Brian Smith is Partnership Manager for the NWTC and focuses on portfolio diversification, capability enhancement, and strategy. Brian joined NREL in 1988, first as a test engineer for advanced airfoil blades and then as project leader for advanced wind technology development and field verification partnerships with industry. He managed the DOE Turbine Research and DOE-Electric Power Research Institute Turbine Verification Program activities at NREL in the 1990s that helped reinvigorate the development and deployment of wind technology and power plants in the United States. Brian served as NREL's Laboratory Wind and Water Power Program Manager from 2002Ð2014 and Acting NWTC Director. He is the U.S. Alternate Member and Vice Chair of the Executive Committee for the IEA Technology Collaboration Program for Wind Energy Systems research, development, and demonstration.

Education

M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts at Amherst; B.S. in Manufacturing and Management Engineering, University of Vermont