WEFI - Key Persons
Amanda is the Principle of Ormond Group, a 16 year-old consultant firm specializing in policy development and advocacy to support clean energy, electric transmission efficiency and market development. Amanda has extensive experience convening, mediating and facilitating forums on wide range of energy and environmental topics. She has represented the wind and solar manufacturing and development industries in regulatory forums, worked with environmental organizations on low-conflict siting of renewable energy projects, manages a consulting group, Western Grid Group, specializing in renewable energy integration and market development and manages one of West largest network of clean energy advocates. She specializes in message development and communications to reach target audiences and is a veteran speaker able to translate technical energy concepts and information for lay audiences. She enjoys developing collaborative relationships to reach end goals and mentoring young energy professionals. In addition to WEFI, Amanda serves on the board of the Regulatory Assistance Project.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Research Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Dr. Thresher is a Research Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, National Wind Technology Center. We was appointed to Research Fellow on April 1, 2008. NREL Research Fellow appointments are reserved for outstanding scientists and engineers who have achieved exceptional and/or internationally recognized positions of leadership in their fields. In his role as a Research Fellow, Dr. Thresher has research interests in ocean renewable energy systems. Offshore wind technology and the new embryonic ocean energy technologies are very similar mechanical machines.
At NREL he has been a principal researcher developing early wind technology and an architect of the wind program at NREL and the creation of the National Wind Technology Center. He has been a strategist and spokesperson for the initiation of a national research program to develop offshore wind, wave, tidal and current energy technology.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Northern Arizona University
Dr. Acker is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Northern Arizona University, where he has been since 1996 after receiving a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University. He is currently the director of NAU's Sustainable Energy Solutions Group, and teaches and performs research related to energy systems and renewable energy. During 2003-04 he spent a sabbatical year working at the National Wind Technology Center of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado, focused on grid integration issues related to wind and hydropower resources, as well as region-wide transmission planning. He previously spent three months in 1997 on a faculty fellowship to the National Wind Technology Center studying wind turbine aerodynamics.
Acting on behalf NREL, he is the "Operating Agent" in charge of leading an international effort to study wind and hydropower integration for the International Energy Agency. His recent research activities include wind power integration, wind flow modeling via meso-scale and micro-scale (CFD) methods, wind assessment, water/energy projects, Native American applications of renewable energy, and agricultural/energy projects. He also recently led an effort at NAU to plan a new Master's of Science in Engineering degree with an emphasis in Sustainable Systems Engineering. Dr. Acker is on board of the North American Wind Energy Academy.