Thank you to Dr. Jerry Hudgins for his excellent leadership, guidance and expertise to ensure the Energy Center continued to grow and be successful during his time as NCESR Interim Director from 2019 – 2023.
During his period, Dr. Hudgins spearheaded and successfully navigated the external review of the center, which has laid the groundwork for growth opportunities. He doubled the annual number of summer interns and increased the dollar amount for the internships. He also implemented the Energy Center Chronicles newsletter. The issues of the newsletter are developed through the NCESR and Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) collaboration to share information on current happenings, projects and progress. He did all of these things and more during the pandemic. We greatly appreciate his steadfast efforts to keep the Energy Center research programs on track during that challenging time.
Dr. Hudgins was part of the Mid-Continent Hydrogen (MCH2) Hub Energy committee that supported the Hydrogen Hub Department of Energy application efforts this past year. He helped set up NCESR in 2023 as one of the founding Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Low-Carbon Resource Initiative (LCRI) Hydrogen Education for a Decarbonized Global Economy (H2EDGE) universities which is being used to develop college level hydrogen curriculum through various national universities. He supported NCESR in hosting a meeting with EPRI in April 2023 for NCESR, UNL Research leadership, NPPD and EPRI to discuss the future of electric utility efforts.
Through his partnership with NPPD, NUtech Ventures and Innosphere Ventures, the NCESR has hosted two entrepreneurship workshops from 2022-2023 for faculty, graduate students and postdocs. Dr. Hudgins supported NCESR's sponsorship of the inaugural Biochar Workshop that took place in August 2023. The workshop drew participants, spanning a diverse spectrum of stakeholders, including biochar producers, professionals from agriculture, forestry, and waste management, government officials and policymakers, environmental and conservation advocates, industry partners and associations, and esteemed researchers and academicians. He has cultivated a partnership with Dr. David Gosselin’s Project Energy Nebraska. This UNL student-led project assists local Nebraska communities in the assessment of energy use, emission outputs and emission reduction strategies. Their work with greenhouse gases and carbon sequestration aligns with NCESR’s work. Project Energy Nebraska has worked with one of NPPD’s retail communities and is partnering with NPPD to connect with additional NPPD retail communities.
Dr. Hudgins also continued to Chair the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UNL while fulfilling the interim director position. He has been the center’s associate director since 2009 and previously served as the center’s interim director in 2011. He has extensive knowledge in solar, wind and geothermal energy; energy storage and distributed power systems; architectural engineering; and energy conservation for commercial buildings and residences. His vast background and knowledge of the center and the many energy areas, along with his strong connections with NPPD, the industry and government agencies involved with renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and energy conservation, has been extremely beneficial in the energy center’s success.
Thank you again to Dr. Hudgins for his outstanding leadership. Going forward he will continue to lead the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in addition to his faculty member role.