Ross Koningstein
Google Director Emeritus
Biography
Ross Koningstein has had an enviable career since he received his Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Carleton in 1984 and a PhD in Robotics at Stanford University.
“Combined with my major of computer systems engineering, Carleton provided me with a really solid cross-engineering background,” he says. “This has made it possible for me to be involved with computer games, aerospace research, improving 9-1-1 dispatch and Silicon Valley startups.”
Koningstein worked at Costa del Sol Systems, CriSys Ltd. and BlueDog Inc. before joining Google in 2001 as its first Engineering Director. He is now Director Emeritus and in the enviable position of championing disruptive technology that can change industries and possibly tackle climate change. It is hands-on engineering work, his first love.
Ross leads Google’s Advanced Energy R&D group. He is co-author of the IEEE article “What would it really take to reverse climate change” and presented the talk “Why Incremental Advances are Inadequate to Solving Climate Change” at the 2015 MIT Low-Carbon Energy Workshop.
He previously contributed to Google’s RE<C effort (Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal) and the design of Google’s breakthrough high-efficiency data centre in The Dalles, Oregon. He was one of the inventors of Google’s AdWords, the main revenue driver for the company.
Outside of work, Ross applied his knowledge of energy systems to his home renovation and won the town’s Green Building Award. He was an executive producer of the movie “Pandora’s Promise.”
Combined with my major of computer systems engineering, Carleton provided me with a really solid cross-engineering background. This has made it possible for me to be involved with computer games, aerospace research, improving 9-1- dispatch and silicon valley startups.
