Page 39 - ASME IDETCCIE 2017 Program

Special Sessions
An inventor himself, Mr. Vecchione is named on multiple U.S. patents and
patent applications related to imaging, image processing, and nano-bio-
polymer and telecommunications technologies. He was twice a finalist for
the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and received a DEMO
God award from the prestigious DEMO organization. He is a member of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for
Computing Machinery, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE). He is also a member of the IEEE Spectrum editorial
advisory board.
LIGHTNING TALKS
Karl Schmitt
Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar Microgrids – Powering Communities and Industry
With more than 1.2 billion people lacking access to power, the global
Microgrid Market is expected to surpass $35 billion by 2022. Companies
like Caterpillar who understand distributed generation have played a
critical role in the development of this highly innovative market. The Cat
Dealer Network now offers microgrid solutions to remote communities and
a variety of industries by leveraging technology from other markets (and
products). This talk will discuss Caterpillar’s role in developing the market
and the various technologies it deploys through the Cat Dealer Network.
Biography: Karl Schmitt has over 15 years of distributed generation
experience within Caterpillar and the Caterpillar Dealer Network. His
career has focused on power systems product support and renewable
energy management. Karl is currently responsible for deployment of
microgrid solutions via the Global Caterpillar Dealer Network. Previously,
he developed and led Empire Southwest’s (Empire-Cat) renewable energy
efforts as General Manager of Empire Renewable Energy, LLC. Empire
Renewable Energy focused on providing turn-key photovoltaic systems
to commercial and industrial clients. During his tenure at Empire he also
led the Power Systems service department. Karl started his career at
Caterpillar, Inc as both a service and product support field manager with
an assignment as a Six Sigma Black Belt. He earned a degree in
Manufacturing Engineering at Missouri University of Science and
Technology (formerly University of Missouri-Rolla) and an MBA from the WP
Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
IDETC/CIE
Kathleen Callaghy
Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
Cooking in Crisis: Energy Access for Displaced People
Over 125 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance today.
A robust community of international aid agencies and NGOs exist to
provide refugees and IDPs, and other crisis-affected people with food,
shelter, medicine, and other essential supplies – but what about access
to energy and fuel? Dry rations provided by humanitarian agencies must be
cooked for long periods of time before they can be eaten, yet efficient
cookstoves and fuel are rarely provided. As a result, families are often
forced to spend their meagre income on cooking fuel, and many resort to
skipping meals, undercooking, and other negative coping strategies to
reduce costs. Women and children often risk their safety, health, and
sometimes their lives to collect firewood in remote areas – only to cook
over smoky, polluting fires. In an era of unparalleled human displacement,
amidst concerns about global climate change, what can engineers do to
help bring clean, safe, reliable energy access to people impacted by crisis?
Kathleen Callaghy from the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves will
provide an overview of existing efforts to increase energy access for
displaced people, with an emphasis on cookstoves and fuels, and provide
some “food for thought” on how engineers can contribute.
Biography: Kathleen Callaghy is the Program Associate for the Humani-
tarian program at the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (Alliance), a
public-private partnership hosted by the United Nations Foundation. Since
2015, she has been helping to implement the Alliance’s goal of reaching
the world’s most vulnerable populations with clean and/or efficient cooking
solutions. Kathleen coordinates the Alliance’s co-leadership of the Safe
Access to Fuel and Energy (SAFE) Humanitarian Working Group, a
consortium of agencies working to facilitate a more coordinated,
predictable, timely, and effective response to the fuel and energy needs of
crisis-affected populations. Prior to working with the Alliance, Kathleen
served as Program and Operations Coordinator for CLASP, an appliance
standards and labeling non-profit, where she coordinated the activities of
CLASP’s country offices in India, China, the US, and the EU. Kathleen has a
background in international peacebuilding, with a Masters in Comparative
Ethnic Conflict from Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, and a BA
in Government and Legal Studies from Bowdoin College.
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