The Low and Zero Emission Readiness (LAZER) Initiative is a collaboration between the University of California at Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering – Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT) and Gladstein, Neandross & Associates (GNA). Our core mission is to support organizations in evaluating the real-world economic and environmental benefits of advanced transportation technologies in commercial fleet applications.
The University of California at Riverside, Bourns College of Engineering - Center for Environmental Research & Technology (CE-CERT) is recognized throughout the world for its emissions test lab and impressive breadth of technical research. From working to understand how emissions impact air quality to developing the technologies needed to improve solar and other renewable power sources, the projects that CE-CERT’s research teams are currently engaged in support clean air, sustainable transportation, renewable fuels, renewable energy and smart grids, and climate change mitigation.
GNA is a leading North American consulting firm specializing in market development for low-emission and alternative fuel vehicle technologies, infrastructure and fuels for both on and off-road applications. The company’s core practice areas are technical support, government relations, grant writing and administration, and market outreach and education. For more than 30 years, GNA has pioneered the nation’s largest and most innovative alternative fuel vehicle projects, including the development of several successful clean fuel corridor projects. In addition, the company produces a series of advanced transportation and clean energy conferences, and manages a media publication.
Erik Neandross
Chief Executive Officer
GNA
Erik Neandross
As one of the alternative fuel industry’s most knowledgeable, engaged, and trusted professionals, Erik has been at the forefront of some of nation’s largest alternative fuel vehicle projects–working with numerous Fortune 500 companies and public sector representatives. He has led the development of several of the nation’s most successful planned clean fuel corridors and is actively engaged in the high horsepower industry, including projects in the marine, rail, mining, and oil and gas E&P sectors. He was the visionary who launched some of the nation’s leading alternative fuel conferences.
Sean Turner
Chief Operating Officer
GNA
Sean Turner
Sean oversees GNA’s technical team, manages a number of GNA’s day-to-day operations, and personally works directly on a host of engineering and advanced technology projects. He provides senior technical oversight to GNA’s clients on alternative fuel initiatives, air quality improvement, fleet planning, and vehicular technology. For more than 30 years, Sean has worked in international engineering consulting and government affairs on automotive emissions, alternative fuels, and air-quality issues.
Matthew Barth, Ph.D.
Professor and CE-CERT Director, TSR Group
CE-CERT
Matthew Barth, Ph.D.
Matthew Barth, Yeager Families Professor and Professor of Electrical Engineering, joined the University of California-Riverside in 1991 and is the Director of CE-CERT and the lead in the Transportation System Research (TSR) group. His current research includes intelligent transportation systems; transportation and emissions modeling; vehicle activity analysis; electric vehicle technology; and advanced sensing and control. Dr. Barth received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering/computer science from the University of Colorado, and M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
J. Wayne Miller, Ph.D.
Assistant CE-CERT Director—Emissions, EFR Group
CE-CERT
J. Wayne Miller, Ph.D.
Wayne Miller joined CE-CERT’s EFR group in December 2000 after a distinguished career with Sun Oil Co. and UNOCAL. Dr. Miller has more than 25 years of experience in technology planning, chemical engineering processes, new product development and commercialization, business development and multi-national relationships. Dr. Miller holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Additionally, he has had training at the Harvard Business School and Wharton School Forum on emerging technology and emerging markets.
Kent Johnson, Ph.D.
Research Faculty—Real World Emissions, EFR Group
CE-CERT
Kent Johnson, Ph.D.
Kent Johnson joined CE-CERT’s Emissions and Fuel Research (EFR) group as research faculty in 2010 after serving the Center as a development engineer since 1992. His current research includes emissions and energy evaluations of advanced technologies (hybrids, electric, and alternatively fueled heavy duty and light duty vehicles); advancement of measurement techniques; and study of fuel impacts on emissions from mobile sources. Dr. Johnson received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, his M.S. in electrical controls engineering and his Ph.D. in chemical and environmental engineering from UC Riverside.
Tom Durbin, Ph.D.
Research Faculty—Fuel Impacts, EFR Group
CE-CERT
Tom Durbin, Ph.D.
Tom Durbin is a research engineer in CE-CERT’s EFR group and an adjunct professor in the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department. He is conducting research in the area of vehicle emissions with an emphasis on studying particle and in-use emissions, fuels, and advanced technology vehicles. Prior to joining the vehicle emissions group, Dr. Durbin was involved in several other areas of research at CE-CERT, including renewable energy and fuel sources and advanced vehicle technologies. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Riverside.
Georgios Karavalakis, Ph.D.
Research Faculty—Fuel and Toxics, EFR Group
CE-CERT
Georgios Karavalakis, Ph.D.
George Karavalakis is part of CE-CERT’s EFR group. His current research focuses on biodiesel and alcohol fueled vehicles, and their influence on toxic, mutagenic, and/or carcinogenic emissions. Particular emphasis is placed on ultrafine particle emissions and their physicochemical characterization, especially the oxidative and electrophilic properties. Dr. Karavalakis received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, his M.S. in environmental engineering from University of Portsmouth and his BEng-Hongs in engineering from University of Portsmouth.
Jon Leonard
Senior Vice President, Technical Services
GNA
Jon Leonard
Jon Leonard has 30+ years of experience with government-industry collaborations to assess, demonstrate, commercialize and deploy advanced low-/zero-emission vehicle technologies. He authored countless major studies involving low-/zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles using low-carbon transportation fuels. At GNA, Jon authored major studies on HDVs (on- and off-road) using renewable natural gas and renewable diesel. He also authored a study about sustainable aviation fuel as an emerging strategy to decarbonize commercial aviation. Prior to joining GNA in 2013, Jon spent 15 years at TIAX, 10 years at the South Coast AQMD, and 10 years conducing hands-on emissions motor vehicle testing programs at two different laboratories.
