Meet our speakers
Since 2017, Robert has taught in Metropolitan Community College’s HVACR department and served as Program Coordinator for 4 years. His background in both computer science and energy management helped to inform MCC’s building automation-related project titled AUTOMATE! (funded by National Science Foundation). Prior to this, he served as the college’s Energy Management Systems Coordinator and worked as both a Systems Programmer and Application Technician.

MATC
Mr. Wilinski has had a career of working on energy management and facilities operations, including as a consulting engineer and educator specializing in facilities and energy management. At Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) Mr. Wilinski has developed over 20 courses and currently teaches in the Automated Building Systems program, which includes controls, M&V, Energy Auditing, and Commissioning. In addition to teaching at MATC, he works on an NSF ATE grant, the BEST Center, and still does work as a consultant for his firm, Wilinski Associates Inc
Peter Crabtree

Peter Crabtree is the PI for the NSF ATE Building Efficiency for a Sustainable Tomorrow (BEST) Center now based at the California Institute of Energy and Environment (CIEE) and the Center for Information Technology in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) at UC Berkeley. After 17 years as the Dean of Instruction for Career Education at Laney College, Mr. Crabtree joins CIEE as a Visiting Project Scientist. The BEST Center provides resources and professional development for college faculty to support the education of the technical workforce in HVAC, Building Automation Systems, and Energy Management and Efficiency. BEST is completing development of a national certification for high performance building technicians, benchmarking industry-validated knowledge and skills standards in the sector.
With 35+ years of experience in workforce development and community engagement, Mr. Crabtree has directed numerous workforce and research projects including 18 years as an NSF PI with BEST Center and its predecessor projects as well as PI or Director for projects for the Department of Energy, the Department of Labor, the California Employment Development Department, the California Community Colleges, the California Workforce Development Board, the Bechtel Foundation, and the Microsoft Corporation.
He has an MA with an emphasis in Environmental Policy and political economics from UC Riverside. He was a Lincoln-Juarez Graduate Fellow at the Universidad Nacionál Autónoma de México.

Jingjing Liu is a Program Manager in the Building Technology and Urban Systems Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She is currently managing the CEC funded $16M CalFlexHub program and leading demonstrations of automated dynamic price response technologies. With 17 years of professional experience in utility demand-side management, she is also leading research on grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEB), demand flexibility for grid services, building electrification, EV smart charging, and workforce development. Prior to joining LBNL, she worked at consulting companies DNV GL and Nexant Inc. leading field technology assessments and quality assurance for large energy efficiency projects for utility programs nation-wide. Jingjing is a Professional Engineer registered in California and Certified Data Center Professional (CDCP) among other credentials. She received her MS in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University and her MS and BS from Tsinghua University.