Biography:

Dr. Robert A. Stokes is an alumnus of our department, having received his B.S. He went on to Princeton and received a M.A. and a Ph.D. in Physics. During that time he was involved in the early experiments which detected the Cosmic Microwave background.

He recently retired from his position as President as President and CEO of Versa Power Systems, Inc. a joint venture of GTI, EPRI, Fuel Cell Energy, Inc. and the University of Utah. Under his leadership, FCE and Versa were awarded a $139 Million contract by the USDOE as part of the Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA). More recently Versa Power partnered with the Boeing Company on a DARPA project to develop a revolutionary SOFC electricity storage unit that enables the Vulture solar powered aircraft to complete multi-year high altitude missions without refueling. On December 20, 2012 FuelCell Energy, Inc. acquired all of Versa Power’s capital stock.

   Before leading Versa Power Dr. Stokes was Senior Vice President of the Gas Technology Institute of Chicago. From 1988-1995, he was Deputy Director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and was responsible for major research programs in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and private industry to speed the commercial adoption of breakthrough technologies. From 1990-1995, he was also a vice president of the Midwest Research Institute, the operating contractor for NREL.

Prior to his work at NREL, Dr. Stokes was Director of the Applied Physics Center at Battelle, Pacific Northwest laboratories where he directed the activities of a staff of 300 engineers and scientists engaged in energy and technology related R&D. Before joining Battelle, he was an associate professor of physics at the University of Kentucky.