Suzanne L. Singer

Founder, Native Renewables

2019 Entrepreneurship Award Winner

Suzanne Singer is a member of the Navajo (Diné) tribe and grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona. She co-founded the non-profit organization Native Renewables in 2016 to solve energy access challenges for 15,000 families on the Navajo Nation who live without electricity. Her mechanical engineering and energy analysis background provides the technical foundation to develop programs that promote tribal energy independence, offer affordable off-grid solar energy solutions, and provide training and education programs that empower families. Prior to founding Native Renewables, Singer was a staff engineer and post-doc at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where she supported energy security projects. In addition, she was an intern with Sandia National Laboratories’ Tribal Energy Program, which led to her passion in researching renewable energy generation and energy independence for Native American Tribes. She has been featured in the U.S. Department of Energy #WomenInSTEM video series. Singer earned a PhD and MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, where she investigated thermal transport in thermoelectric materials, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arizona.