The Energy and Resources Group trains interdisciplinary leaders and thinkers that are defining and solving the systemic, inextricably linked, social, environmental, and technological challenges facing the globe. ERG has built an unparalleled reputation for rigor and relevance through its unique interdisciplinary model. While ERG alumni share a common skillset in practical problem solving, their areas of substantive expertise and their employment interests are amazingly diverse.
Alumni
Alumni
Michael Kiparsky
MS, PhD
Science-Policy Interface in the Case of Climate Change and California Water Management (MS ’04) A Risk Analysis for Water Resources Under Climate Change, Population Growth and Land Use Change (PhD, ... Continue Reading »
- climate adaptation in water resources management
- governance and management of complex systems
- risk and decision making in water resources
- science/policy interface
Charles Kirubi
MS, PhD
How Important is Modern Energy for Micro-Enterprises? Evidence from Rural Kenya (’06 MS) Expanding Access to Off-grid Rural Electrification in Africa: An Analysis of Community-based Micro-grids in Kenya (’09 PhD)
Noah Kittner
MS, PhD
Energy Systems Integration and Innovation for a Clean Energy Transition (PhD ’18) Noah is an MS/PhD student at ERG. After graduating with a BS in Environmental Science from UNC-Chapel Hill, ... Continue Reading »
- land-use change
- life-cycle assessment
- renewable energy policy
- solar energy
- sustainability
- Thailand
- urban planning
Jessie Knapstein
MPP, MS
Energy policy wonk trying to craft and institute economically efficient policy to promote the use of renewable energy technologies and reduce our emissions.
Jonathan Koomey
MS, PhD
A Simplified Spreadsheet Model for Assessing the Load and Energy Impacts of Demand-Side Programs for Selected Residential Appliances (’86 MS) Energy Efficiency Choices in New Office Buildings: An Investigation of ... Continue Reading »
- cost benefit analysis
- costs of reducing carbon emissions
- Energy Efficiency
- history of technology
- market imperfections
- marketing and program design
- policy impact analysis
- the effect of information technology on resource use
Alison Koppe
JD, MS
Reduce, Reuse, Regulate: Repurposing the Clean Air Act to Limit Power Plants’ Carbon Emissions (MS ’14) Alison will graduate in Spring 2014 with an ERG M.S. and a J.D. from ... Continue Reading »
- administrative law
- Distributed Generation
- PURPA
- Renewable energy law and policy
- residential PV permitting
- shared solar
- the Clean Air Act
Laurie Koteen
PhD
A Comparison of Carbon Cycling in Native Perennial and Exotic Annual Grass Communities in Northern Coastal California (’09 PhD)
- biological invasion
- conservation biology
- global climate change science and policy
- North-South policy interactions
Jean Ku
MS
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Options for China: Multi-Lateral Recommendations and Local Initiatives: A Case Study of Automobile Pollution in Beijing (’00 M.S.)
Peter Kuhn
MS
Preliminary Report on an Inventory of Energy Conservation Potential in California: The Cement Industry (MS ’79)
Ronald Kukulka
MS
Industrial Cogeneration in the California Food Processing Industry: An Analysis of the Potential and Barriers (’77 M.S.)
Susan Kulakowski
MS
Large Commercial Firm Investment in Energy-Efficient Buildings Retrofits (’97 M.S.)
- energy efficiency and its relationship to human culture and behavior
- policy and practice of energy-efficient building design/construction/operation
Veronica Kun
MA
A Review of EPA’s Evaluation of the Environmental Impacts of New Source Performance Standards for Fossil Fuel Power Plants (’78 M.A.)
Renee Kuriyan Wittemyer
MA, PhD
"23% fewer women than men are online in developing countries. If no concerted effort is taken, that internet gap is going to grow. When women see role models—people doing things—it enables them and empowers them to think, 'Well, I can do that as well.' And, accessing the internet and using technologies exposes them to an entirely new world," says ERG Alum, Dr. Renee (Kuriyan) Wittemyer. She is Intel's Director of Social Impact.
