CCIA names finalists for Celebrate Cleantech awards

The Colorado Cleantech Industry Association (CCIA) has released names of the finalists for its inaugural "Celebrate Cleantech Research" recognition event, honoring excellence in cleantech research and commercialization. "Winners will be honored Thursday, May 26 at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science," announces Christine Shapard, Executive Director of the CCIA. "We're extremely proud to kick off what will be an annual event to recognize the outstanding commercialization efforts being undertaken at Colorado's universities. The state's dynamic commercialization climate, and the researchers involved, deserves to be recognized. This event is the perfect platform to really showcase these research leaders while raising awareness about the commercialization taking place in Colorado." 

David Hiller, Executive Director of the Colorado Collaboratory, notes, "CCIA's awards for Colorado's leading cleantech researchers are creative and important. Colorado's individual researchers and our research community are world class. These men and women are science and engineering superstars, they're working to make our state and our nation cleaner and economically stronger, and they deserve this attention."

Finalists for this year's event emerged from a competitive field brought forth from the University of Colorado, the Colorado School of Mines and Colorado State University. Finalists were selected in eight categories tied to the leading industry sectors outlined in CCIA's 2010 "Cleantech Action Plan" as the leading cleantech sectors for Colorado. Finalists include:

Bio-Derived
Ryan Gill, University of Colorado Boulder
Matt Posewitz, Colorado School of Mines
Ken Reardon, Colorado State University
Al Weimer, University of Colorado Boulder 

Clean Transportation
Bob King, Colorado School of Mines
Jean Koster, University of Colorado Boulder
Bryan Willson, Colorado State University

Efficiency in the Built Environment
Brian Dunbar, Colorado State University
Gregor Henze, University of Colorado Boulder
Tyrone Vincent, Colorado School of Mines

Energy Storage
Bob Kee, Colorado School of Mines
Amy Prieto, Colorado State University

Smart Grid
Morgan Defoort, Colorado State University
Bob Erickson, University of Colorado Boulder
Marcel Godoy Simoes, Colorado School of Mines

Solar
Garrett Moddel, University of Colorado Boulder
W.S. Sampath, Colorado State University
Craig Taylor, Colorado School of Mines

Water
Jorg Drewes, Colorado School of Mines
Doug Gin, University of Colorado Boulder
Alan Greenberg, University of Colorado Boulder
Chuck Henry, Colorado State University
Rich Noble, University of Colorado Boulder

Wind
Katie Johnson, Colorado School of Mines

"The strength of Colorado's energy-focused research capabilities is widely cited as one of the state's greatest cleantech assets," says Ms. Shapard, "and we can't wait to shine a light on the Colorado's research rockstars and their commercialization efforts on the 26th."