KR Sridhar is the principal co-founder and CEO of Bloom Energy.  Prior to founding the company, Dr. Sridhar was a professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering as well as Director of the Space Technologies Laboratory (STL) at the University of Arizona.  Under his leadership, STL won over $20 million in nationally competed R&D contracts.  

Dr. Sridhar has successfully assembled and led major project teams consisting of strategic consortia of industry, academia, and national labs, and has served as an advisor to NASA.  Among his significant projects, Dr. Sridhar helped develop strategic plans for the space agency in the areas of nanotechnology and planetary missions.  His work on NASA payloads to Mars which were designed to convert Martian atmospheric gases to oxygen for use in propulsion and life support were recognized by Fortune Magazine, where he was cited as one of the top five futurists that are inventing tomorrow, today.

Dr. Sridhar has served on many technical committees, panels and Advisory Boards.  He has over fifty publications, and has performed pioneering work in the areas of Space Technology, Microsensors and Devices, Multiphase Flow, and Solid Oxide Electrolysis and Systems, the last of which is the basis of the technology being used at Bloom Energy.

Dr. Sridhar received his Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering with Honors from the University of Madras, India, as well as his M.S. in Nuclear Engineering and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  

Dr. Sridhar enjoys interacting with K-12 children and inspiring them to learn math and science.  He lives in Los Gatos, California with his wife and two children.

Related Links: http://www.bloomenergy.com   

Last Updated: Fri, Oct 31, 2008