FORT COLLINS, Colo.—A Colorado State University professor who helped start companies to produce clean-burning cook stoves for developing countries and biodiesel from algae has been named to Scientific American magazine’s list of top 10 innovators.
Bryan Willson, a mechanical engineer, is founder and director of CSU’s engines and engine conversion laboratory. He helped create Envirofit International to produce the cook stoves and kits to make two-stroke engines more efficient. He also co-founded Solix Biofuels to develop technology to make fuel from algae.
“Dr. Willson’s pioneering approach implements technology that, on a massive scale, helps improve the lives of millions by addressing complex issues and their solutions at a human level,” said Tony Frank, CSU’s interim president.
A story in the magazine’s June issue notes that nearly half the world’s population relies on inefficient indoor stoves that emit noxious gases. The stoves designed by Willson’s team cut the emissions by 80 percent and use less fuel.
Students and members of Willson’s team also designed and produced a converter kit for two-stroke engines, the kind used on motorcycle taxis in developing countries, that cut the pollution and boost fuel efficiency.
Willson told The Denver Post that he never wanted his work to remain shelved in the academic world.
“The normal academic model is you do a piece of work, have it written up in various articles, and it’s ideally referenced by a few folks,” Willson said. “That has never really been that satisfying to me.”
He joined the mechanical engineering department of CSU in 1988. He turned an abandoned power plant in Fort Collins into a thriving lab.
Envirofit International started with students’ research into reducing pollution from two-stroke snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park. The company sells its cook stoves in India.
Other people named to Scientific American’s new top 10 honor roll include Bill Gates and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for a worldwide anti-smoking campaign and President Barack Obama for stressing the importance of science in policy making.
