Fort F. Felker has been named director of the National Wind Technology Center at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Felker is a co-founder of Winglet Technology LLC and a former director of engineering analysis and testing at Kenetech Windpower.
‘Dr. Felker's 30 years of aeronautical and mechanical engineering research and technology development expertise, combined with his public- and private-sector experience, brings critical leadership to DOE's and NREL's national wind program,’ says Robert Hawsey, NREL associate director of renewable electricity and end-use systems.
Felker was most recently vice president of Winglet Technology, a company that has commercialized his patented design of elliptical winglets for business aircraft. He is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received a bachelor of science degree in aeronautics and astronautics. He has a master's of science and a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.
Felker succeeds Robert Thresher, who was appointed an NREL research fellow in 2008, and Michael Robinson, who has been acting center director for the past year.
SOURCE: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
