Spring 2011 Commencement Speaker
Mr. Bill Ritter
Bill Ritter Jr. is currently the
Director of the Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) at Colorado State
University. The Center started February 1, 2011 with Ritter as the founding
Director and currently the sole employee.
Ritter was elected as Colorado's 41st governor in 2006 -- the first Colorado-born governor in more than 35 years. Ritter lead Colorado forward by bringing people together to tackle some of our state's biggest challenges. During his 4 year term, Ritter established Colorado as a national and international leader in renewable energy by building a New Energy Economy that is creating thousands of new jobs and establishing hundreds of new companies; enacted an aggressive business-development and job-creation agenda that is focused on knowledge-based industries of the future, such as energy, aerospace, biosciences, information technology and tourism; initiated sweeping K-12 education reforms to give Colorado children the skills and knowledge they need to compete and succeed in a 21st century global economy; and, improved access to quality and affordable health care for many of the 800,000 Coloradans who lack health coverage.
Ritter served as Denver's District Attorney from 1993 to January 2005. He earned a national reputation as one of the country's most effective and innovative prosecutors, and several of his programs continue to serve as state and national models.
The sixth of 12 children, Ritter was raised on a small farm in Arapahoe County. He was a member of the first graduating class of Gateway High School (1974), and he earned his bachelor's degree in political science from Colorado State University (1978) and his law degree from the University of Colorado (1981).
Ritter is married to Jeannie, and before his serving as District Attorney, he and Jeannie operated a food distribution and nutrition center in Zambia. They have four children; August, Abe, Sam, and Tally.
Spring 2011 Faculty Speaker
Dr. Branislav Notaros 
Branislav M. Notaros is Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering at Colorado State University, where he conducts research and teaches a variety of courses in electromagnetics, antennas, and microwaves.
He received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where he then served as Assistant Professor. He was also Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. He has published three workbooks and 80 research papers. He is the author of a 2010 textbook "Electromagnetics" for undergraduates with PEARSON Prentice Hall. He also authored the "Electromagnetics Concept Inventory" (EMCI), anassessment tool for electromagnetic fields and waves.
Prof. Notaros was the recipient of the 2005 IEEE MTT-S Microwave Prize (best-paper award for the IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques), 1999 IEE Marconi Premium (best-paper award for the IEE Proceedings on Microwaves, Antennas and Propagation), 1999 URSI Young Scientist Award, 2005 UMass Dartmouth Scholar of the Year Award, 2004 UMD COE Dean's Recognition Award, 2009 and 2010 CSU ECE Excellence in Teaching Awards (by nominations and votes of ECE students), and 2010 George T. Abell Outstanding Teaching and Service Faculty Award, College of Engineering, CSU.
