Richard Middleton

Dr. Middleton is CEO and co-founder of CARBON SOLUTIONS LLC, a startup focusing on low-carbon energy research & development and consulting, including CO2 capture and storage (CCS), energy storage, geothermal energy, and wind energy applications. He was previously a senior scientist and manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory. His work focuses on two major research areas: (1) energy & infrastructure modeling, including CCS, unconventional fossil fuels (such as shale gas and CO2-enhanced fracturing & hydrocarbon recovery), geothermal exploration, wind energy optimization, and bioenergy planning and landscape design; and (2) climate impacts on natural & engineered systems including climate extremes, hydrology, ecosystem dynamics, and the energy-water nexus. He is the lead developer of SimCCS, a research- and industry-leading decision support framework for understanding how, where, and when CCS infrastructure could and should be deployed. He has been ranked in the world’s top-ten most productive CCS researchers (1997−2017) and has won four R&D 100 Awards, including two for SimCCS.

Education

• PhD in Geography and Operations Research, University of California Santa Barbara (2006)
• MSc in Geographical Information Science, University of Leicester (1999)
• BSc Geography, Lancaster University (1996)

Professional Affiliations

• Carbon Solutions LLC, CEO and Co-founder
• Technical Advisory Board for the Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute.