Joseph M. Luther is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, where he leads research for next-generation optoelectronics. He received his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder (2005) and a Ph.D. in Physics from the Colorado School of Mines (2009). 

Following his Ph.D., Luther joined the group of A. Paul Alivisatos at the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a postdoctoral researcher, further expanding his expertise in nanomaterials. He returned to NREL as a staff scientist in 2009, where he has since become an internationally recognized leader in solution-processed and emerging photovoltaic technologies.

Luther’s research history spans nearly the full spectrum of PV platforms, from III-Vs and silicon to nanocrystal-based cadmium telluride, dye-sensitized, organic, and especially metal halide perovskite solar cells. He has established three world-record efficiency benchmarks on the Best Research-Cell Efficiency Chart and has been named to the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list eight times. 

Joshua D. Rhodes, Ph.D. is a Research Scientist and Lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin, a non-Resident Fellow at Columbia University, a Founding Partner and CTO of IdeaSmiths LLC, and a commissioner on the City of Austin Electricity Utility Commission. He has authored over 125 scientific articles, columns, op-eds, journal publications, and reports which have been cited over 2,500 times and he has given over 120 keynotes, panel presentations, podcast interviews, and other talks. His current area of work is in how energy systems power our modern lives, with a particular focus on new supplies and demands of electricity. He holds a double bachelors in Mathematics and Economics from Stephen F. Austin State University, a masters in Computational Mathematics from Texas A&M University, a masters in Architectural Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. He enjoys mountain biking, backpacking, and a good cup of coffee.

Dr. W.S. Sampath is Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Colorado State University (CSU). He has been a faculty member at CSU since 1985 with research focus on CdTe photovoltaics since 1991. His research group has demonstrated an efficiency of 20.1% for polycrystalline thin film CdTe photovoltaics, one of the highest efficiencies among universities and has published more than 130 papers. He is a site director of the NSF I/UCRC (Industry/University Co-Operative Research Center) for SPF2050. The center has completed ten years (Phase I & II) and is currently in phase III that includes financial support from industrial members. His research has been supported by NSF, DOE, EPA, USAID, UN-ICS, and industry over the past 37 years. 

Doug Lewin authors the Texas Energy and Power Newsletter and hosts the Energy Capital Podcast. He is a nationally recognized energy expert, particularly in the electric grid, renewable energy, energy efficiency, demand response, utility regulation, and pollution reduction. Lewin founded Stoic Energy, a Texas consulting firm specializing in grid and energy issues, in 2018. Previously, Doug led government and regulatory affairs work for CLEAResult, an energy efficiency program implementer for over 250 utilities in 40 states and provinces. Prior to joining CLEAResult, Lewin was the founding Executive Director of the South-central Partnership for Energy Efficiency as a Resource (SPEER) and worked at the Texas Legislature for five years as a legislative aide, primarily on energy, environment, and climate issues.

Syed Mubeen is Chief Technology Officer at SunHydrogen and an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Iowa. At SunHydrogen, he and his team develop solar hydrogen panels that produce hydrogen from sunlight and water, working from materials design through field testing. His academic group studies electrochemical routes to convert nitrogen species to ammonia for distributed production, the conversion of carbon dioxide to multi‑carbon products, and the development of portable oxygen concentrators. He works closely with academic and industry partners to translate laboratory advances into practical systems with lower cost and simpler deployment, using lessons from scale‑up to guide the next design.

Derek Stoops is a commercialization operator who turns breakthrough innovation into bankable deployments. He cut his teeth in entertainment—helping launch American Idol and scaling Sony Pictures Television’s International Networks to a $2B business—before shifting to critical technologies, where he leads go-to-market and partnerships across public, private, and philanthropic stakeholders. Inspired by work with UCLA’s Prof. Huang on a next-generation hydrogen catalyst, he founded Search2light Solutions with Alan Lloyd and Ivor John to accelerate hydrogen and adjacent technologies.