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A co-founder of Bergey Windpower Co. and its president since 1987, Mr. Bergey is a mechanical engineer (Univ. of Oklahoma) and an internationally recognized expert in the fields of small wind systems, distributed generation, and green telecom. He has twice served as president of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and served on the AWEA Board of Directors from 1981 to 2007. Mr. Bergey chaired the AWEA Small Wind Turbine Committee for more than 20 years and authored AWEA’s 2002 U.S. Small Wind Turbine Industry Roadmap: A 20-year Industry Plan for Small Wind Technology. In 1994 he was recognized as the “Wind Industry Man of the Year” by AWEA. He is the recipient of the 2012 Small Wind Conference “Wind Advocate Award”. In 1981 Mr. Bergey was recognized by AWEA for development of the “AWEA Performance Rating Standard”, which was the basis for the IEC 61400-12 performance testing standard used for all wind turbines worldwide. He chaired the AWEA Small Wind Standards Committee and led the development of the 2008 AWEA certification standard (also adopted in the U.K., Japan, and Canada). Mr. Bergey is the first president of the Distributed Wind Energy Association (DWEA), which represents the U.S. small and community wind industry. He also co-chairs the DWEA Federal Policy Committee. In 2003 Mr. Bergey served on Oklahoma Governor Henry’s EDGE Committee, which prepared a strategic plan for economic development in Oklahoma. He then served two terms on the Governor’s Council for Workforce and Economic Development. Mr. Bergey was Workforce Oklahoma’s “Cleveland County Businessman of the Year” in 2005. He served on the Norman Chamber of Commerce Board from 2003 – 2010 and was the Chamber president in 2008. He has served on the boards of numerous civic and charitable organizations in Norman and Central Oklahoma.

The Evergreen Institute in Gerald, MissouriDr. Chiras is director and lead instructor at The Evergreen Institute in east-central Missouri (www.evergreeninstitute.org) where he teaches workshops on solar electricity, small wind energy systems, passive solar, solar thermal systems, energy efficiency, green building, and net zero energy building. He is president of Sustainable Systems Design that consults on residential renewable energy and green building and installs residential solar and wind systems. Dr. Chiras has published hundreds of articles and 36 books on residential renewable energy and related topics including Power from the Wind, Wind Energy Basics, The Homeowner’s Guide to Renewable Energy, and Power from the Sun. He has installed several dozen small wind and solar electric systems.

Mr. Steeby is a professor of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration at Grand Rapids Community College. He has taught full time with GRCC since 2007. Mr. Steeby has also taught as an adjunct professor for Ferris State University in Construction Management. He received his bachelor of science degree in HVAC/R Applied Technology from Ferris State University, and his master’s degree in Career and Technical Education also from Ferris State University.

Mr. Steeby has worked in the HVAC field since 1985. He has held positions in many areas of the industry including installation, service, sales, and project management. Mr. Steeby has worked for a local manufacturer of HVAC equipment for over five years, and he was employed by Honeywell for 11 years.

He holds a mechanical contractor’s license with the State of Michigan, and he has several nationally-recognized certifications including installation and service of geothermal equipment with North American Technician Excellence (NATE). Mr. Steeby is also a certified trainer and installer of geothermal heat pumps through the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA). He has been actively involved in the geothermal industry for many years including writing software to size loop links and working on several commercial geothermal installations. In 2011, he published his book Alternative Energy – Sources and Systems through Cengage Learning which includes chapters on geothermal systems.

Clay Sterling Midwest Renewable Energy Association
Mr. Sterling has been instructing both solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind courses at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) for over ten years and is an Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) certified instructor in both PV and small wind energy. He has a construction background gained from working in his family’s plumbing shop and working nine years as a commercial electrician on large construction projects. In 2009, Wisconsin’s K-12 Energy Education Program named him the “Non-Formal Energy Educator of the Year.” He also received the “Clean Energy Trainer of the Year’’ award in 2013 from the IREC.

Clay Sterling Midwest Renewable Energy Association
Mr. Sterling has been instructing both solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind courses at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) for over ten years and is an Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) certified instructor in both PV and small wind energy. He has a construction background gained from working in his family’s plumbing shop and working nine years as a commercial electrician on large construction projects. In 2009, Wisconsin’s K-12 Energy Education Program named him the “Non-Formal Energy Educator of the Year.” He also received the “Clean Energy Trainer of the Year’’ award in 2013 from the IREC.

Director of Engineering at The Mannik & Smith Group
Mr. Shunnar has more than 25 years of experience in geotechnical engineering with expertise in specialty foundations, ground improvement, slope stability, instrumentation and waste management. He has a master’s degree in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and he is a registered professional engineer. He is the author of many articles and papers on geotechnical engineering. He was the project manager for the Fairlane Green redevelopment project, winner of the 2008 National Phoenix Award. He is also the recipient of the distinguished achievement award from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Malay Ghose Hajra is an associate professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at the University of New Orleans (UNO) in Louisiana. He is a registered professional engineer (P.E.) in multiple states including Louisiana.
Dr. Ghose Hajra completed his Ph.D. degree from Kansas State University in 2001 followed by a post-doctoral assignment at the Microscale Physiochemical Engineering Center at the University of Akron in Ohio. During the next ten years, he was employed as a consulting geotechnical engineer working on and managing several hundred geotechnical design and construction projects in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi. These projects dealt with complex foundation and pavement systems in unpredictable and changing subsurface soil conditions. The engineering analyses also included deep foundation recommendations for highway bridges, slope stability and seepage analyses for levees and embankments, and settlement estimates of soft compressible alluvial coastal deposits. His professional experience also includes working with multiple Department of Transportation (DOT) agencies, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) in the analyses and design of new Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction Systems (HSDRRS) and coastal restoration and protection projects in south Louisiana.
At UNO, Dr. Ghose Hajra’s academic research interests are in the areas of geotechnical and foundation engineering, coastal restoration and coastal protection, energy foundations, in-situ and laboratory characterization of coastal sediment deposits, and sustainable coastal infrastructure systems. He teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses on Geotechnical Engineering and Foundation Design, Coastal Geotechnics, Shear Strength and Slope Stability, and Sustainability Principles for Engineers. He is a member of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), ASCE Geo-Institute’s Engineering Geology and Site Characterization Committee, Deep Foundations Institute (DFI), and Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI).

Dr. Tonja Koob founded Gaea Consultants, LLC, 10 years ago. She has over 15 years of hydraulic engineering experience in Louisiana during which she directed hydraulic model development, performed the engineering analysis, and provided reports on several large budget projects. Prior to opening the doors at Gaea, Dr. Koob worked as a Senior Hydraulic Engineer at the US Army Corps of Engineers, specializing in sediment transport issues for the Hydraulic and Hydrological Branch of the New Orleans District. She designed complex coastal, estuarine, and riverine engineering projects for navigation, ecosystem restoration, flood control, beach erosion control, and shore protection. She prepared and presented engineering reports at Division level briefings and at public hearings. Dr. Koob is registered as a professional engineer in Environmental Engineering in the State of Louisiana as well as a LEED Accredited Professional. She has published over a dozen technical papers in peer reviewed engineering journals and in national engineering conference proceedings. In addition to her B.S. degree in Ecological Biology from Tulane’s Newcomb College, she received an M.S. degree in Environmental Toxicology from Tulane, a Ph.D. degree in Hydraulic Engineering from Washington State University and recently completed an M.B.A. degree from Tulane.