AGI DAY 2024

Wei Du – Interim Co-Director (AGI)

Dr. Wei Du received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China in 2014. His main areas of research are control design, modeling, and simulation of power systems with high penetration of power electronics devices. He is currently a senior research engineer at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and serves as the principal investigator for multiple Department of Energy (DOE) funded projects that focus on studying the impacts of high penetration inverter-based resources on the transient and dynamic behaviors of power systems at different scales.

Prior to joining PNNL, he worked as a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 2016 to 2018. He also worked as a research engineer at the key power system Real-Time Digital Simulation (RTDS) laboratory of China Southern Power Grid Company from 2014 to 2016.

Anamika Dubey – Co-Director (AGI)

“I am Huie-Rogers Endowed Chair Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering in the School of EECS at Washington State University (WSU), Pullman. I also hold a joint appointment as a Research Scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). At WSU, I am affiliated with Energy Systems Innovation Center (ESIC). I received my MSE and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2012 and 2015, respectively. Energy and climate change are indeed unquestionably urgent and significant challenges that demand our immediate attention. Within this broad scope, power systems research and development serve as the pivotal component in enabling the transition towards a clean and green energy future. As a power systems engineer and researcher, my goal is to help advance our society towards a future that is brighter, cleaner, and more sustainable.”

Jud Virden – Associate Laboratory Director, Energy and Environment

Jud Virden is the Associate Laboratory Director for the Energy and Environment Direc­torate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA.

He leads 1,200+ scientists, engineers, and staff who are delivering science and technology solutions for the nation’s complex energy and environmental challenges—including modernizing the power grid, advancing energy storage technologies, increasing the energy efficiency of buildings and lighting, developing biofuels, and resolving complex issues in nuclear science and environmental management.

Jud earned his Ph.D. and B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Washington. He joined PNNL in 1991.

Jonathan Male – Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research and Director of National Laboratory Partnerships

Noel Schulz – Inaugural Director, Institute for Northwest Energy Futures

Kevin Schneider – Lab Fellow, Electrical Engineer

Kevin Schneider is an internationally recognized expert in power system analysis, planning, and operations at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). As the manager of PNNL’s Office of Electricity (OE) Subsector at PNNL, Kevin leads business development, client relations, and strategic investments in R&D for the grid sector. PNNL’s portfolio with the Office of Electricity consists of, component design, system level modeling and analysis, hierarchical controls, secure communications, and energy storage. In this role, Kevin works with PNNL program managers, leadership, industry, academia, and technical leaders to foster innovation and solve some of the toughest challenges presented by grid modernization.

Dr. Schneider’s research is focused on improving grid reliability and system flexibility by harnessing advanced grid concepts being deployed at the edge of the power system, such as microgrids, energy storage, electric vehicles, distributed energy resources, and smart home appliances.

Kevin is currently a Laboratory Fellow at PNNL, a Research Professor at Washington State University (WSU), and an Affiliate Associate Professor at the University of Washington. At WSU, he is a researcher for the WSU and PNNL Advanced Grid Institute (AGI) where he is working to implement layered control architectures to increase the operational flexible of critical power systems.

Dr. Schneider offers his expertise and industry knowledge to various prestigious professional societies and organizations.  Kevin is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), where he served in multiple  technical leadership  roles.

Dr. Schneider has received many awards and recognition for his work in analysis of the U.S. power grid. In 2019, Schneider was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PCASE). This award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government to outstanding scientists and engineers who show exceptional promise in the early stages of their research careers.

Kevin earned his B.S. degree in Physics and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Washington State and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

David Judi – Director, Earth Systems Science

Dr. David Judi is the Director of the Earth Systems Science Division (ESSD) in the Energy and Environment Directorate (EED) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). In this role, Dr. Judi leads more than 300 staff who focus on developing scientific basis and understanding of Earth system processes and the development of technologies and engineering solutions to enable energy sustainability, resilience, and security.