- information and communication technologies and development
- rural development in India
- technology adoption in developing countries
- technology/society relationships
Dannette Lambert
MA
Political Opportunities and Framing Processes in Resistance to Uranium Mining: The Joar Case (’08 MA)
- environmental justice
- scientific understanding of environmental problems
- the study of social and behavioral issues
Micah Lang
MA
Point-of-Use Ultraviolet Water Disinfections: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Safe Water for Rural Households of Baja California Sur, Mexico (’07 MA)
- Africa
- cultural connections to natural resource use
- development and natural resource policy in rural areas
- South America
- water
- watershed management
José Daniel Lara
MS, PhD
Modeling and Simulation of Electric Power Systems with Large Shares of Renewable Energy (PhD ’22) Jose Daniel was born in San José Costa Rica, received his B.Sc. and Licentiate in ... Continue Reading »
- development
- economics
- energy
- energy policy
- Energy System Modeling
- Optimization
- power systems operation
- power systems planning
- RAEL
- transportation
- water
Clara Larson
MS
Clara Larson is a Master’s student at the Energy Resource Group. Larson’s interests includes exploring computational methods for earth and environmental science and using computational research to inform decision making ... Continue Reading »
Daniel Lashof
MS, PhD
The Global Carbon Cycle and Atmospheric Oxygen (’83 M.S.) The Role of the Biosphere in the Global Carbon Cycle: Evaluation Through Biospheric Modeling and Atmospheric Measurement (’87 Ph.D.)
Nicole Lau
MS
As a M.S. graduate in 2024 from UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group, Nicole is interested in researching how climate change is affecting the way disturbances (wildfires, bark beetles…) interact ... Continue Reading »
Megan LeBerth
MS
Megan LeBerth is a Master’s student at the Energy Resources Group. LeBerth interests includes, researching the equitable expansion of clean energy. Prior to joining ERG, LeBerth holds a BA from ... Continue Reading »
Catherine Ledna
MS, PhD
Modeling Adaption to Sea Level Rise Under Uncertainty (MS ’19) Catherine received a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College, with a minor in Environmental Studies. Prior to coming to ERG, ... Continue Reading »
Jonathan Lee
MS, PhD
The Cost of Reliability in Decentralized Solar Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (MS ’18); Energy Management in Community Microgrids (PhD ’22) Jonathan studies transitions in electric power systems and electricity markets, ... Continue Reading »
- climate
- development
- energy
- RAEL
- renewable energy integration
- rural electrification
- solar energy
- sustainable energy development
Tai-Yong Lee
MA
Implications of Electricity Pricing Based on Marginal Cost: The Case of Korea (’88 M.A.)
