in Mechanical Engineering) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He also holds an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and has served as a mentor for several cohort companies of Third Derivative and the Breakthrough Energy Fellows program.
Job Titles:
- Fellow at the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Dr. Benjamin Weiner currently serves as a Fellow at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). His interests include agriculture, biomanufacturing, and AI for decarbonization.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Deputy Director for Technology at the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Dr. Daniel Cunningham is the Deputy Director for Technology at the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E). Dr. Cunningham was previously the Acting Deputy Director for Technology and the Acting Deputy Director for Commercialization.
Cunningham most recently worked at BP Group Technology in the Chief Scientist's Office evaluating emerging energy technologies such as energy storage and alternative fuels pathways and assessing their impact on future business. Prior to this role, Cunningham spent much of his career at BP Solar Inc., serving in multiple capacities, including Director of Product Development leading a multidisciplinary team to develop new technologies for BP Solar's product line. Here, he was responsible for bringing technologies to market, using innovative materials and manufacturing processes to enhance performance and reduce cost. He also took on the role of Director of Technology where he led a R&D engineering team developing and manufacturing electrochemically deposited thin film CdTe devices for use in photovoltaic applications in collaboration with NREL and the Institute of Energy Conversion (UoD). He received a Research Partnership Award in 2001 from the U.S. Department of Energy (EERE) for work in this area. Cunningham has extensive experience in semiconductor crystal growth and processing including PV module packaging and product reliability.
Cunningham has authored over 50 publications and 12 patent publications. He earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry specializing in electrochemistry and in-situ reflectance spectroscopy, and a B.Sc. (Hons) in Chemistry at the University of Southampton, UK. He is also a Senior Member of the IEEE and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Dr. Daniel Cunningham is the Deputy Director for Technology at the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), where he helps prepare innovative energy technologies for transition from the lab to the market.
Dr. Elise Goldfine currently serves as a Fellow at ARPA-E. Her technical interests include primary energy, energy storage, mining technologies, and decarbonization of industrial processes.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Dr. Evelyn N. Wang currently serves as the Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), where she leads the Agency's development, launch, and execution of high-risk, high-reward energy research and development programs.
Prior to joining ARPA-E, Dr. Wang served as the Ford Professor of Engineering and Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). During her time at MIT, she focused on thermal management, thermal energy conversion and storage, and water harvesting and purification.
Dr. Wang was previously the Associate Director of the MIT Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center, a DOE Energy Frontiers Research Center. Earlier in her career, Dr. Wang worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Bell Laboratories, Alcatel-Lucent and as a consultant for the Defense Science Study Group, where she advocated for collaboration between academia and national defense to solve issues of national security.
Dr. Wang holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. She also received an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Job Titles:
- under Secretary for Science and Innovation
Job Titles:
- Program Director
- Program Director at ARPA - E
Dr. Halle Cheeseman is a Program Director at ARPA-E with a focus on batteries and other electrochemical devices.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- American Chemical Society Fellow
- Associate Director for Technology at the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Dr. Jenifer Shafer currently serves as the Associate Director for Technology at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). Her focus at ARPA-E is developing economic and proliferation resistant technologies to support advanced reactor deployment, as well as manage nuclear waste and used nuclear fuel.
Before joining ARPA-E, Shafer served on the faculty at Colorado School of Mines as a Professor in the Chemistry Department and Nuclear Science & Engineering Program. Prior to that, she worked at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Shafer, an American Chemical Society Fellow, received a Ph.D. and B.S. in Chemistry from Washington State University and Colorado State University, respectively. She was the 2019 Chair of the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Division of Nuclear Science & Technology, a member of the 2017 ACS Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research's Class of Influential Researchers, and a 2014 Department of Energy (DOE) Early Career awardee. She is the co-author of several book chapters, over 70 technical manuscripts and has led or collaborated on a number of projects for the Departments of Energy, Homeland Security, and Defense.
Job Titles:
- Program Director
- Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Dr. Johan H. Enslin currently serves as a Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). His focus at ARPA-E is on future electrical power system technology and operations.
Job Titles:
- Fellow at the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Dr. Jonathan "Jo" Melville is a Fellow at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). At ARPA-E, Jo's technical interests lie within the realm of experimental next-generation technologies for deep decarbonization, focusing especially upon emissions reduction for industrial processes and novel chemistries for artificial fuel synthesis.
Dr. Julia Greenwald currently serves as an ARPA-E Fellow. Her interests include developing circular supply chains, novel mining and mineral processing technologies, and new helium production methods.
Job Titles:
- Program Director
- Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Dr. Mario Garcia-Sanz currently serves as a Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). His focus at ARPA-E includes advanced control engineering, wind energy systems, renewable and conventional power generation, electrical distribution systems, smart grid technologies, and water treatment plants and networks.
Job Titles:
- Program Director
- Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Dr. Olga Blum Spahn currently serves as a Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). Her focus at ARPA-E is on grid resiliency, power management and distribution, aviation and instrumentation for harsh environments leveraging optical and semiconductor device technologies.
Dr. Peter de Bock currently serves as a Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. His focus at ARPA-E includes electronics thermal management and aviation propulsion systems.
Dr. Ryan Chaban currently serves as an ARPA-E Fellow where he is interested in enabling rapid technology deployment through advanced manufacturing, modular design, and fusion-enabling technologies.
Job Titles:
- Program Director
- Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Dr. Simon Freeman serves as a Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA‑E). His focus at ARPA-E is on maritime energy and environmental sensing technologies.
