Dave Steindorf has been an active river advocate in California since 1997. As a Stewardship Director for American Whitewater, Dave has gained a reputation as a consensus builder. He has been able to gain the respect of Agencies, NGO'’s, and Utilities while successfully achieving the goals of his constituents. As the primary negotiator for American Whitewater in California, Dave has negotiated improved flows on more than twenty hydroelectric projects in California. These agreements have restored rivers, while providing reliable power to the grid and protecting water supply. Additionally, Dave was the Chair of the California Hydropower Reform Coalition from 2007 to 2021.  This coalition, which includes state and national NGOs, work on relicensing and energy policy that helps to make hydropower green. With a background in Economics, Dave has been keenly interested in the changing energy landscape. In 2017 Dave was invited to testify before the House of Representative’s Energy and Commerce Committee  to educate members on the role of hydropower in energy markets and how to optimize power generation in a way that has the least impact on rivers.

Dr. Mucun Sun is a Power Systems Engineer at Idaho National Laboratory. He holds a M.S. in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. His research interests include power system modeling, renewable energy integration, optimization, techno-economic analysis, and renewable energy forecasting. He currently serves as the Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-PI on multiple projects supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) Water Technology Office (WPTO), Vehicle Technology Office (VTO), and National Science Foundation (NSF). Before joining INL, he was a Senior Data Scientist at GE Renewable Energy. He has made significant contributions to several open-source wind forecasting, condition monitoring, and hydropower techno-economic assessment tools. Currently, he also serves as the young editorial board member of Advances in Applied Energy and Applied Energy Journal.