Patrick Couch
Senior Vice President, Technical Services
GNA
Patrick Couch
Patrick both leads and collaborates on a wide range of projects and market development initiatives for GNA’s clients and brings extensive experience in the research, development, and demonstration of a broad range of advanced mobile and stationary power technologies to the firm. With over 18 years of experience in the clean energy space, Patrick’s work includes a mix of technical, business, and policy expertise from leading fleets through the evaluation of alternative fuel technologies to assisting policy makers with the development of practical and successful strategies for clean transportation. Patrick holds a B.S. and M.S in Mechanical Engineering from University of California, Irvine.
Sarah Gallagher
Senior Vice President, Creative
GNA
Sarah Gallagher
Sarah has 15+ years of experience leading marketing strategy for organizations spanning the transportation, energy and financial sectors—ranging from startups to globally recognized brands. Sarah holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Capital University and a master’s degree in communications management from the University of Southern California. Sarah is a member of the Coalition for Clean Air, Heal the Bay, and Women of Renewable Industries & Sustainable Energy; she launched the annual “Women in Advanced Clean Tech” summit to spotlight female executives shaping the future of transportation.
Jarrod Kohout
Project Director
GNA
Jarrod Kohout
Jarrod Kohout manages a variety of projects ranging from technology commercialization support to strategic plan development for several of GNA’s premier clients. His project management and technical support has enabled Fortune 500 companies to introduce innovative transportation and clean air technologies into the market. His strategic planning and market analysis support has paved the way for several companies to make investments to expand their products and services to both domestic and international markets. Jarrod previously held positions as an independent business development consultant, the director of business development for Boshart Engineering, and a mechanical design engineer for Raytheon Company. Jarrod holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a master’s degree in business management with a concentration in management of operations and technology from Bentley University.
Arun Raju, Ph.D.
Director, CRNG Group
CE-CERT
Arun Raju, Ph.D.
Arun started at CE-CERT in 2012 and is the founding director for the Center for Renewable Natural Gas (CRNG) which started in 2016. His research focuses on renewable fuels, energy systems analysis (including techno-economic and life cycle analysis), CO2 utilization, and optimization of energy conversion pathways. He has experience in research related to synthetic fuels and chemicals production, and power generation via thermochemical pathways, including waste to energy processes. Before joining CE-CERT, Arun was the Director of Research at Viresco Energy, LLC and later served as the Director of Technology Development at Combustion Associates, Inc… He has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UC Riverside with a focus on gasification and related processes.
George Scora, Ph.D.
Project Scientist—Analyst, TSR Group
CE-CERT
George Scora, Ph.D.
George Scora has been a part of CE-CERT’s Transportation Systems Research group for more than 20 years. His areas of interest include vehicle emission modeling and transportation related air quality issues. He has been involved in numerous research projects evaluating the energy and emissions components of various intelligent transportation system (ITS) and green transportation technologies including managed lanes, environmentally friendly navigation, eco-driving, traffic signal control and video-based traffic detection. Dr. Scora earned his B.S. degree in Environmental Engineering and his M.S and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from the University of California Riverside.
Robert Russell, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Faculty—Off-Road, EFR Group
CE-CERT
Robert Russell, Ph.D.
Robert (Bob) Russell is part of CE-CERT’s EFR Group. He has more than 28 years of experience in research and development solving technical and product quality problems by analysis of data. Dr. Russell received his Ph.D. from University of California, Irvine in Chemistry, studying under Nobel Laureate Dr. F.S. Rowland. As a Senior Research Associate in the Fuels Research Department of Unocal, he developed and patented the most cost-effective diesel fuel reformulation in the industry which was worth $24 million per year to Unocal.
Kanok Boriboonsomsin, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Engineer – Activity, TSR Group
CE-CERT
Kanok Boriboonsomsin, Ph.D.
Kanok Boriboonsomsin joined CE-CERT in July 2005 as a postdoctoral scholar in the Transportation Systems Research group and is currently an Assistant Research Engineer at CE-CERT. His research interests include the relationship of land use and transportation to energy and air quality, transportation planning, vehicle emissions modeling, traffic simulation, geographic information system (GIS) applications in transportation, and intelligent transportation system (ITS) technology. Dr. Boriboonsomsin received a Ph.D. degree in Transportation Engineering from the University of Mississippi in 2004, after which he served as a visiting assistant professor at Ohio Northern University for the academic year 2004-2005.
Michael Todd
PE Principle Development Engineer - TSR Group
UCR CE-CERT
Michael Todd
Michael Todd is part of CE-CERT’s Transportation Systems Research group and has been with the center for more than 25 years. His experience has fostered numerous collaborative relationships with cities, counties, Caltrans, FHWA, MPO’s, and regional transit authorities. Mr. Todd consistently and successfully leads technical staff and engineers in the implementation of transportation, transit, ITS technology projects, systems analysis, microgrid development and operation. Mr. Todd is the lead Development Engineer in the Sustainable Integrated Grid Initiative at UCR, and has overseen the design, permitting and implementation stages of the SIGI smartgrid testbed system. He has a BS in Environmental Engineering from UC Riverside with a focus on air quality and transportation.