Young Professionals in Renewable Energy

Featured Speakers

SOLAR 2013 for the first time ever will have an added focus on Young Professionals in Renewable Energy. This focus offers the opportunity for young professionals to explore sustainable energy solutions through the eyes of your peers in engineering, planning, architecture, design, and education. SOLAR 2013 allows young professionals to expand your social network, connect with seasoned professionals, job hunt, and learn about the latest advances in renewable energy research. Learn more here.

Lucas Witmer

Lucas Witmer pictureLucas attended Messiah College and graduated in 2008 with a BS in Engineering, mechanical concentration. Lucas has had several internships including one with the solar group at Tyco Electronics, working on the development of junction boxes and connectors for photovoltaic applications. In the fall of 2008, Lucas started his graduate education at the Pennsylvania State University in Energy and Mineral Engineering. Lucas was selected for the role of Energy Modeling Project Manager for the 2009 Penn State Solar Decathlon team. Following the conclusion of the 2009 Solar Decathlon, Lucas co-founded the Penn State Student Chapter of the American Solar Energy Society and was elected to the position of President for two years (2010 to 2012). For both years that Lucas was president, the club raised funds and brought 15 and 13 students to Raleigh and Denver, respectively, for the annual solar conference. In the fall of 2010, Lucas graduated with an MS in Energy and Mineral Engineering. At this point, Lucas began his PhD in Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State. His research focus is on leveraging the solar gains of building facades through informed building energy management systems. This has included work on valuing solar energy based on the time-of-use as well as energy modeling to determine the thermal relationship between building zones and the incident solar irradiation.

Luke will be speaking at the following session:

Andrew Poerschke

Andrew PoerschkeAndrew studied Energy Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. During his studies, Andrew was involved with the 2009 Penn State Solar Decathlon Team “Natural Fusion” and assisted with engineering and construction.

In 2011, upon receiving his BS degree in Energy Engineering, Andrew accepted an internship with Bayer MaterialScience to continue research on the former Penn State Solar Decathlon house. Throughout the internship, Andrew assisted in re-commissioning the house as small commercial conference center as part of Bayer’s EcoCommercial Building program as well as installing an array of sensors to monitor the building’s performance.

Currently Andrew is an employee with IBACOS, Inc. located in Pittsburgh, PA. Andrew uses his background in Energy Engineering to drive research in residential building performance and energy efficiency.