Job Titles:
- Program Director
- Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Dr. William Horak currently serves as a Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). His focus at ARPA-E includes advanced thermal systems, nuclear energy, and combined heat and power.
Dr. Zachary Berquist currently serves as an ARPA-E Fellow. His interests include carbon removal, industrial heat decarbonization, heat transfer, and next-generation battery technologies.
Dr. Berquist received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan in September 2022. His doctoral thesis focused on the development of high-temperature aerogels as transparent insulation for concentrating solar thermal. Dr. Berquist also holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University where he researched the hydrothermal liquefaction of food waste as a source of renewable fuel. During his Ph.D., Dr. Berquist interned at Sandia National Laboratories in the summer of 2021 where he worked at the National Solar Thermal Testing Facility on thermochemical air separation.
Prior to joining ARPA-E, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory where he analyzed lithium battery interfaces with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.
Job Titles:
- Principal Deputy Administrator
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director of the Office of Management
Ingrid Kolb, as the Director of the Office of Management, oversees more than $22 billion in annual contract obligations and $2 billion in financial assistance obligations and is responsible for management of the Department's multi-billion dollar project portfolio.
Isha Korde is the Special Assistant to ARPA-E at the U.S. Department of Energy.
Job Titles:
- Secretary, U.S. Department
- United States Secretary
As United States Secretary of Energy, Jennifer M. Granholm leads an agency tasked with maintaining a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent and reducing the threat of nuclear proliferation, overseeing the United States' energy supply, carrying out the environmental clean-up from the Cold War nuclear mission, and the 17 National Laboratories.
Job Titles:
- National Nuclear Security Administration
- under Secretary for Nuclear Security and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration
Jill Hruby was sworn in as the Under Secretary for Nuclear Security of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on July 26, 2021. She was confirmed by the Senate on July 22, 2021.
Administrator Hruby will lead NNSA in achieving our Nation's nuclear security missions by ensuring the Nuclear Security Enterprise is bringing cutting-edge science and creativity to sustain and fully understand our stockpile without testing; providing new technologies and procedures to lower cost and reduce the time to deliver all mission requirements; staying ahead of our adversaries; and developing advanced capabilities to enhance nuclear security, arms control, and Navy reactors.
With an extensive background in science and engineering spanning more than 30 years, Jill Hruby brings a wealth of national security experience to NNSA. Prior to her nomination as Administrator, Jill Hruby served as Director of Sandia National Laboratories from 2015-17.
Since her retirement from Sandia National Laboratories, Jill Hruby served as the inaugural Sam Nunn Distinguished Fellow at the Nuclear Threat Initiative from 2018-19. In addition, she has been a member of the Defense Science Board, the National Nuclear Security Administration Defense Programs Advisory Committee, and the National Academy of Science Committee for International Security and Arms Control. She has served on a variety of technical advisory committees and non-profit organization boards. She is a frequent participant in international dialogues; a spokesperson for women in engineering; and a mentor for emerging leaders.
Hruby earned her bachelor's degree from Purdue University and her master's degree from the University of California at Berkeley, both in mechanical engineering. She has authored numerous publications and reports, holds three patents, and received an R&D 100 Award. In 2016, she received the Suzanne Jenniches Upward Mobility Award from the Society of Women Engineers. In 2017, Business Insider named her the second most powerful female engineer. Jill has received the Department of Energy Secretary's Exceptional Service Award, the National Nuclear Security Administrator's Distinguished Service Gold Award, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Acting Deputy Director for Commercialization at the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Jonathan (Jon) Glass serves as the Acting Deputy Director for Commercialization at the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E). He brings over twenty years of executive experience in business development, venture capital, technology commercialization, new business creation and IP licensing.
From 1998 to 2014, Jon served in multiple executive roles at General Electric. He was the business development leader at GE Licensing, a managing director at GE Equity, and a managing director at GE Capital's commercial lending business. After GE, Jon co-founded two technology start-up companies, Wise Labs and Vener8 Technologies, where he led strategic partnership, product development and revenue generation activities. Most recently, Jon was the Director of Venture Accelerations at National Grid Partners, where he oversaw the NextGrid Alliance, a collaboration network of over 80 power utilities to foster industry-wide innovation and accelerate the energy transition.
Jon received an MBA, with honors, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an AB, magna cum laude, from Harvard College. He is a co-inventor on two US patents and a former member of the Research Advisory Committee of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
Job Titles:
- Deputy Procurement Director and Policy Coordinator at the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Mary Barnes currently serves as the Deputy Procurement Director and Policy Coordinator at the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E). In this role, Barnes is responsible for awarding and administering financial assistance awards and contracts in accordance with federal laws and regulations. Prior to ARPA-E, Barnes served as a Contracting Officer at the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Headquarters Procurement Services.
Barnes received her J.D. from West Virginia University College of Law and a B.A. in Political Science from West Virginia University, where she was a graduate of the WVU Honors Program. Barnes holds a Level III Federal Acquisition Certification for Contracting and a Level IV Financial Assistance Certification.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director for External Coordination at ARPA - E
Peder Maarbjerg currently serves as the Assistant Director for External Coordination at ARPA-E and is responsible for legislative and public policy outreach.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Technology - to - Market Advisor
Priyanka Bakaya currently serves as a Technology-to-Market Advisor at the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E). For the past two decades, she has worked as a climate tech founder and entrepreneur, in finance and venture capital, and has also served as an instructor for MIT Entrepreneurship Bootcamps.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Deputy Director for Operations for the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Shane Kosinski is the Deputy Director for Operations for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), responsible for oversight and operations of the mission of ARPA-E as well as all ARPA-E programs.