Robert Allan "Jiggs" Stokes
Robert Allan Stokes is honored as a nationally known scientist and influential energy technology leader.
Robert A. Stokes is a native of Ravenna, Kentucky and attended school at Ravenna Elementary, Irvine High and the University of Kentucky. His mother, Callie Watson still resides in Ravenna in the same house in which he and his sister Sherry Kraus, an Attorney in Rochester, N.Y. grew up. He was commonly known by his nickname “Jiggs” and was active in Boy Scouts (an Eagle Scout in Troop 144) and was editor of the Irvine High Newspaper, “The Commentator”.
Jiggs attended the University of Kentucky form 1960 through 1964 as a member of the fist class of a new Honors Program at UK. He was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was named “Outstanding Undergraduate Man” during his senior year. He attended Princeton University and received a Ph.D. in physics in 1968. He held Woodrow Wilson and NASA Fellowships at Princeton.
A number of people were especially important to him during this period including: Charlie Vanhuss and Dick Folger in Boy Scouts, Louise Gibson in elementary school, Leslie Jones and Tom Bonny at Irvine High School, Professors Steve Diachun and Wendell DeMarcus at UK, and Professors Robert Dicke and David Wilkinson at Princeton.
After graduate school, he became an Assistant Professor of Physics at UK and was promoted to Associate Professor after four years of research and teaching. In 1972, he joined Battelle Memorial Institute where he held a number of positions over the next 16 years, including Director of the Observatory, Manager of the Engineering Physics Department and Director of the Applied Physics Center. During much of his career at Battelle, he lived in Washington State while frequently traveling to Battelle’s laboratories in Switzerland and Germany.
He moved to Denver, Colorado in 1988 to become Deputy Director of the Solar Energy Research Institute. While at SERI, he was instrumental in convincing President George H.W. Bush to elevate SERI to a National laboratory in the DOE system with a new name, the National Renewable Energy laboratory. He simultaneously serve as a Vice President of the Midwest Research Institute of Kansas City, NREL’s operating contractor of the U.S. government.
In 1995, he became Vice President of Energy and Environment at the Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, Alabama where he directed diverse research efforts for the DOE, EPA and a number of large electric utilities.
In 1998, he joined the Institute of Gas Technology in Chicago as Senior Vice President. He has been heavily involved in restructuring IGT and the Gas Research Institute through a merger initiated almost simultaneously upon his arrival. He is currently Senior Vice President of the gas Technology Institute where he leads the research and technology commercialization activities of 200 technical staff engaged in natural gas and energy related contracts.
He also serves a President of Versa Power, Inc., a for-profit company formed by GTI and the Electric Power Research Institute of Palo Alto, California aimed at commercial introduction of a breakthrough solid-oxide fuel cell technology. Under his leadership, Versa Power was recently selected to win a ten year multi-million dollar research contract with the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the SECA Program.
Jiggs, his wife Amy and son Robert Curtis frequently visit Estill County to spend time with his mother and to work with the county development organization to bring modern electrical power plant to the old coal wash plant at Calla.
Estill County is proud to recognize and honor Robert “Jiggs” Stokes, whose first experiences of learning and leadership began locally and now extend nationally and beyond.
Robert A. Stokes is a native of Ravenna, Kentucky and attended school at Ravenna Elementary, Irvine High and the University of Kentucky. His mother, Callie Watson still resides in Ravenna in the same house in which he and his sister Sherry Kraus, an Attorney in Rochester, N.Y. grew up. He was commonly known by his nickname “Jiggs” and was active in Boy Scouts (an Eagle Scout in Troop 144) and was editor of the Irvine High Newspaper, “The Commentator”.
Jiggs attended the University of Kentucky form 1960 through 1964 as a member of the fist class of a new Honors Program at UK. He was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was named “Outstanding Undergraduate Man” during his senior year. He attended Princeton University and received a Ph.D. in physics in 1968. He held Woodrow Wilson and NASA Fellowships at Princeton.
A number of people were especially important to him during this period including: Charlie Vanhuss and Dick Folger in Boy Scouts, Louise Gibson in elementary school, Leslie Jones and Tom Bonny at Irvine High School, Professors Steve Diachun and Wendell DeMarcus at UK, and Professors Robert Dicke and David Wilkinson at Princeton.
After graduate school, he became an Assistant Professor of Physics at UK and was promoted to Associate Professor after four years of research and teaching. In 1972, he joined Battelle Memorial Institute where he held a number of positions over the next 16 years, including Director of the Observatory, Manager of the Engineering Physics Department and Director of the Applied Physics Center. During much of his career at Battelle, he lived in Washington State while frequently traveling to Battelle’s laboratories in Switzerland and Germany.
He moved to Denver, Colorado in 1988 to become Deputy Director of the Solar Energy Research Institute. While at SERI, he was instrumental in convincing President George H.W. Bush to elevate SERI to a National laboratory in the DOE system with a new name, the National Renewable Energy laboratory. He simultaneously serve as a Vice President of the Midwest Research Institute of Kansas City, NREL’s operating contractor of the U.S. government.
In 1995, he became Vice President of Energy and Environment at the Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, Alabama where he directed diverse research efforts for the DOE, EPA and a number of large electric utilities.
In 1998, he joined the Institute of Gas Technology in Chicago as Senior Vice President. He has been heavily involved in restructuring IGT and the Gas Research Institute through a merger initiated almost simultaneously upon his arrival. He is currently Senior Vice President of the gas Technology Institute where he leads the research and technology commercialization activities of 200 technical staff engaged in natural gas and energy related contracts.
He also serves a President of Versa Power, Inc., a for-profit company formed by GTI and the Electric Power Research Institute of Palo Alto, California aimed at commercial introduction of a breakthrough solid-oxide fuel cell technology. Under his leadership, Versa Power was recently selected to win a ten year multi-million dollar research contract with the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the SECA Program.
Jiggs, his wife Amy and son Robert Curtis frequently visit Estill County to spend time with his mother and to work with the county development organization to bring modern electrical power plant to the old coal wash plant at Calla.
Estill County is proud to recognize and honor Robert “Jiggs” Stokes, whose first experiences of learning and leadership began locally and now extend nationally and beyond.