Organizing Committee

 

Robert (Bob) Stakenborghs BSME, MSME, PE
CEO Advanced Clean Energy Consulting, LLC
Email: bob@advclean-energy.com

Bob Stakenborghs is currently the CEO and Founder of Advanced Clean Energy Consulting, LLC, an engineering company based in Baton Rouge La. and dedicated to advancing clean energy technologies around the world. He is a licensed professional engineer holding Bachelors and Masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering and he has been involved in Power Plant engineering for over 40 years. Bob has extensive expertise in power plant and component design, operation, and repair, mostly within the commercial nuclear power industry, and has authored over 20 technical papers on various engineering topics. Bob sits on several national and international code committees and is a recognized expert in the areas of piping design and non-destructive testing. He has authored several ASME and ASTM Code sections and Standards in the field of Non Destructive Testing and is a member of several technical associations, including ASME, ASTM, ASNT, ISO and others. In 2017 he was elected a Fellow of ASME.

 

Brian Wodka, PE, CxA, CEM, LEED AP
RMF Engineering
Division Manager/Associate
Email: Brian.Wodka@RMF.com

Brian is currently the Division Manager of RMF's York, Pennsylvania Office. He has spent his entire career involved in steam systems and power plant engineering, inspection, operation, commissioning, reliability, and forensic analysis. He has published multiple technical papers and articles as a subject matter expert on power plant performance and reliability.

Brian earned a Bachelor of Science in Marine (Mechanical) Engineering from SUNY Maritime College and a Master of Science in Thermo-Fluid Mechanics from The Johns Hopkins University. He is a licensed professional engineer, a Certified Commissioning Authority (CxA), a Certified Energy Manager (CEM), and a LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP). He is a Commissioned Boiler Inspector through the NBBI and holds a Maryland first grade stationary engineer (plant operator's) license. For the past 10 years, he sits on both the Maryland Board of Boiler Rules and the Maryland Board of Stationary Engineers. He is the current Secretary/Treasurer of the Executive Committee of ASME's Power Division. He vice-chairs the ASME RAP Committee on power plant performance and chairs the RAM Sub-Committee on power plant reliability, availability, and maintainability.

 

Madeleine Kopp
Sales Operations Manager at Stress Engineering Services
Email: Madeleine.Kopp@stress.com
www.linkedin.com/in/madeleinekopp

Madeleine Kopp is currently the Sales Operations Manager at Stress Engineering Services, providing engineering expertise and technical services to a variety of industries including oil & gas, plastics and packaging, plant services, medical, and pharmaceutical. She holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering and has been involved in the energy industry for over 10 years.

Madeleine volunteers her time with ASME in many capacities, including as Vice Chair of the ASME Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Programming Committee, Chair of the Northwest Houston Subsection, past Chair of the Petroleum Division Early Career Committee, Member of the Verification and Validation of Computational Modeling in Energy Systems Codes and Standards Committee (V&V 60), and has been on the ASME ACES organizing committee since 2019.

 

Asif Arastu, Ph.D., ASME Fellow
Engineering Specialist, Unisont Engineering, Inc.
Email: a.arastu@comcast.net

Dr. Arastu has worked for more than 45 years on a variety of nuclear, fossil, and other power plant systems in the United States & abroad. He was a member of the organizing committee for ACES2019 & ACES2020. He specializes in thermal hydraulics and nuclear plant systems. Over the years he has made significant contributions to the Nuclear Engineering profession through his activities at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He has a keen interest in Clean Energy related to climate change.

 

Charles E. Smith, D.Sc., P.E., F. ASME, M. ASCE
Consultant (Arctic and Offshore Engineering)
Email: ces9@nf.sympatico.ca

In December 2014, Dr. Smith retired from the Research & Development Corporation, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada as the Senior Technology Advisor for Arctic Engineering to enter private practice. In 2009, he retired from the US Minerals Management Service (MMS) after 35 ½ years of service. During this time he served as the Research Program Manager of the Technology Assessment and Research Program and as the Senior Technical Advisor for the Engineering and Research Branch. His primary duties were to work with the offshore oil and gas industry and to conduct generic studies with universities, private companies and Government laboratories to facilitate offshore developments.

