UNM Faculty to Discuss Latest in Renewable Energy at Solar Fiesta

The Solar Fiesta is an oppor­tu­nity to learn about how to build a sus­tain­able lifestyle. It’s also an oppor­tu­nity to hear about UNM’s cutting-edge edu­ca­tional and research pro­grams in solar energy, sus­tain­abil­ity and energy effi­ciency. The Solar Fiesta will be held Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 27–28 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Albu­querque Acad­emy located at 6400 Wyoming Blvd. NE.

A UNM Panel fea­tur­ing Dr. Gruia-Catalin Roman, the new dean of the UNM School of Engi­neer­ing, Andrea Mam­moli, asso­ciate pro­fes­sor in Mechan­i­cal Engi­neer­ing, Olga Lavrova, assis­tant pro­fes­sor in Elec­tri­cal and Com­puter Engi­neer­ing and Stephen Dent, pro­fes­sor in the School of Archi­tec­ture and Plan­ning, is set for Sun­day, Aug. 28 from 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. at the Simms Cen­ter at Albu­querque Acad­emy. Roman will mod­er­ate a panel of UNM fac­ulty and will dis­cuss state-of-the-art research and aca­d­e­mic pro­grams in pho­to­voltaics, solar ther­mal tech­nolo­gies, renew­able tech­nolo­gies, and sus­tain­able design.

UNM Panel
Roman became dean of the UNM School of Engi­neer­ing on July 1, 2011. He comes to UNM from Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­sity in St. Louis, where he was chair of the Depart­ment of Com­puter Sci­ence and Engi­neer­ing for 13 years. In his own research, Roman and his col­lab­o­ra­tors have been inves­ti­gat­ing the use of the newly emerg­ing sen­sor net­work tech­nol­ogy in the area of cli­mate con­trols for build­ing man­age­ment. He also likes to high­light the fact that energy-related research fund­ing for the Cen­ter for Emerg­ing Energy Tech­nolo­gies alone received $2 mil­lion last year, involv­ing nine fac­ulty mem­bers from UNM and eight out­side UNM as well as five post­doc­toral fel­lows, 17 grad­u­ate stu­dents, and eight under­grad­u­ate stu­dents. Annual research expen­di­tures for the School of Engi­neer­ing last year reached $31.73 mil­lion, approx­i­mately $300,000 per faculty.

Mam­moli is help­ing posi­tion UNM as a lead­ing cen­ter of inno­va­tion in solar energy. Mam­moli and an inter­na­tional col­lab­o­ra­tion are devel­op­ing ways for build­ings to use energy more effi­ciently and more wisely at Mesa del Sol, research­ing the inter­face between build­ings, dis­trib­uted power gen­er­a­tion and the power grid.

Lavrova teaches classes in emerg­ing ener­gies and has led the department’s solar car project and solar-house design com­pe­ti­tion. She is also involved with the Mesa del Sol energy research project, mod­el­ing multi-agent behav­ior and bat­tery stor­age techniques.

Dent has been teach­ing energy con­serv­ing and sus­tain­able design for over 30 years. He has writ­ten exten­sively on the sub­ject and has pre­sented his archi­tec­tural work and research at national and inter­na­tional con­fer­ences. He has also received more than $300,000 in energy related research contracts.

Solar Fiesta
Spon­sored by the New Mex­ico Solar Energy Asso­ci­a­tion, the Solar Fiesta is a two-day edu­ca­tional event fea­tur­ing exhibits and work­shops on how to install solar and wind energy sys­tems, bio­fu­els, trans­porta­tion alter­na­tives, light­ing and shad­ing options, and energy effi­ciency. An expanded children’s area uses a mul­ti­plic­ity of both sta­tic dis­plays and inter­ac­tional games to teach energy con­cepts. Atten­dance to the UNM panel and exhibit grounds is free; work­shop ses­sions are $15 for one day and $25 for both days; park­ing is $5 per car.

For more infor­ma­tion visit: Solar Fiesta.

Media Con­tact: Tamara Williams, (505) 277‑5859; e-mail: tamara@unm.edu