Brad Hines returned to Idealab in 2009 and serves as our Vice President of Engineering. Previously, Brad was founder and CEO of Soliant Energy, a startup company that is working to reduce the cost of solar electricity by developing solar panels that concentrate more sunlight onto smaller, more efficient solar cells. Prior to Soliant Energy, Brad was Vice President of Engineering at Energy Innovations, another solar concentrator startup, and earlier was at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 14 years, where he was a Principal Engineer and Group Supervisor leading sizeable projects in astronomical optical interferometry. In his last position at JPL, he served as Chief Architect for the $1B Space Interferometry Mission. Brad graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering and his career track has trended towards development of systems drawing on multiple engineering disciplines. Outside the office, Brad has developed a passion for distance running and has competed in 3 marathons. He has lived in the Los Angeles area since 1989 and currently resides in Pasadena.