Speaker Bio

Dr. Alger is a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers and is the Executive Director of Sustainable Energy and Mobility in the Powertrain Engineering Division at Southwest Research Institute. His team focuses on developing practical, physics-based solutions for sustainable mobility, and low carbon intensity solutions for other industries, including utilities and manufacturing.

During his career, he has worked on topics including improved efficiency and advanced combustion modes in SI engines, heat transfer and thermal management in motors and energy storage systems, abnormal combustion, connected vehicle energy optimization, grid storage and defense-related mobility challenges.

He graduated from the US Military Academy as a Distinguished Cadet in 1992 and was commissioned as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the US Army Corps of Engineers. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 2001. Dr. Alger joined Southwest Research Institute in 2003 in the Advanced Combustion and Emissions Section. He has been awarded 29 patents and authored over 70 technical papers. He was awarded the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award for Technology Innovation from TAMEST in 2019 and his team has been a 5-time R&D 100^® award finalist and 3-time winner for the D-EGR^® Engine, the DCO^® Ignition System, and SwRI’s Eco-Mobility with Connected Powertrain concept.