Prakash Balan joined NSF in 2011 as a Program Director leading the Chemical and Environmental Technology funding focus with the Small Business Innovation research Program. He has 20 years of broad experience spanning R&D, new technology development and commercialization in both large and small entrepreneurial company environments, as well as research funding experience. After a career with ARCO Chemical and Lyondell Chemical Company where he led innovation with several large scale chemical process technologies and was recognized with technology achievement awards for his significant contributions, he co-founded two successful companies, first an environmental engineering technology company and thereafter a biofuels company. Through these companies he successfully commercialized his patents related to industrial multiphase reactors applicable to chemical and biochemical production, as well as energy efficient patented oxygenation technologies for biological wastewater treatment. In energy-intensive biological wastewater treatment, roughly 5% of US wastewater is currently being treated using technologies he developed and installed, achieving 20-30% energy efficiency improvements in each installation. In the biofuels arena, he led the development, engineering design and commercialization of a proprietary process technology and directed the successful construction and commissioning of a grass roots chemical plant with capacity to produce 15 million gallons per year of biodiesel from waste oils and animal fats. Prakash also manages the Industry University Cooperative Research Centers Program (IUCRC) , Grants Opportunity for Academic Liaison with industry Program (GOALI) and the Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program, all focused on developing industry-academia collaboration and early stage technology development towards commercialization. Prakash holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University.
Email: [email protected]
Barbara (Barb) Kenny is the Partnerships for Innovation: Accelerating Innovation Research (PFI:AIR) Program Director at the National Science Foundation. She transitioned to this position in May 2013 after seven years as a program director in the Engineering Research Center program, where she had oversight responsibility for centers in various fields including biomedical and energy/power systems. Prior to coming to the National Science Foundation in 2006, she worked at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio in aerospace power systems. Her last project there was to design the motor control algorithms for a combined flywheel energy storage and attitude control system. Barb started her career as a U.S. Air Force officer in facilities engineering and retired from the Air Force Reserves as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2006. She has a B.S.E.E. from Cornell University, an M.S.E.E. from the University of Texas—Austin, and her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin—Madison. She is a senior member of IEEE, serves as an ABET reviewer, and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Virginia. Her awards include the 2006 Steven Szabo Engineering Award from the NASA Glenn Research Center for her work on the flywheel energy storage system, the 2010 NSF Director’s Award for Program Management Excellence, and several military awards.
Email: [email protected]