Eric Anderson: 2024 Early Career Award recipient

BS applied math, engineering and physics ’09; MSIE ’11, PhDIE ’15
Principal Engineer, Anderson Optimization by PVCase

An industrial and systems engineer and energy-industry entrepreneur who is helping leading global power companies adopt renewable energy and storage solutions.

When Eric Anderson co-founded his own consulting firm to help guide energy companies’ planning for renewable energy projects, Anderson Optimization didn’t have many competitors.

Now, nine years later, he says other companies use similar geographic information system (GIS) software platforms to identify building sites for renewable facilities—which he takes as a compliment.

“It’s kind of cool when people start copying what we created,” he says. “We kind of defined a new niche.”

Anderson served as his company’s head of technology before it was acquired by the solar energy tech company PVCase in 2023. Now, he’s happy to once again spend more of his time working directly on the company’s software.

“I really enjoy solving problems,” says Anderson, who earned his PhD under the direction of Harvey D. Spangler Professor Jeffrey Linderoth, applying optimization methods to energy systems. “A lot of the problems I’m solving right now are trying to make this system that we’ve developed work for more users or more edge cases that we didn’t think about when we developed it.”

Which engineering professor made the greatest impact on you?

Professor Stephen Robinson. He’s such a smart guy and had so many relevant classes. I had a few classes with him, and he ended up being my advisor for the sub-specialty in my undergrad degree. A lot of the stuff he was thinking about, around trying to make decisions with limited information or information with uncertainty, was very applicable to so many problems that I was interested in. He was just very happy to work with me in designing a curriculum that helped me grow as a student throughout undergrad.

How did your engineering education enable your success?

These degrees help you build up this toolbox to solve problems, and I think they did that very well. Having done some of this before in the more abstract sense, when you go through your studies and work on the problems that the professors assign, they showcase different ways to think about and solve problems—and if you get stuck, ways you can work with that. They also show you the power of trying to find people who can help solve problems. You don’t want to reinvent the wheel and there are a lot of really smart people in the world. I really enjoyed my education there. I kind of wish I was in school still.

Which do you prefer?

Fun on the Terrace or fun on Lake Mendota?
I’d probably say the Terrace. I always enjoyed when there’s music and you can go out to the Terrace and have a beer and brat. It’s just great.

Bascom Hill or Observatory Hill?
I’d say Bascom Hill, just because it’s so iconic in a lot of ways.

Engineering Mall or Library Mall?
Engineering Mall—definitely spent a lot more time there.

UW Arboretum or Picnic Point?
I like the Arboretum. It’s very cool, it’s very big, there are a lot of different areas to it. It’s close to Lake Wingra, which was my go-to spot for running. The six miles around Lake Wingra was my go-to run. I’ve done that probably a hundred times.