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RETIREMENTS
In addition to her research, Davidson advised over 26
doctoral and 49 master’s degree students, and was honored for
her contibutions as an exemplary educator. Many of her former students celebrated her retirement at an ME Departmental Seminar
on September 7, 2022, with former student Luke Venstrom delivering a lecture on 30 years of solar thermal innovation from the Solar Energy Laboratory.
Davidson’s retirement celebration
JANE DAVIDSON
Award-winning mechanical engineering professor Jane Davidson retired in January 2022, bringing her remarkable career at the University of Minnesota to a close. She joined the faculty at the U in 1993, after teaching at universities in Delaware and Colorado and serving as an engineer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Davidson’s research focused on solar energy systems for residential buildings and solar thermo-chemical cycles to produce fuels. Davidson’s team designed and built
the first indoor concentrating solar simulator in the United States. She served as director of the Solar Energy Laboratory, and is responsible for shaping solar energy research and policies at the national and international level.
Davidson was elected an ASME Fellow in 1998, and received their Frank Kreith Energy Award in 2012. She has also won numerous awards including the John Tate Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising and the U’s Distinguished Women Scholars award. She has published over 250 scientific papers,
lectured worldwide, and briefed Congress on energy issues. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Tennesee, Knoxville, and her PhD from Duke University.
Luke Venstrom’s seminar
14 ME News Fall 2022