Dr. Robert Boehm
Heather Emmons, DRI PIO, heather.emmons@dri.edu, (775) 673-7313,
(702) 743-3435 (cell)
Joe Cockrell, UNLV Public Affairs, joseph.cockrell@ccmail.nevada.edu,
Las Vegas (702) 895-0898
All DRI News Releases available at: http://news.dri.edu/
Renewable Energy Visionary Dr. Robert Boehm to receive $25,000 Gunnerman Award
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Dr. Robert Boehm |
Established in 2000 by Reno area industrialist and inventor
Dr. Rudolf Gunnerman, the award, which includes a minted medal and $25,000
prize, recognizes scientific and technological achievements that are based
on work conducted primarily within the state of Nevada.
Boehm was selected for making great strides in education
and research related to renewable energy, particularly in the area of solar
energy. He has accomplished this through an extremely active research
program at UNLV with industrial partners, outreach to a variety of constituencies
and organizing of an educational program. In the early 90s, Boehm was
a member of the federally appointed Solar Enterprise Zone—an effort to
examine the potential of solar energy application in southern Nevada. In
1994, he initiated the Center for Energy Research at UNLV. Through Boehm's
leadership, the center has seen monumental growth in number, size and significance. In
the last five years, the center has received research funding totaling nearly
$8 million.
In addition to the center, his promotion of renewable energy
research has resulted in the creation of other research buildings at UNLV,
including the solar test facility and the Desert Southwest Building, both used
for energy conservation studies. Under Boehm's direction, the Center
for Energy Research also embarked on hydrogen studies, resulting in the creation
of a hydrogen-electric hybrid bus. Throughout his distinguished career
at UNLV, numerous graduate and undergraduate students have benefited from working
with Boehm, who is a firm believer in the involvement of students in all of
his research. Many of his students are now on faculties at a variety
of universities worldwide and are employed by well-known international businesses.
A member of the UNLV faculty since1990, Boehm came to Nevada
to fill the newly created position of chair of the new Mechanical Engineering
Department. He is the author or coauthor of more than 400 publications
in the technical press, including 10 books as author or editor. He has
received many accolades for his work, including the membership title of Fellow
in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.