Episode 402
402: From Astronautics to MicroGrids with Amy Simpkins of muGrid
Today's guest is Amy Simpkins, CEO of Mu Grid. We talk about her life as a clean energy consultant, her history in astronautics and her new podcast, Power Flow. Growing up in a culture of theater, music and performance, Amy has deep love for words and a connection to story. But she spent years taming the right brain and training the left as an engineer, studying aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, interning with NASA and working for the Space Systems Division of Lockhead Martin. Amy still has a pending application to be an astronaut.
But in the meantime, she has stepped away from building systems for space shuttles and has turned her focus to Resilient Microgrids. After all, what is a spacecraft, but a microgrid in the sky? Together with her husband, electrical engineer Dr. Travis Simpkins (see episode 56), they have formed a consulting company dedicated to helping establish grid-tied microsystems that can withstand grid failure. Governments, schools, grocery stores, hospitals, everyone needs to move into sustainable energy consumption that can handle the wild ride of climate change. Mu Grid helps clients tackle unpredictability (see the definition of stochastic*) with data and better modeling.
But, you know me, I like to ask personal questions. You'll hear what it's to manage a highly technical consulting firm with her husband while also traveling the world and homeschooling three small children. In a pandemic. How their family is growing and adjusting. And why she launched Power Flow, a podcast dedicated to elevating diverse voices in the new energy economy. Pass the microphone.
*Stochastic - randomly determined; having a random probability distribution or pattern that may be analyzed statistically but may not be predicted precisely.
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