Smart Grid Seminar Faculty

Jeffrey Hammarlund

Jeffrey Hammarlund is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Portland State University's Mark Hatfield School of Government, a Senior Research Fellow at PSU's Executive Leadership Institute, and the president of Northwest Energy and Environmental Strategies consulting firm.

Professor Hammarlund holds an MA in Political Science and an MS in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After 30 years in government and the private sector, he has returned to academia to complete a Ph.D. in political science with a dissertation on the political and policy dynamics of balancing salmon recovery and hydropower generation in the Columbia Basin. He teaches a popular annual spring seminar on Energy Resources: Policy and Administration (Northwest Energy Policy and the Columbia River) that attracts both graduate students in a variety of disciplines and energy professionals interested in enhancing their professional development. A former guest scholar at the Brookings Institution, he is co-author of The Political Economy of Energy Policy and the author of numerous academic and professional publications on energy and environmental policy and planning.

Hammarlund has held a number of senior positions both as an energy policy analyst and manager and as a land use and transportation planner. He has served in senior staff positions with the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Department of Energy, and as an advisor to presidents, presidential candidates, and governors. He has been a senior manager for conservation services for Southern California Edison, a senior policy analyst for a Northwest utility trade association, and consultant to utilities, environmental organizations, and government agencies throughout the nation. He has also served as a senior transportation planner and program manager for the City of Beaverton and land use planner for King County.

Hammarlund currently serves on the executive committee and chairs the Oregon Caucus of the NW Energy Coalition, an influential alliance of more than 100 utilities, businesses, environmental, civic, faith, and human service organizations in the Pacific Northwest that promotes the development of renewable energy and energy conservation, consumer protection, low-income energy assistance, and fish and wildlife restoration on the Columbia and Snake rivers.)

Conrad Eustis

Conrad Eustis is an Adjunct Professor at Portland State University and Director of Retail Technology Development at Portland General Electric.  He has pursued energy interests for 34 years, including 5 years in nuclear submarines, 5 years in energy-related graduate programs as Carnegie Mellon, and 24 years at PGE. He currently serves as Director of Retail Technology Development, a position he created in 2000. Conrad has degrees in Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, and a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy. At PGE he focuses on creating new platforms; the development work leading to PGE’s successful Smart Metering business case is an example. His current efforts focus on developing a comprehensive Smart Grid road map including milestones in demand response, energy storage, distribution automation, and supporting IT infrastructure.

Michael Jung

Michael Jung serves as Policy Director at Silver Spring Networks, a leading provider of networking equipment and services for utility smart grids. He is also a board member of Smart Grid Oregon.

Prior to joining Silver Spring Networks, Michael served as an energy policy advisor to the campaign and administration of former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland. He previously managed global climate change and international sustainable development policy initiatives at American Electric Power. Michael has served as a U.S. Fulbright Fellow, holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, was once a competitive ballroom dancer, and is an Eagle Scout. He is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, Yale College, and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. 

James Mater

James Mater, Director, Co-Founder and Smart Grid Interoperability Evangelist, QualiytLogic served as President and CEO from 2001 to 2008. He currently works on QualityLogic's Smart Grid strategy and makes contributions to regional and national Smart Grid interoperability standards efforts. This includes work with the GridWise Architecture Council (GWAC), the Pacific NorthWest Smart Grid Demonstration Project, the NIST Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) Test and Certification Committee, and UCA’s OpenSG Conformity Work Group, as well as giving papers and presentations on interoperability. In 2010, James worked with several Oregon energy leaders to found Smart Grid Oregon and is one of the Founding Directors and sponsors.

Recent accomplishments include co-chairing the successful First Public Policy Conference of Smart Grid Oregon in November, 2010; being recognized by SGIP for outstanding leadership in December, 2010; being awarded the GridWise Applied Award by GWAC in May, 2010, and receiving an award for best paper in the track at Grid-Interop, 2009. Current national standards work includes leading an SGIP Work Group in the development of the Interoperability Maturity Assessment Model for test and certification programs and contributing to the GWAC work group developing a Smart Grid Interoperability Maturity Model (SGIMM). He also co-leads the PNW Regional Demonstration Project Work Group on bringing interoperability standards into the Project.

From 1994 to 1999, James founded and built Revision Labs, which merged with Genoa Technologies to become QualityLogic in 1999. Prior to QualityLogic, James held Product Management roles at Tektronix, Floating Point Systems, Sidereal and Solar Division of International Harvester. At Solar and Floating Point Systems, he was deeply involved in the energy industry as a product marketer and product manager. Mater holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Reed College, Portland, OR and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Ken Nichols

Ken Nichols, is an energy industry consultant with 17 years of experience in the US energy utility sector in both power and natural gas. He began his career as an economist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and then a utility consultant in DSM (Demand Side Management) and distributed renewables. From 1997 to 2002 he managed west coast power trading operations for a Norwegian energy company, and most recently was Director of Risk Management for TransCanada US.

His current clients are engaged in meter data analytics "What do we do with all this meter data?", regulatory proceedings "Who pays for all this Smart Grid stuff?", and investigating smart grid investments and programs in real estate development and investor owned utility "How do I incorporate Smart Grid into my projects?". He is a contributing member of Smart Grid Oregon, and belongs to industry groups, such as the Association of Energy Service Professionals. Nichols holds a bachelor's degree in physics and computer science from Willamette University and a Master's degree in Engineering Economic Systems from Stanford University.