In October 2009, Dr, Smith was inducted, as one of five members from the US MMS, into the Offshore Energy Center’s Hall of Fame as a recipient of the 2009 Technology Pioneer Award. This award was a result of his long term work with the MMS Offshore Technology Program and was in recognition by the US Offshore Industry for his contribution to offshore technology. As a result of the 2005 US Energy Policy Act which assigned regulatory responsibilities to the MMS for Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Projects on the US OCS, Dr. Smith took an active role in developing ORE design guidelines. He has organized several international ORE Symposia for the design and implementation of ORE projects.

Dr. Smith received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering (1965) from the Virginia Military Institute, his Master of Science Degree in Structural Engineering (1967) from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a Master of Engineering Degree in Applied Mechanics (1972) from the University of Virginia, and a Doctor of Science Degree (1994) in Structures and Dynamics at the George Washington University. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Virginia and is a member of several professional societies, namely the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and has published many technical papers pertaining to offshore structures.

 

Dr. Y. Doreen Chin
President, Yunka Energy, LLC
Email: y.doreen.chin@gmail.com

Dr. Doreen Chin is the President of Yunka Energy. She held a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from University of Houston.

Doreen had been a power plant operator, researcher, professor, engineer, oil field operator, leader, and entrepreneur, with over 35 years of experience in academia, power generation, and oil and gas industries, including long history for Shell and service companies – from deepwater offshore/subsea engineering/flow assurance to onshore shale oil and gas production operations. Doreen is serving as Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Board Member, and Engineering Leadership Board Member, University of Houston. She had served as ASME Petroleum Division Chair (2017-2018); OTC 2014 Program Committee Chair; ASME 2014 Hydraulic Fracturing Conference Chair, ASME 2018 and 2019 Offshore Wind Summit Advisory Committee Member and ASME 2019 Advanced Clean Energy Summit Program Committee Chair.

Doreen has published one technical book and 51 papers. She has received several SPE Awards (2014, 2019, 2020), and several ASME Awards including three Best Paper Awards (2001, 2004, 2011, 2013).

 

Dr. Douglas Hofer
Engineering Fellow, Heliogen Inc.
Email: doug@heliogen.com

Dr. Hofer is a member of the ASME International Gas Turbine Institute Executive Committee serving as the IGTI liaison to ACES. At Heliogen, he is applying his engineering experience from 30 years in the power gen industry to the development of clean, dispatchable electricity through Concentrated Solar Power with Thermal Energy Storage.

 

 

Frank Michell
Chair, ASME Clean Energy Technology Group
Power Industry Consulting LLC
Email: flmichell01@gmail.com

 

 

 

Guoqiang Wang, Ph.D., ASME Fellow
Fellow Engineer, Westinghouse Electric Company LLC
Email: wangg@westinghouse.com

 

 

 

 

Jeffrey LeBlanc, Ph. D.
Product Design Engineer, Advance Products and Systems
Email: jeffl@apsonline.com

Dr. Jeffrey LeBlanc is a Product Design Engineer at Advance Products & Systems in Lafayette, LA. Dr. LeBlanc is the Chairman of the ASME Material and Energy Recovery (MER) technical division. He received a Ph. D. in chemical engineering from City College of New York and a bachelor’s in chemical engineering from the University of Louisiana - Lafayette.

 

 

Mark Lausten
CSP Technology Manager, Contractor to U.S. DOE

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Braun
Rowlinson Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director , Mine/NREL Advanced Energy Systems Program

Dr. Robert Braun is the Rowlinson Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado School of Mines and leads the Advanced Energy Systems group. He received a PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2002.

 

 

 

Ryan Neil
Ryan Neil has been a member of ASME since 2003 and has served as Chair and Student Section Liaison for the St Louis Section, Vice-chair of the SIUE Student Section and ESD board member since 2013. Ryan was awarded 3rd place of the Old Guard Early Career Award in 2013. Ryan is a licensed professional engineer with 13 years of experience and currently works as a construction manager for the US Navy.

 

 

 

 

 

We will continue to update this page as more information becomes available.