Dr. Bed Poudel, considered a pioneer in the field of nanostructured thermoelectric materials, joined Penn State in 2018 as associate research professor. He was promoted to research professor in 2022. Dr. Poudel holds a Ph.D. degree in Physics specialized in nanostructured thermoelectrics from Boston College and has more than fifteen years of experience in thermoelectric materials research and product development. His expertise includes nanomaterial synthesis, characterization, as well as device design and manufacturing. Dr. Poudel holds over twenty patents and patents pending in the field of thermoelectrics and has published over twenty-five scientific articles in various journals including Science and Nature Materials. He is also a recipient of R&D 100 award in 2008.

Prior to current role, Dr. Poudel worked in several companies focused in nanotechnology and thermoelectric power generation. At Nimbus Materials Inc, he worked as a R&D director developing flexible-thin film thermoelectric products for body powered thermoelectric generators for consumer electronics and sensors. Earlier, as director of R&D and CTO at Evident Technologies, he led the technical team in developing high temperature thermoelectric materials and devices and launching thermoelectric generator products. Dr. Poudel also worked at GMZ Energy in various roles including R&D director from 2007 to 2013 developing thermoelectric materials and products such as solar thermoelectric generator.