Leadership Team
Learn more about the expertise and technical skills of the wind power research team and staff at NREL.
Daniel Laird
Center Director
Dr. Daniel Laird is director of the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC). Laird also serves as an executive committee member of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Atmosphere to Electrons Wind Plant Optimization Initiative and provides leadership in the focus areas of high-fidelity modeling, wind power plant controls, and rotor dynamics. Prior to joining NREL in 2015, he spent 19 years at Sandia National Laboratories leading wind energy and water power research efforts in structural analysis and simulation, computational design tools, advanced manufacturing, composite materials, and blade reliability.
Brian Smith
Wind Energy Laboratory Program Manager
Brian Smith is the partnership manager for the NWTC and focuses on portfolio diversification, capability enhancement, and strategy. Smith joined NREL in 1988, first as a test engineer for advanced airfoil blades and then as the 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. Smith served as the manager of NREL's Laboratory Wind and Water Power Program from 2002 to 2014 and acting NWTC director from 2014 to 2015. He is the U.S. alternate member and vice chair of the executive committee for the International Energy Agency's Technology Collaboration Programme for Wind Energy Systems Research, Development, and Demonstration.
Matthew Ringer
Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory Program Manager
As the laboratory program manager for Advanced Manufacturing, Matt Ringer oversees NREL’s portfolio of science and engineering research completed on behalf of DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Decarbonization Offices. He ensures NREL researchers and engineers working on Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Decarbonization projects provide high-quality, groundbreaking results to our clients. NREL’s almost $15 million annual research budget from the Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Decarbonization Offices is focused on advanced composites manufacturing, power electronics, supply chain and circular economy analysis, polymer upcycling, and water.
Meet the Staff Behind NREL’s Wind Research and Development
The research and advances in wind energy at NREL is only possible thanks to the hard work of the staff behind the blades. Read the profiles in our Behind the Blades interview series.
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