The Wouk Lecture
Two Engineers and a Whiteboard: Reimagining Clean Energy Systems
David Welch, Co-Founder, NosTerra
Moderator
Otis Booth Leadership Chair, Division of Engineering and Applied Science; Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science; Director, Liquid Sunlight Alliance
Ramo Auditorium
Lecture, 4:00 p.m.
Reception, 5:00–5:45 p.m.
Join us for a conversation featuring David Welch, Co-Founder of NosTerra, and Pedro Pizarro (PhD'94), President and CEO of Edison International. Harry Atwater, Booth Leadership Chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science at Caltech will moderate this discussion with two successful and passionate individuals with combined expertise in engineering, science, business, and entrepreneurship. They will roll up their sleeves and dive deep into the tactical aspects of green technology and renewable energy. Discussion topics include: practical applications of green tech in today's market, overcoming obstacles in the transition to sustainable power, and the future of grid modernization and energy storage.
David Welch
Co-Founder, NosTerra
David F. Welch is a serial technology and social entrepreneur. He has served as either founder or a part of the founding team of several successful technology companies including SDL, Infinera, Axiado and the most recent startup, AttoTude. Dr. Welch has pioneered technology for use in optical communications, materials processing, printing, data center security, and data center networking. He has also recently formed NosTerra, an organization committed to a variety of grand challenges including energy, education, democracy and access to medicines. In this role he has heavily engaged in advanced energy technologies for the realization of a low-carbon, low-cost energy ecosystem.
Dr. Welch holds over 200 patents and has authored over 300 technical publications. In recognition of his technical contributions, he has been awarded the OSA's Adolph Lomb Medal, Joseph Fraunhofer Award and John Tyndall Award, the IET's JJ Thompson Medal for Achievement in Electronics, and the IEEE Ernst Weber Managerial Leadership Award. He is a Fellow of the OSA and the IEEE and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Welch holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Delaware and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.
Pedro Pizarro (PhD '94)
President and CEO, Edison International
Pedro J. Pizarro is president and chief executive officer of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison (SCE), one of the nation's largest electric utilities. Edison International is also the parent company of Trio, a portfolio of competitive businesses providing integrated sustainability and energy advisory services to large commercial, industrial and institutional organizations in North America and Europe. He is a member of Edison International's board of directors.
Pizarro served as president of SCE from October 2014 through May 2016, when he was elected president of Edison International. He was elected chief executive officer in October 2016. Previously, Pizarro was president of Edison Mission Energy (EME) and chaired its board of directors from 2011 until the sale of its assets to NRG Energy in April 2014. EME, a subsidiary of Edison International at the time, was an independent power producer that owned, leased, operated and sold energy and capacity from electric power generation facilities and engaged in hedging and energy trading activities in competitive power markets. Pizarro joined Edison International in 1999, moved to SCE in 2001 and progressed through several leadership roles before joining EME.
Before his work at Edison International and SCE, Pizarro was a senior engagement manager with McKinsey & Company in Los Angeles, providing management consulting services to energy, technology, engineering services and banking clients. There, he developed corporate strategy, handled mergers and acquisitions and oversaw operational and organizational engagements.
The Victor Wouk Lectureship is named in honor of Caltech alumnus Victor Wouk, who received his master's and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from Caltech in 1940 and 1942, respectively. He devoted himself largely to developing hybrid motor vehicles and using semiconductors in electric vehicles.
The Wouk Lecture is presented by the Division of Engineering & Applied Science.