2012 Plenary Speakers

Opening Plenary

The Labs21 2012 Annual Conference began on Tuesday, October 2, with an Opening Plenary Session to welcome all participants to the conference and feature the International Laboratory Student Design Competition winners.

  • I2SL Welcoming Remarks

  • International Laboratory Student Design Competition

    • Welcoming Remarks and MREC Project Overview

      • Stephen Meinhold, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and Joint Institute for Caribbean Marine Studies Partner

    • U.S. Department of the Interior Remarks

    • Jury Reflections
        • Paul Mathew, Ph.D., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Student Design Competition Juror

    • Presentation by International Sustainable Laboratory Student Design Competition Winner

      • Carnegie Mellon University: Modular Sustainability

        • Dan Addis, Carnegie Mellon University
        • Eui Song (John) Kim, Carnegie Mellon University
        • Gary Moshier, Carnegie Mellon University (faculty sponsor)
        • Jensen Ying, Carnegie Mellon University

    • Presentation by International Sustainable Laboratory Student Design Competition Winner

      • Clemson University: MR + EC

        • Ulrike Heine, Clemson University (faculty sponsor)
        • Dianah Katzenberger, Clemson University
        • Caitlin Ranson, Clemson University

    • Presentation of awards to the International Sustainable Laboratory Student Design Competition Honorable Mentions

      • Carnegie Mellon University
      • University of Kansas
      • University Laval

    • Competition Wrap-up

      • Phil Wirdzek

  • EPA Opening Remarks

      • Craig Hooks, Office of Administration and Resources Management, EPA

  • DOE Opening Remarks

  • Sponsor Welcome

  • I2SL Announcements and Concluding Remarks

    • Phil Wirdzek

Labs21 Luncheon and Go Beyond Awards

On Thursday, October 4, a second plenary session announced the Go Beyond Award winners and wrapped up the conference.

  • Welcoming Remarks by the Master of Ceremonies

  • Awards Introduction

  • Presentation of the 2012 Go Beyond Awards

    • Julie Higginbotham
    • Tim Kehrli, Lutron Electronics Co.
    • Will Lintner, DOE
    • Phil Wirdzek, I2SL

  • Conference Highlights and a Look Ahead to 2013

    • Phil Wirdzek

Biographies

Anthony M. Babauta, U.S. Department of the Interior

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Anthony Babauta

Assistant Secretary Babauta was nominated by President Barack Obama in July 2009 and, later, confirmed by the United States Senate in September 2009. Currently, he is the highest ranking native Pacific Islander serving in the U.S. government. Assistant Secretary Babauta is the first person of Marianas/Micronesian descent appointed by a U.S. president.

Upon confirmation, Assistant Secretary Babauta was appointed as co-chair of the Inter-agency Group on Insular Areas. In addition, he serves as a member on the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and the President's Interagency Task Force and the Senior Policy Operating Group on Anti-trafficking in Persons.

Prior to joining the Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary Babauta worked on the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee as its staff director for the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans, and Wildlife. As subcommittee staff director, he was instrumental in advancing the renegotiated Compact of Free Association agreements with the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia, the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act, and legislation addressing the political advancement of Puerto Rico. Assistant Secretary Babauta first joined the
Natural Resources Committee in 1998 as professional staff under its then Ranking Member, the Honorable George Miller (D-CA); and his service continued under its former chairman, the Honorable Nick Rahall (D-WV). Assistant Secretary Babauta first worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant to the former Guam Delegate, Dr. Robert Underwood, covering issues relating to the Resources Committee, as well as issues concerning the Departments of Justice and Agriculture and all international work related to the United Nations.

Assistant Secretary Babauta is a Guam native (Chamorro) and spent much of his early childhood on the U.S. mainland before his family relocated back to Guam in 1982. He is a 1987 graduate of Father Duenas Memorial School and is also a graduate of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.

