Profiles of Newsmakers, July 2010

Susan Hockfield was profiled by Bloomberg for her role in the MIT Energy Initiative. Dr. Hockfield is president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has been working on the Initiative for “research programs to develop new solar cells, wind turbines, and fuel-producing viruses.”

Through her efforts, she has “enlisted President Barack Obama, General Electric, and Eni SpA. In the article, Dr. Hockfield says, “We’ve been part of the force that has changed the conversation in the U.S.,” about energy.

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In a press release from the University of Delaware, work by Professor Robert Birkmire on “solar cells that can stand up to battle conditions and environmental extremes” is highlighted for receiving a monetary award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

UD’s Institute of Energy Conversion (IEC) is the only academic partner on the project working with “Flexible High-performance Tandem-junction PV Array.” The general goal of the research project is to “demonstrate low-cost, lightweight phovoltaics that can not only weather battle conditions and environmental extremes, but also deliver a power conversion efficiency of 20 percent or greater.”

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Chief executive of Crown Agents USA, Lizann Prosser, is a former environmental engineer and investment banker. Now she is leading an international development company that “helps governments raise revenue, manage debit, and plan expenditure more effectively.”

Read the Q&A article from The Washington Post with Prosser for more on her transition from engineering and how is shapes who she is today.

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