Nico Julian, Senior Engineer

Nico brings solid technical-product development and manufacturing experience to the Cool Earth Solar team. Before joining Cool Earth, Nico was Manager of Engineering at Sea Tel, Inc., a marine satellite communications company that develops and manufactures robotic pedestals. The pedestals stabilize antennas on moving vessels, permitting the antennas to track satellites during storms and in other harsh marine environments. At Sea Tel, Nico led a team of 25 engineers, drafters, and technicians that developed a variety of new products, including tracker designs and a touchscreen controller. He also led the company's successful effort to obtain ISO 9001:2000 certification.

Nico received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and was an officer for Pi Tau Sigma, the international Mechanical Engineering Honor Society. At UC Berkeley, he focused on the dynamic movements of robotic devices and developed several novel types of locomotion including compliant fish motivation in the CALibot and vibrational locomotion in the Buzzbot. Nico has also completed executive management training programs through MIT's Sloan Executive Education.

Nico commutes using a combination of bike, BART (i.e., public transit), and carpool. He has also worked out a driving system whereby he coaxes more than 40 mpg from his 2002 VW Passat, which normally gets about 34 mpg.