- community-level energy supply systems
- microeconomic analysis of energy policy
- social and political aspects of energy problems: toward sustainable development
Sharad Lele
PhD
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: SHARAD LÉLÉ Ph.D. 1993 Senior Fellow, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (Bangalore) Sharad Lele never intended to become an academic. And even though his resume ... Continue Reading »
- alternative models of sustainable development
- analysis of energy use
- biomass resources and biodiversity
- forest ecosystem services
- resource economics
- socio-environmental factors affecting forests
- systems analysis of surface water resource systems
- watershed development
Derek Lemoine
MS, PhD
Greenhouse Gas Property – Introducing an Adaptable Climate Policy for an Uncertain World (MS ’07) Characterizing & Responding to Uncertainty in Climate Change (PhD ’11)
- economics
- energy markets
- energy networks
- GIS
- land use
- novel policy responses to climate change
- option value
- policy
- renewables
- uncertainty
Jessica Levine
MS
Adaptive Management of Riparian Systems: Lessons Learned and Implications for Small Scale Efforts (MS ’05)
- collaborative planning
- communication of environmental information
- environmental justice
- environmental planning
- sustainability and environmental indicators
- watershed and water resources management
Michelle Levinson
MA, MPP
Harnessing Financial Motivation to Drive Transportation Electrification: a Resource for Electric Utility Regulators (MA ’19) Michelle is a concurrent degree student at the Goldman School of Public Policy and the ... Continue Reading »
- climate change
- economics
- energy
- Policy analysis
- project development and project finance
- transportation
- utility regulation and finance
Morgan Levy
MS, PhD
Morgan’s research focuses on hydrology and water resources, the effects of land use and climate change on human health and the environment, human-environmental system dynamics, and environmental data science. Her ... Continue Reading »
- Agriculture
- climate
- climate change
- climate change adaptation
- eco-hydrology
- environmental data science
- environmental health science
- geographic information systems
- hydroclimatology
- hydrology
- irrigation
- water
- water resources management
Joanna Lewis
MA, PhD
Introducing a Mandatory Market Share for Renewable Electricity Generation in China: Design Considerations and Market Implications (MA ’01) From Technology Transfer to Local Manufacturing: China’s Emergence in the Global Wind ... Continue Reading »
- energy policy in China
- international climate change policy
- low-carbon technology transfer
- renewable industry development
- distributed renewable electricity generating technology and policy in developing countries
- E. Europe and former Soviet Union
- financing renewables
- international power sector regulatory reform and restructuring
- Latin America
- political economy of energy policy in development
- productive uses of elecricity for economic development in rural areas
Ronnie Lipschutz
PhD
Ore Wars: Access to Strategic Materials, International Conflict, and the Foreign Policies of States (’87 Ph.D.)
- environmental politics
- global civil society
- global political economy
- national security policy
- philosophy and history
- politics and the media
- science
- society
- technology
Feng Liu
MA
Energy Use and Conservation in China’s Residential and Commercial Sectors: Patterns, Problems, and Prospects (’92 M.A.)
Penn Loh
MS
(De)Constructing the California Water Plan: Science, Politics and Sustainability (’94 M.S.)
Niklas Lollo
MS, PhD
Inside Out: the Power in Data-Centric Private Governance (PhD ’20) Inspired by ecological economics, Niklas is focused on global governance of production and consumption. At ERG, he is combining data ... Continue Reading »
- ecological economics
- governance
- political ecology
- Political economy
- Science and Technology Studies
- SEEL
- supply chains
- sustainability indicators
Deepa Shinde Lounsbury
MA
Developing Country Microgrids: A Case Study Approach to Best Practices (MA, ’13)
Hongyou Lu
MPP, MS
Hongyou is a concurrent MS-MPP student in ERG and the Goldman School of Public Policy. She also works at the China Energy Group of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her ... Continue Reading »
Jason MacDonald
PhD
Jason is interested in optimization and control of distributed energy resources to support renewable energy integration into the electricity grid. He works at Lawrence Berkeley National lab researching wholesale electricity ... Continue Reading »
- climate change
- demand response
- Distributed energy resources
- electric vehicles
- Electricity Grid and Markets
- EMAC
- energy
- renewable energy integration
Sophie Major
MA, PhD
Sophie Major is an interdisciplinary PhD candidate, studying and researching across the disciplines of political theory, environmental politics, and Indigenous studies. Their dissertation examines the marginalization of Indigenous people and ... Continue Reading »
- Contemporary Political Theory
- Decolonial Theory and Research Methods
- environmental justice
- History of Political Thought
- Indigenous Studies
- public policy
Arthur Mallet Dias
MS
Promoting Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development: A Review and Evaluation of Enterprise Facilitation (MS ’22) Arthur is interested in using sustainable innovation as a framework for designing new businesses, services, and ... Continue Reading »
- climate
- development
- energy
- Entrepreneurship
- Environmental / Climate Equity
- Impact Investing
- local economic development
- sustainable communities
- Sustainable Innovation
Benjamin Mandel
MPP, MS
Minding Electron Leakage: How Utility Regulation Can Improve Upstream Energy Efficiency (MS ’14) Ben is a concurrent MS-MPP degree student in ERG and the Goldman School of Public Policy. His ... Continue Reading »
Michael Maniates
MA, PhD
Local Governments and Solar Energy: The San Francisco Example (’83 M.A.) Organizing for Rural Energy Development: Improved Cookstoves, Local Organizations, and the State in Gujarat, India (’90 Ph.D.)
