Colorado State University

Dr. Matthew Thornton is a Principal Research Engineer and Strategic Program manager in NRELs Energy Conversion and Storage Systems Center. In this role he leads strategic initiatives across the center as well as the Mechanic and Thermal Engineering Sciences directorate, including the capital investment plan for the Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (AREIS) platform.

Previously matt was the manager of the Fuels and Combustion Science group in NRELs Center for Integrated Mobility Sciences. The fuels and combustion science group explores the chemical basis of how biofuels, advanced petroleum-based fuels, fuel blends, and natural gas perform in engines and vehicles across all transportation modes as well as in fuel pumps, storage tanks, and distribution systems. Matt was also NREL’s PI for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Storage Engineering Center of Excellence, advancing materials-based hydrogen storage systems for fuel cell vehicles, he also oversaw NREL’s Renewable Fuels and Lubricants Lab, as well as, the vehicle systems analysis team, which conducts technical simulations and analyses of promising vehicle technologies to find cost-competitive solutions that maximize energy savings and minimize emissions.

At Colorado State University Matt co-teaches MECH 534, Energy and Environmental Impacts of Transportation, with Dr. Jathar. Matt is also an adjunct professor at the Colorado School of Mines, where he teaches a similar course under the Advanced Energy Systems program. Matt received his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.