David Coffey, PhD

David Coffey joined RETA in June 2026 as Technical Director.  He served as an AAAS Fellow at the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, leading program strategy for energy storage, grid-interactive buildings, and AI.  Before that, Coffey spent four years at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and twelve years as a professor at Warren Wilson College, where he taught courses in physics and renewable energy.

Coffey holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Washington and dual bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics and Physics from Sewanee:  The University of the South.  Outside of work, he can usually be found hiking, cooking, or running a Dungeons & Dragons campaign with his kids.