Dr. Ashok Gadgil is the Area Deputy for Science and Technology for the Energy Technologies Area at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley. Dr. Gadgil holds a Ph.D. in Physics from UC Berkeley and a M.Sc. in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. 

He has won numerous awards and honors for his inventions, including the World Technology Award for Energy from the World Technology Network (2002), Global Citizen Award from the United Nations Association of the East Bay (2007), the United States Department of Energy Outstanding Mention Award (2009), the Heinz Award for the Environment (2009), the Sustainability Pioneer Award from SAG/SAM of Zurich (2010), the European Inventor Award, the NCIIA Lifetime Award for teaching innovation (both 2011), the Zayed Future Energy Prize (2012), and the Lemelson-MIT Global Innovation Award (2012) and is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering of The United States. 

He specializes in heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and design for development. He also has substantial experience in technical, economic, and policy research on energy efficiency and its implementation — particularly in developing countries. He has several inventions in the realm of sustainable development, including the Berkeley-Darfur Stove (which is being deployed in Darfur by the nonprofit Potential Energy) and UV Waterworks, a technology to inexpensively disinfect drinking water in developing countries.