An Energy Champion for CSU's Green Programs

Published May 2008

Ron Sega, Vice President for Energy, the Environment and Applied Research at the Colorado State University Research Foundation, is one of the University’s champions of clean and renewable energy.

Ron Sega, Vice President for Energy, the Environment and Applied Research

Sega, who was appointed vice president in March 2008, also is serving as CSU President Larry Edward Penley's special adviser on energy and the environment as Colorado State readies to sign the American College & University President's Climate Commitment.

Leadership in clean energy research

Sega's new positions formally recognize Colorado State's longtime leadership in clean energy research and its push to take that research to market.

As the Woodward Professor of Systems Engineering in the College of Engineering, Sega is working to build a systems engineering program in collaboration with industry and other universities in the state. Systems engineering addresses complex systems in such areas as aerospace, energy, environment, natural resources and bioscience/health.

Applying academic research to real-world situations

Sega brings decades of experience in applying academic research to real-world situations. He joined Colorado State from the U.S. government, where he served as Under Secretary of the Air Force.

The university's commitment to being a leader in clean energy and sustainability research includes the recent addition of an enterprise arm of its Clean Energy Supercluster, named Cenergy, to more rapidly facilitate technology transfer of research out of the laboratory into the commercial marketplace. More than 100 faculty members in all eight colleges are involved in developing and disseminating market-driven solutions to address some of the world's toughest environmental problems - from creating clean-burning two-stroke engines to helping developing nations create sustainable enterprises.

A former astronaut, Sega flew two missions into space on Space Shuttle Discovery in 1994 and as payload commander for the third shuttle/Mir docking mission aboard Atlantis in 1996.