USA, California: GRC Member is New Geothermal Program Lead at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Pat Dobson is New Program Lead for the Geothermal Program at LBNL

Patrick Dobson,
Program Lead for the Geothermal Program at LBNL

On January 1, 2016 Patrick Dobson assumed the position of Program Lead for the Geothermal Program at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), which is an appointment that Mack Kennedy held since 2001. In this role, Pat will be responsible for strategic development, identification and coordination of funding opportunities related to geothermal energy, and for serving as a point of contact and spokesperson for the Lab’s Geothermal Program.

A long-time member of the GRC, Pat began his graduate work studying the Los Azufres geothermal system in Mexico, and received both his MS and PhD in geology from Stanford University. After a three-year stint as a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech, he worked 10 years for Unocal, both in their research laboratory as well as an exploration geologist for their geothermal division.

At LBNL, where Pat has worked since 2000, he has been involved in a variety of geologic and geochemical research projects. He led LBNL’s efforts in the study of the Peña Blanca uranium deposits in Mexico, a natural analogue for flow and transport processes at Yucca Mountain. From 2007 to 2009, he served as a detailee for the Geosciences Research Program of DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Currently, he is a member of the DOE Geothermal Technologies Office Technical Monitoring teams for EGS and Hydrothermal Resources.

Pat was also a recipient of the GRC Geothermal Special Achievement Award in 2012.

(Thanks to GRC Member Marcelo Lippmann, Staff Scientist (retired) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for the submission.)