Dr. Judi previously was the group leader for Earth System Predictability and Resiliency, interim director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute, group leader of the Hydrology Group, and a senior research engineer in EED and the National Security Directorate (NSD). Dr. Judi has been responsible for strategies to improve capabilities in the broad area of characterizing energy-environment interactions. This includes approaches to identify and evaluate portfolios of decarbonization that meet clean energy, resilience, and equity goals. Dr. Judi’s technical area of expertise is in extreme event modeling and impacts to infrastructure systems, with particular focus on climate change and changes in flood risk and resilience.

Prior to joining PNNL in 2015, Dr. Judi worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a research engineer within the area of energy infrastructure analysis. Dr. Judi received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Utah.

Mani Venkatasubramanian – Energy Systems Innovation Center

Nathalie Voisin – Earth Scientist

Nathalie Voisin is chief scientist for regional water-energy dynamics in the Earth System Predictability group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Her fundamental advancements in hydrometeorological forecasting and coupling of human-Earth system models has unlocked new understanding around critical energy-water systems. Voisin has authored more than 50 papers around those main science advances. She was invited to join the University of Washington Civil and Environmental Engineering Department as associate professor in 2016 and has contributed to the Tier 1 journal Water Resources Research as associate editor since 2017. Voisin acts as subject matter expert for water-energy integration challenges, contributing to International Energy Agency activities, leading modeling workshops for water management representation in power systems models and water-use tradeoffs, and working with the hydropower industry on transitioning water-energy research into operations as part of international industry information exchange platforms. She leads and contributes to numerous multi-institution projects sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy – Water Power Technology Office, and Office of Electricity. 

Voisin joined PNNL in 2010, after completing a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. She also holds a M.Sc. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and a B. Eng. and M.Eng. in Hydraulics and Fluid Mechanics from the ENSEEIHT engineering school in Toulouse, France.

Jerry Cochran – Deputy Chief Information Officer, Division Director, Cybersecurity & DigitalOps

Jerry Cochran serves as Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s deputy chief information officer and director of the Cybersecurity & DigitalOps Division in the Computing and Information Technology Directorate. In this role, Cochran oversees cybersecurity and the office of the chief information security officer, as well as enterprise IT engineering and operations. He also leads PNNL’s five-year Resilience Through Data-Driven, Intelligently Designed Control (RD2C) Initiative, a cybersecurity laboratory directed research and development initiative stewarded by the National Security Directorate. 

Cochran’s management, technical, strategy, and operational experiences span both government and private sector over his 30+ year technology and 25+ year cybersecurity career, working in startups and for industry leaders like Compaq/HP, Microsoft, and the U.S. Department of Defense. His multidisciplinary expertise and background in network and systems engineering, software engineering, security architecture, compliance, strategy, security operations, and military cyber operations are directly relevant and impactful to PNNL’s cyber research, operations, and mission focus areas.

Prior to joining PNNL in 2017 as the chief information security officer, Cochran was with Microsoft in the Cloud & Enterprise Azure Security Division as well as prior roles leading Office 365 cloud security operations. He served as a cybersecurity architect, helping to build a cybersecurity practice in Microsoft Services and was with the Trustworthy Computing Group, where he directed the Global Security Strategy Team. Cochran also served as the Microsoft board member and officer with the Information Technology-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IT-ISAC) and was a founding member and executive committee member of the IT Sector Coordinating Council (IT-SCC). 

Culminating a 27-year United States Air Force (USAF) career in 2011, Cochran retired as a Chief Master Sergeant (E9), senior enlisted manager of the 262nd NWS where he also served as a network warfare technical lead, conducting cyber operations around the world. Deployed to locations worldwide throughout his service career, he was initially a radar systems technician, until cross training in the 1990s to become an early thought leader in military network warfare doctrine and mission capabilities. He was part of an eight-member team that established the first network warfare squadron in the USAF, where he led the development of key mission capabilities in network security assessments/red teaming and industrial control systems security. 

Cochran has also authored various technical works, including over 200 electronic and print articles and two books for publication. He is a US patent holder for invention in cybersecurity. He holds a BS in engineering and technology management, an AS in electronics technology, and an AS in information systems technology. Cochran also currently holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) certifications.

Jim Ogle – Sector Manager, Energy Infrastructure

Thomas Edgar – Cybersecurity Research Scientist