Tom is the director of IEE, professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. His Bioconversion Research Group applies fundamental engineering science to microbial ecosystems, developing innovative strategies for a more sustainable agriculture and the emerging bio-based economy. A particular emphasis is on microbial processes that occur in three-phase porous media, where solid, liquid, and gas phases all play critical roles. These porous media systems are referred to variously as: solid-state fermentation in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and food processing industries; composting in the manure management and solid waste realms; ensilage on dairy and beef cattle farms; and soils in agroecosystems. The complexity of these systems lies not only in their immediate physical, chemical, and biological dimensions, but also in the human and natural systems within which they are embedded. Understanding and improving the performance of these microbial processes demands a multi-dimensional perspective and invites interdisciplinary collaboration.

Sudhakar Neti, Emeritus professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics and Senior Scientist at the Energy Research Center at Lehigh University completed the Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering in India. His doctoral work at the University of Kentucky under Roger Eichhorn included one of the earliest predictions of non-isotropic turbulence driven flows and energy transfer.

He has been a NASA fellow at Moffet Field, CA, a visiting fellow at Wolfson College, University of Oxford, England and at the Harwell Laboratory in Harwell, England and has been a consultant to many industries. He is the Founding Director of the Lehigh University Industrial Assessment Center sponsored by U.S. DOE and currently is the Associate Director. In 2008, Lehigh University President Alice Gast appointed him to be a founding co-chair of the Lehigh Environmental Advisory Group, a group committed to campus sustainability.

He has enjoyed teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in thermodynamics, heat transfer and fluid flow, renewable energy and particularly likes kindling the young mind and watch it bloom. He has supervised the work of numerous graduate students and post-doctoral scientists. Dr. Neti has lead hundreds of energy saving Industrial Assessment Center visits to small and medium size manufacturing plants in PA and NJ and in that process helped educate the next generation of energy engineers. His research comprises of experiments as well as computational modeling and is centered on transport phenomenon related to single, multiphase, bioengineering and non-Newtonian flows, nanoparticles as well as laser instrumentation.  His more recent research interests include solar energy, energy storage technologies, heat transfer fluids for solar applications as well as the use of solar energy for fossil fuel plants and the sequestration of CO2. His research has been supported by NSF, DOE, ARPA-e, Mexican government and other agencies and he has published extensively in a broad spectrum of journals. He is a member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and Sigma Xi honor society. He was the co-chair of the ASME Strategic Task Force on Thermal Energy Storage and is a member of the ASME Committee on Standards for Thermal Energy Storage. He is a cofounder of Solarflux Energy Technologies, Inc., a solar energy company. His broader interests lead him to Asian studies, global citizenship and music.

Steve Bohlen has served science and society as a prominent researcher, professor, senior manager in the US Federal and CA State governments, CEO of a systems engineering and naval architecture firm, and currently a member of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Steve leads E-Program in the Global Security Directorate; E-Program advances energy technologies and energy security.

A graduate of the Dartmouth College, Steve earned a Ph.D. in geochemistry from The University of Michigan in 1979. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA, he became a tenured professor at Stony Brook University. From1995 through 2000, Steve was Associate Chief Geologist for Science at the US Geological Survey. He was responsible for the scientific priorities and funding of the broad portfolio of USGS research, including the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction, Climate Change, Global Energy, and Minerals Resource programs. As President and CEO of Joint Oceanographic Institutions from 2000-2008, Steve led the global effort in scientific ocean drilling and the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program and the systems engineering and deployment of the US National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories.

With a deep understanding of how the Earth works, Steve writes and speaks about future challenges and risk assessment of energy, climate, water, and food on a small planet. His 25 years of research on the evolution and stabilization of continental crust is widely cited, and he is among a select group in ISI’s Web of Science of Highly Cited Researchers in the field of Geoscience (atmosphere, ocean, and solid Earth).

Specialties: Organizational leadership and strategic realignment, international program leadership and management, systems engineering and integration, strategic planning, large program development,leadership development and coaching, risk assessment, Earth resources and hazards.

Stanley W. (Stan) Connally Jr. is executive vice president of operations at Southern Company – one of the largest producers of energy in the United States.

Connally oversees Southern Company’s systemwide operations. This includes generation, transmission, engineering and construction services, commercial operations, system planning and environmental affairs, as well as Southern Wholesale Energy, Southern Linc and the supply chain organization. He is dedicated to helping ensure employees under his leadership are able to work safely and provide value through a shared-services model to all Southern Company subsidiaries and their customers.

Since beginning his career with Southern Company in 1989 as a co-op student at Georgia Power’s Plant Yates, Connally has served in senior leadership roles at each of the company’s electric operating companies – Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Mississippi Power and former subsidiary Gulf Power. Most recently, Connally was Gulf Power’s chairman, president and CEO.

Earlier in his career, he served as senior vice president and senior production officer for Georgia Power, where he was responsible for fossil and hydroelectric generation. Connally’s earlier experience across the company ranges from customer operations, sales and marketing to power plant leadership.

Connally actively supports and serves the community. He has served on the boards of a number of community and economic development organizations that support children and families and help communities grow. He was vice chair of Enterprise Florida, the state’s public-private partnership for economic development, served on the Florida Chamber of Commerce board as chair of the policy council, and sat on the Florida Council of 100 board. He has been a member of the external advisory board of the Georgia Tech Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

As a member of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) board of directors, Connally serves on both the executive committee and the compensation and leadership development committee. He is a member of Capital City Bank Group’s board.

Connally earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has completed the Goizueta Executive Education Program at Emory University and the Southern Company Senior Leadership Development Program.

A native of Newnan, Georgia, Connally and his wife, Amy, have two sons – Cade and Court.