Francis J. Murray, president and chief executive officer of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), will give the keynote address today at the 2012-13 Annual Conference of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Center for Future Energy Systems (CFES).

The all-day event is a showcase for the leading-edge energy research taking place at Rensselaer, and aims to promote and encourage additional collaboration between academia and industry on important energy topics. The event will take place at the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy, N.Y. Murray’s presentation is titled “New York’s Energy Policy in Practice: Framework for the Future.” See the full schedule at: http://bit.ly/149UEn1

CFES actively partners with industry, government, and educational institutions to accelerate renewable energy research, move technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace, and ultimately build value and create jobs. CFES is one of 15 designated Centers for Advanced Technology funded by the Empire State Development (ESD) Division for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR). From 2005 to 2012, CFES leveraged a total $6.5 million investment from the state to help the center’s industrial partners deliver $73 million in economic impact and create 150 jobs.

“Every day, CFES works with forward-thinking companies and helps them harness the expertise of Rensselaer faculty and students to advance fundamental research as well as solve specific, real-world energy challenges,” said Jian Sun, CFES director and professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering at Rensselaer. “Our annual conference is an opportunity to look back and report on our success, and we look forward to discussing new strategies for solving tomorrow’s energy challenges.”

“I am thrilled to be able to tell the story of New York state leading the nation in developing the clean energy technology of the future,” Murray said. “Through the vision and leadership of Governor Cuomo, New York continues to strengthen the vital link between the public and private sectors and academia to nurture and grow the clean energy value chain. It begins with research and development and continues through clean tech incubators and proof-of-concept centers, and ultimately leads to the commercialization of clean energy technologies that create economic opportunity and a cleaner environment for all New Yorkers.”

“Facilitating the transfer of technology from academia to commercialization is a critical component of Governor Cuomo’s strategy to grow New York’s economy,” said Empire State Development President, CEO, and Commissioner Kenneth Adams. “Advanced technology centers like this one were created to help bridge the gap between technology-based applied research and the marketplace, and create jobs and spur growth. CEFS is doing cutting-edge work, and I look forward to continuing to partner with them as they work with industry to bring new innovations to market and create jobs in New York.”

Researchers from several CFES industrial partners from across the state will speak at the conference, including GE Global Research, IBM, Primet Precision Materials, and International Rectifier. Additionally, the conference will feature talks from several Rensselaer faculty members about their energy research:

• Liping Huang | Hierarchical Nanostructured Porous Carbon for Energy-related Applications
• Peter Dinolfo | Molecular Electrocatalysts for Solar Fuel Production
• Leila Parsa, Mona Hella, and Paul Chow | High-Voltage Normally-off GaN MOSC-HEMTs on Silicon Substrates for Power Switching Devices
• Christian Wetzel | GaN for Large-Scale Power Efficiency
• Mark J. Embrechts | Big Data Analytics for Renewable Energy: bigDAARE
• Mona Hella | Si and GaAs Power Integrated Circuits,
• Robert Karlicek and Paul Chow | Monolithic Optoelectronic Integration of GaN High-Voltage Power FETs and LEDs with a Selective Epi Removal Process
• Joe Chow | Phasor State Estimation for Data Accuracy Improvement and Power Transfer Interface Monitoring
• Joe Chow | Power System State Estimation Using a Non-Iterative Direct State Calculation Method
• Jian Sun | Online Measurement of Power Grid Impedance
• Jian Sun | Adaptive Control of Grid-Connected Inverters for Renewable Energy Applications

CFES is the locus of energy research at Rensselaer, where world-leading science and engineering researchers from all fields gather to collaborate on building a productive, more efficient future. With partners Cornell University and Brookhaven National Laboratory, the center’s research thrusts range from nanomaterials for energy conversion and storage, to smart grids, fuel cells, solar, wind, and many other areas.

More than 30 researchers and 45 students from Rensselaer, Cornell, and Brookhaven collaborate on CFES projects.

For additional information on CFES and energy research at Rensselaer, visit:

New York State Center for Future Energy Systems at Rensselaer
http://www.rpi.edu/cfes/

Energy@Rensselaer
http://energy.rpi.edu

Energy Scholars Program at Rensselaer Connects Students with Industry
http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=3049

Researchers Secure $2 Million Award To Boost Reliability, Sustainability of Power Grids
http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2910

Jian Sun Named Director of Center for Future Energy Systems at Rensselaer
http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2821