Ashok Kumar Ghosh, Ph.D., P.E., is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at New Mexico Tech, president of the New Mexico Solar Energy Association, president and founder of Composite Solutions LLC, and a Fulbright Specialist with World Learning at the United States Department of Education under the State Department. He is a Professional Engineer in the state of New Mexico and a certified entrepreneur with five utility patents. As a Principal Investigator, he has completed a large number of industry and government-sponsored projects including three by the World Bank. Dr. Ghosh also served as the President of the New Mexico Society of Professional Engineers. During the summer of 2018, he spent six weeks under the Fulbright Specialist Program mentoring participants at the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Goa, India, to become entrepreneurs. He was awarded “Engineer of the Year 2019” by the Society of Professional Engineers. He is serving as the Chair of the American Solar Energy Society’s SOLAR 2022 national conference.Carly Rixham is the Executive Director for the American Solar Energy Society (ASES). She is the Editor and Publisher for Solar Today magazine. Prior to working for the ASES she was a microbiologist with BioVantage Resources, culturing algae for bio-remediation of nutrients in wastewater. She received her Masters in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she researched microalgae for the production of biofuel. While studying in Boulder, Ms. Rixham served as Director of Arts and Sciences at CU Energy. Prior to her renewable energy career, she taught biology and ecology at the university and high school levels, and worked in software development at Intuit.
