Dr. Jan Kleissl

Biography

Jan Kleissl is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, specializing in solar energy meteorology, solar variability forecasting, and urban meteorology. His research focuses on the interaction between weather and engineering systems, particularly the energy use of buildings and solar power systems. As the Primary Investigator of the DER Connect project, he leads a NSF-funded testbed aimed at facilitating the integration of renewable energy resources into the power grid. Kleissl has developed a building energy use model that couples weather processes with urban fluid mechanics, using large eddy simulation to study urban surfaces and their effects on human comfort and energy consumption. His contributions to high-frequency solar irradiance measurements and cloud tracking intra-hour solar forecasting models have been critical for the economic integration of solar power into the electric grid. After completing his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University in 2004, he held postdoctoral fellowships at Michigan Technological University and New Mexico Tech before joining UC San Diego in 2006.

Research Interests