is an advisor to Google Ventures and a generalist engineer at Google. Ross has worked on Google’s RE<C program and on their data center efficiency, and has an interest in economically disruptive clean energy. He was previously Google’s first director of engineering and one of the inventors of Google’s CPC Adwords product. Prior to Google he was cofounder and vice president of CriSys Limited.
Since late 2014, when Ross co-founded Google’s Advanced Nuclear Energy R&D group, he has been busy with several efforts: he helped launch Google’s Plasma Fusion project with TAE and managed it into 2018; he opened the door to a Google-sponsored scientific research program, and used his Google 20% time for advanced nuclear policy efforts. He is co-author of the IEEE article “What It Would Really Take to Reverse Climate Change” and presented “Why Incremental advances are inadequate to Solving Climate Change” at the 2015 MIT Low-Carbon Energy Workshop (see pages vii and 11).
He previously contributed to Google’s RE<C effort and the design of Google’s breakthrough high-efficiency data center in The Dalles, Oregon. Ross joined Google in 2001 as its first Director of Engineering after an entrepreneurial early career, and was one of the initial inventors of Google’s AdWords, the main revenue driver for the company. Now an Engineering Director Emeritus, Ross focuses on energy, particularly how to address climate change while lowering the cost of energy.
Outside of work, Ross applied his knowledge of energy systems to his home renovation and won his town’s Green Building Award. He was an executive producer of the movie “Pandora’s Promise” as well as the movie “The New Fire.” Ross earned a Ph.D. in Aerospace Robotics at Stanford University and a BEng in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Carleton University.