Dr. Heather Sauder joined CPP’s structural and solar engineering group in 2017. She holds a B.S. in Physics and Spanish, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics and Wind Energy Science, Engineering and Policy. As a member of the structural and solar team, she has performed cladding and wind load studies on tall buildings, sand and snow loading, and pedestrian wind comfort studies.
Using her background in aeroelastic wind tunnel and section model studies, she has played a crucial role in developing techniques to investigate the potential for torsional instability in single axis trackers. Heather also has extensive experience in wind loads on ground-mounted solar structures and has used that to develop state-of-the-art methods for determining accurate site-specific wind loads on solar structures. Her focus lies on helping clients determine practical and economical solutions, to support the competitiveness of good products in the solar market.
Heather has authored and co-authored several journal papers and conference proceedings, and she has served as an expert on single axis tracker instability at technical seminars. She is an active member of the American Association for Wind Engineering and the Society of Women Engineers.