- community energy organizing
- consumption and overconsumption
- education
- global environmental politics and civic engagement
- innovative undergraduate environmental-studies initiatives
- rust-belt economics
Fernando Manibog
PhD
A Rural Energy Survey and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Renewable Energy Technologies for a Philippine Island Community (’82 Ph.D.)
- reforms and private sector development in developing country electricity sectors
- rural and renewable energy in developing countries
Amardip Mann
MA
The Economic Costs and Potential of Increased Water-Use Efficiency in California’s Residential Sector (’02 M.A.)
David Marcus
MA
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT This ERG alumni spotlight features one of the first ERG graduate students, David Marcus (MA’77), and is written by ERG alumna, Sarita Sarvate (MS’78). The piece is the first ... Continue Reading »
Joyceline Marealle
MS
Business strategy for Micro-Grid Providers in California (MS ’22) Joyceline is a Tanzanian who holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Rochester. Her research interest lies ... Continue Reading »
Jason Mark
MA
Getting from Here to There: Infrastructure Requirements for a Hydrogen-Vehicle Future (’96 M.A.)
Adrienne Marshall
MS
Adrienne works on climate change adaptation and mitigation in the public and private forests and wild lands of California. She is interested in understanding how the natural resources in these ... Continue Reading »
- California ecosystems
- climate change
- climate change adaptation
- ecology
- Harte Lab
- land use politics
- riparian and aquatic ecosystems
- water
Julian Marshall
MS, PhD
Exposure to Motor Vehicle Emissions: An Intake Fraction Approach (02 MS) Inhalation of Vehicle Emissions in Urban Environments (05 PhD)
- air quality engineering
- definitions and metrics of sustainability
- energy consumption trends in developing countries
- environmental justice
- environmental public health
- human and ecosystem toxicology
- transportation and land use planning
Peter Marsters
MA
Peter Marsters is a Master’s candidate at ERG focusing on the environmental impacts of unconventional fossil fuel developments. He came to ERG from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, ... Continue Reading »
- comparative politics and political economy with reference to American Indian and international economic development
- development economics
- geopolitics of energy and forest resources
- nationalism
- particularly in the resource-rich countries of the former Soviet Union
- political transitions and ethnic conflicts
Philippe Martin
MS, PhD
Qualitative Analysis: The Method and Its Use in Modeling the Influence of Space on Ecosystems (’86 M.S.) Forest Succession and Climate Change: Coupling Land-Surface Processes and Ecological Dynamics (’90 Ph.D.)
- atmosphere/biosphere interactions
- carbon cycling
- climate change and public health - especially malaria
- energy and resources geopolitics
- integrated environmental assessment
- terrestrial biosphere modeling
Neo Martinez
MS, PhD
Constant Connectance and Constraint in Community Food Webs (’89 M.S.) Effects of Scale on Food Web Structure (’91 Ph.D.)
