Jane H. Davidson

Jane H. Davidson is an American mechanical engineer whose research involves renewable energy, thermal energy storage, alternative fuel, and solar-powered carbon capture and storage for the energy needs of homes, workplaces, and vehicles. She is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota, where she directs the Solar Energy Laboratory, and is the former Ronald L. and Janet A. Christenson chair of renewable energy at the university.

Education and career Davidson majored in Engineering Science and Mechanics at the University of Tennessee, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1975 and a master's degree in 1976. She completed a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Duke University in 1984. Davidson was a class of 1984 member of the engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi. In 2005, she was given the Distinguished Women Scholars Award from the University of Minnesota. Davidson is also a Fellow of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), and was the 2007 winner of the ASES Charles Greeley Abbot Award. She has been involved in over 250 publications throughout the span of her career.