Amit Munshi is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State University (CSU) and the founder and president of JPHB Solutions LLC. He earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering from CSU in 2017. He also briefly served as the Chief Research & Development Officer of Toledo Solar Inc. in 2021 before returning to academia and simultaneously founding his own company. He also serves as the Site Co-Director of the CSU Site for the NSF IUCRC for a Solar Powered Future. He also continues to serve as a PI or co-PI for several US Department of Energy funded programs. He specializes in thin film CdTe PV technology and his research interests are process development for novel materials and its repeatable implementation, and understanding the influence of subtle process conditions on device performance through materials and optoelectrical characterization. Other research interests include technoeconomics of photovoltaic technologies and barriers to implementation, supply chain and end-of-life management of PV technologies, assessment of PV technologies under real world applications, etc. Dr. Munshi's PV commercialization efforts at JPHB are focused on scaling innovations in CdTe technology for niche applications such as Building Integrated PV (BIPV), Agriculture Integrated Photovoltaics (AgroVoltaics), and Internet of Things (IOT). 

Alex Hanson is an Associate Professor and holds the Chevron Centennial Fellowship in Engineering (No. 1) in the Chandra Family Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin.  He received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2019.  His research interests include power magnetics and modular power conversion.  Dr. Hanson has received the NSF CAREER award, the AFOSR Young Investigator award, the William Portnoy Best Paper award, and the Gordon T Lepley excellence in teaching award.  Dr. Hanson also leads the university-wide Texas Initiative for Datacenter Energy and large Loads (TEX-DEL), which covers the entire large load energy journey including generation, grid connection, conversion, storage, consumption, and thermal management. 

Patrick has spent the last 15 years developing utility-scale wind and solar projects across the country. Since 2015, he has led development of over 700 MW of utility-scale solar projects across Virginia and Ohio with Open Road Renewables. He has deep expertise in project origination, land acquisition, permitting and community engagement.

Russell Gold was born somewhere east of the Sabine River (very far east) but made it to Texas in 1996 and stuck around. He worked as journalist for more than three decades, nearly all of it in Texas. He spent two decades as an award-winning investigative journalist at the Wall Street Journal. That job was bookended by a stint at the San Antonio Express-News in the 1990s and Texas Monthly in the 2020s. He has written about wildcatters, exploding offshore rigs, renewable energy developers and Bruno, the oil-rig dog who disappeared and found his way home. He dodged polar bears on Alaska’s North Slope, climbed a wind turbine in Oklahoma and spent more time on drilling pads than anyone with uncalloused hands should. His work has been recognized with a Peabody Award and two Loeb Awards. He is also very good at being a runner up. His work was twice a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize and once for a National Magazine Award. He has written two books. His 2014 book, The Boom, was long listed for the FT Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year prize. His 2019 book, Superpower, wasn’t—but it is even better. He currently works at T1 Energy, a solar-manufacturing company. He lives in Austin with his wife. They raised two sons who are currently making valiant attempts at adulting.