George Shimizu (Chair) 

University of Calgary

George Shimizu is a Professor in Chemistry at U. Calgary since 1998. His research concerns new nanoporous solids known as metal organic frameworks (MOFs) for CO2 capture with much lower energy penalties. Shimizu has published on gas capture MOFs widely and engages industry on his CO₂ capture work. Shimizu has received the Can. Soc. Chem. Strem Award for Pure or Applied Inorganic Chemistry (2008), an NSERC Discovery Accelerator (2008) and in 2012 was elected to the inaugural MOF Committee of the Internat’l Zeolite Association.

Tara Christie

University of Calgary

Tara Christie, PhD, has a decade of experience in university administration, specifically program development and strategic management. Christie currently manages the University of Calgary, My GradSkills professional development program, including the development and oversight of the novel Transformative Talent Skills Internship Program for graduate students. Tara is a co-founder of the Canadian Consortium of Graduate Student Professional Development Administrators, and as chair and past-chair has contributed to various projects including the CAGS, Graduate Professional Development Program Survey and Reports: Towards a National Strategy. Christie is especially passionate about communication skills, utilizing her research background and training in graphic design to lead the research communication skills training for the UCalgary 3 Minute Thesis competition (proudly announcing two national winners in 2015, 2018).

 Rajesh Bashyam 

 Ballard Power Systems

Dr.Rajesh Bashyam, Ph.D. is a Principal Scientist in Technology and Product Development-Research at Ballard Power Systems. He has over 20 years of experience in the field of Polymer electrolyte fuel cells/Direct methanol fuel cells. Rajesh also has extensive knowledge and experience in intellectual property development, and project management experience.  Rajesh is currently leading Ballard’s activities in a bilateral Canada-India project to develop a low cost fuel cell stack for stationary applications for the India market. Rajesh is also Ballard’s lead investigator on a current Department of Energy, USA project on the development of Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cells with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Rajesh has over 20 publications including one published in ‘Nature’ and has over 3000 citations.  Rajesh has over 8 patent applications pending/granted.  Rajesh other awards include Best Ph.D Thesis award 2001; LANL’s Director’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Award 2005; LANL Postdoctoral Publication Prize award 2006 (for Nature paper);Ballard’s Technology and Product Development Excellence award 2012; Ballard’s Genius Grant Award 2102, 2015, 2016,2017;Ballard’s Prolific inventor award (2015,2016,2018).

Alfred Lam   

Chrysalix Venture Capital

Dr. Alfred Lam, Vice President, Chrysalix Venture Capital

Alfred is an innovator, company builder and investor. He has more than 10 years R&D experience; co-founded and incubated Mangrove Technologies, a spin-off from the University of British Columbia; and has been with Chrysalix since 2012.

Alfred is instrumental in the development of investment theses, deal sourcing, due diligence, portfolio and fund management. His current investment focus is in intelligent systems for the energy and resource sectors.

Alfred holds a number of Board positions and is actively involved with Chrysalix investments in Axine Water Technologies, General Fusion, Inventys and Primus Power. He has a PhD in Chemical & Biological Engineering from the University of British Columbia and a BASc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

Beatriz Molero Sanchez 

Seeo2energy Inc.

Dr. Beatriz Molero Sanchez is the co-founder, CTO& director of SeeO2 Energy Inc., headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. She received her BSc and MSc in Fundamental Chemistry from Universidad Complutensede Madrid (Madrid, Spain), where she specialized in solid-state chemistry,specifically in new synthetic routes for advanced materialsfor energy applications. r. Molero’s dissertation work was entitledDevelopment of Oxygen Electrodes for Reversible Solid Oxide Fuel Cells. She received her doctorate in Physical Chemistry May 2017.

Dr. Molero has always been a strong advocate forWomen in Science and Science through outreach events where she has volunteered for manyyears. Recently,she was one of12femalespeakers selected to speakin Calgary atSoapbox Science 2018, an internationalpublic outreach platform for promoting women scientists.Dr. Molero also advocates for women through coaching a women’s program at Canada Olympic park to empower women who want to build confidence on skis to teach or keep up with their children.

Maureen Kolla (January 2019 - present) 

Alberta Innovates

Maureen Kolla is Senior Manager of Renewable Energy within the Clean Energy Division of Alberta Innovates. She leads the Renewable and Alternative Energy program and is responsible for leading initiatives, developing partnerships, evaluating technologies, and managing projects ranging from applied research to technology demonstration. She works closely with industry, technology developers, government, and other stakeholders to advance clean energy technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and diversify Alberta’s economy. Maureen has a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta and received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Ryerson University. 

Babatunde Olateju - (July - December 2018)

Alberta Innovates