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Cole, Jim W.
Senior Advisor

Jim Cole is a Senior Advisor at CIEE. He has 28 years of experience in research, development and initial market introduction of new energy technologies. He is currently working with the PIER Transmission Research Program where his efforts are focused on improving reliability, managing congestion, and improving operational and economic efficiency for California's electric transmission system. These efforts require close coordination with the Energy Commission, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), California's and the western region's major electric utilities, and the U.S. Department of Energy. From 1990 through July of 2002, Dr. Cole served as the first permanent Director of CIEE. He was responsible for overall strategic direction of CIEE's energy efficiency and environmental R&D program. During his initial years as Director, he managed CIEE as a consortium with funding provided by California's six largest electric and gas utilities, the Energy Commission, and the California Public Utilities Commission. After the restructuring of the electricity industry, he managed CIEE's transition from a consortium to its current role as a research management organization primarily engaged in providing assistance to the PIER program. From 1978 through 1990, he directed the End-Use Energy Efficiency and Electrical Systems R&D programs of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). From 1964 to 1978, he conducted research on new satellite communications and radar signal processing technologies for Bell Telephone Laboratories and Syracuse University Research Corporation. Dr. Cole has a BS from Lehigh University and an MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Electrical Engineering, an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an Eng. ScD. in Applied Math & Operations Research from Columbia University.