NREL Staff

Gerry Nix is a Chemical Engineer by training, and manages the NREL Geothermal Energy Program with emphasis on Energy Systems Research and Testing. He has more than 30 years of experience in industry and in federally funded research and development. Gerry spent 11 years with DuPont in research, development, and consulting, and has been with NREL for 21 years in renewable energy research and development. He has a professional engineering degree in petroleum-refining engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Keith Gawlik is Senior Engineer who joined NREL in 1995. His recent work has involved the study of mixed hydrocarbon working fluids in geothermal binary cycle power plants and field tests of polymer composite liners for heat exchanger tubes. Keith also works in the Solar Building Program, where he has performed experimental and numerical analysis of transpired air collectors and has recently worked on the development of polymer heat exchangers. He holds one patent related to the transpired collector and two on chemical application systems. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with S.B. and S.M. degrees in mechanical engineering, and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Chuck Kutscher is a Principal Engineer in the Center for Buildings and Thermal Systems, and is the Geothermal Team Leader. He has worked at NREL since 1978. His projects have included design of a desiccant cooling test laboratory, production of NREL's solar industrial process heat design handbook, development of a stretched-membrane parabolic dish, and NREL's low-cost solar collector effort. The latter involved pioneering development (in conjunction with Conserval Systems, Inc.) of the transpired air collector, winner of an R&D 100 Award and Popular Science's "Best of What's New" award. Chuck is currently working on development of an advanced air-cooled condenser for binary-cycle geothermal power plants. He continues to be involved in the solar energy field, and serves on the Board of Directors of the American Solar Energy Society and as Chairman for 2000-2001. He has a B.S. degree in physics from the State University of New York at Albany, an M.S. degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Walter Short is a Principal Policy Analyst and manager of the Analysis Group at NREL since 1980. He formulates and analyzes policy initiatives with an emphasis on renewable energy and climate change. He is the leader of the NREL contributions to the study, Scenarios for a Clean Energy Future, which estimates the potential of Federal policies to reduce U.S. carbon emissions. Walter has also developed supply curves for the potential of renewable energy technologies to reduce U.S. carbon emissions. In prior assignments at NREL, Walter served as Manager of the Market Analysis Branch and Program Manager for Market Analysis. He also conducted heat transfer, optical analysis and engineering economics studies in the Buildings and Solar Thermal programs at NREL. Prior to joining NREL in 1980, Walter conducted optimization and engineering-economics studies at SRI International. He holds a B.S. degree in mathematics from the University of Georgia and an M.S. in operations research from Stanford University.