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Paul Mathew

Paul Mathew, Ph.D., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Paul Mathew is a staff scientist and group leader of the Commercial Building Systems group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), where he conducts applied research and market transformation activities on energy use in buildings. His current work is focused on energy benchmarking tools and techniques for commercial buildings, energy-related risk analysis, as well as energy efficiency for laboratories and data centers. Prior to joining LBNL, he worked at Enron Energy Services and the Center for Building Performance at Carnegie Mellon University. He has a bachelor's degree in architecture and a Ph.D. in Building Performance and Diagnostics.
Craig Hooks

Craig Hooks, Office of Administration and Resources Management, EPA

Craig E. Hooks currently serves as the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Administration and Resources Management (OARM) at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On May 13, 2009, he was nominated by President Obama to serve in this role and was confirmed on August 7, 2009. OARM provides national leadership, policy, and management of many essential support functions for the Agency, including human resources management, acquisition activities (contracts), grants management, and management and protection of EPA’s facilities and other critical assets nationwide. As the agency’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Mr. Hooks is responsible for providing leadership in implementing Executive Order 13514 which is aimed at improving Federal environmental, energy, and economic performance. He also serves as EPA’s Senior Accountable Official for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by managing over $7 billion in projects and programs aimed at spurring technological advances in science and health and investing in environmental protection and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits.

Prior to joining OARM, Mr. Hooks served as the Director of the Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds (OWOW) within EPA’s Office of Water. OWOW promotes a watershed approach to manage, protect, and restore the water resources and aquatic ecosystems of the nation’s marine and fresh waters. Before that, he served as the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Office of Environmental Information (OEI). OEI supports the Agency’s mission to protect public health and the environment by integrating quality environmental information to make it useful for informing decisions, improving management, documenting performance, and measuring success. Before joining OEI, Mr. Hooks served as the OWOW Deputy Director.

He also served as the Director of the Federal Facilities Enforcement Office within the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA). There, he was directly responsible for ensuring that Federal agencies meet multi-billion dollar cleanup commitments which are under EPA’s oversight and comply with environmental law. Mr. Hooks was also the Associate Director of the Administration and Resource Management Support Staff within OECA where he managed a wide range of administrative functions. Mr. Hooks spent two years as the Special Assistant to the Assistant Administrators for OARM and OECA. OECA is responsible for managing a national criminal enforcement, regulatory, site remediation, Federal facilities enforcement and compliance assurance programs, and the Federal activities program responsible for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act.

Before joining EPA, Mr. Hooks worked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a physical scientist. Mr. Hooks received a Masters degree in Oceanography from the Texas A&M University in 1987, and a Bachelor's degree in Zoology from the University of Florida in 1982. Mr. Hooks is married and the father of three girls.

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Timothy Unruh

Timothy Unruh, Ph.D., P.E., LEED AP, CEM, CSDP, Federal Energy Management Program, DOE

Dr. Timothy D. Unruh is program manager for FEMP, which falls within the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. As FEMP program manager, Dr. Unruh oversees the implementation of policy and actions that result in energy efficiency implementation, renewable energy adoption, and reductions in energy and water use in federal government operations. Dr. Unruh coordinates with DOE national laboratories and other federal agencies in this capacity.

Dr. Unruh was formerly director of operations for ConEdison Solutions, where he led a team of engineers and project managers to implement energy savings projects within government and private installations. Earlier in his engineering career, Dr. Unruh built a program to provide energy services to major industrial clients. Dr. Unruh has a doctorate, master's, and bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering from Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas.

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Michael Sullivan

Michael Sullivan, Schneider Electric

Mr. Sullivan is healthcare solutions vice president at Schneider Electric. He is dedicated to helping healthcare facilities improve energy efficiency, patient safety, and the environment of care through Schneider Electric's intelligent, integrated building management, power, security, and IT infrastructure solutions.

Since joining Schneider Electric in 1996, Mr. Sullivan has held marketing and sales management roles within the building management and industrial automation organizations of Schneider Electric, in both the United States and France. He most recently served as the vice president of the Global Strategic Account organization. Mr. Sullivan's previous experience in the IT industry offers added value and insight into the importance and future of IT in healthcare.

His extensive global experience includes travel to 63 countries—in every major economy and emerging market, as well developing countries—to understand the needs and challenges facing healthcare decision makers and executives today.

Mr. Sullivan holds advanced business and management degrees from Babson Graduate School of Business and INSEAD, as well as certification as a Schneider Electric Energy Management Professional.

Based in Andover, Massachusetts, Mr. Sullivan spends his spare time enjoying outdoor activities with his wife and two daughters.

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Julie Higginbotham

Julie Higginbotham, Laboratory Design Newsletter

Julie Higginbotham has been editor of Laboratory Design Newsletter, an Advantage Business Media (ABM) publication, since 1997. She is a graduate of Southern Illinois University and has been a business journalist for more than two decades, with a concentration on architecture, engineering, and construction topics. Before joining ABM, Ms. Higginbotham was managing editor of School and College Planning and Management magazine. She is the recipient of multiple awards for journalism, including the prestigious Jesse H. Neal Award, known as the "Pulitzer Prize of the business media."