- biogeography
- community and ecosystem ecology
- ecological and other network structure and dynamics
- food webs
- structural and functional aspects of biodiversity
- the role of idealogy in ecology
- the role of science in society
- theoretical ecology
Eric Martinot
MA, PhD
Wind-Generated Electric Power in the Soviet Union: Geographical and Technical Prospects (’91 MA) Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in Russia: Perspectives and Problems of International Technology Transfer and Investment (’95 ... Continue Reading »
- global renewable energy markets/investments/policies/future pathways
- renewable energy policy in China
- solar (sustainable) cities
Carl Mas
MS
Hydrogen as an Energy Carrier: Modeling of Electrolytic Hydrogen Production Systems (’04 MS)
Omar Masera
MS, PhD
Sustainable Energy Scenarios for Rural Mexico: An Integrated Evaluation Framework for Cooking Stoves (’90 M.S.) Socioeconomic and Environmental Implications of Fuelwood Use Dynamics and Fuel Switching in Rural Mexico (’95 ... Continue Reading »
- biomass and bioenergy technological change in rural areas
- efficient use of energy in the residential sector
- energy and agriculture
- global climate change
- rural integrated energy systems in the third world
Michael Matz
MA
Citizen Participation in Water Quality Regulation: Evaluating the Total Maximum Daily Load Process at Sonoma Creek (’05, MA)
Anna Mazur
MS
Anna Mazur is a Master’s student at the Energy and Resources Group. Mazur interests includes developing new facilities and strategic planning of generation portfolios, revising outdated policies like capital cost ... Continue Reading »
J. Andrew McAllister
MS, PhD
Electricity Load Management in Bolivia: Background and Prospects (’92 MS) Solar Adoption and Energy Consumption in the Residential Sector (’12 PhD)
- decentralization
- industrial processes
- renewable energy systems and applications
- rural integrated energy planning in developing countries
- technology transfer
Lesley McAllister
MA, PhD
Questioning Sustainability: Environmental and Social Aspects of Reforestation in Northwestern Costa Rica (’97 MA) Environmental Enforcement and the Rule of Law in Brazil (’04 PhD)
Margaret McCall
MPP, MS
Margaret is pursuing an MS/MPP with ERG and the Goldman Policy School. At Berkeley, she hopes to focus on demand flexibility (a key aspect of greening the power grid) and ... Continue Reading »
Casey McCullough
MS
En La Tierra de Los Gigantes: The Mexican Energy Monopolies and Their Impact on Electricity Privatization (’97 M.S.)
Meg Meal
MS
Demand-Control Strategies in Commercial Buildings: Technical and Economic Issues (’85 M.S.)
Andrea Mercado
MS
Andrea graduated from UC Merced with a BS in Applied Mathematics on Engineering Mechanics and a minor in Writing. During her time at UCM, Andrea interned for UCM Facilities as ... Continue Reading »
Harvey Michaels
MS, PhD
The Determination of Hydrogen Ion in Precipitation and Dilute Surface Waters by Means of H+-Selective Glass Electrodes (’83 MS) The Role of Sediments in Generating Alkalinity in Three Subalpine, Low-Alkalinity ... Continue Reading »
Elisabeth Micheli
PhD
Quantifying the Effects of Riparian Vegetation on River Meander Migration (’00 PhD)
- role of streams and wetlands in landscape ecology and maintenance of biodiversity
- watershed science and policy: including strategies to restore rivers and the influence of vegetation on stream channel hydrology and morphology
Samuel Miles
PhD
Samuel Miles is a Ph.D. student in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. Sam studies electrical and political power systems. He pairs frameworks from environmental ... Continue Reading »
- Agriculture
- climate
- development
- economics
- energy
- Mini-grids
- Productive uses
- sanitation
- transportation
- Urbanization
- water
Ana Mileva
MPP, MS, PhD
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions, System Flexibility Requirements, and Drivers of Storage Deployment in the Western North American Power System through 2050 (PhD ’14) Ana’s PhD research is in modeling electricity ... Continue Reading »
Christian Miller
MPP, MS
Measuring California’s Energy Service Affordability (MS ’19) Christian is fascinated by energy end-uses’ effect on communities’ economic and political well-being. While his formal scientific background is in biorenewable resources, his ... Continue Reading »
- climate
- development
- economics
- energy
- energy policy
- equitable energy access
- rural electrification
- transportation
Anita Milman
MA, PhD
Environmental Justice? An Analysis of Air Pollution and Power Plants in California (’04 MA) Bordering on Water Management: Ground and Wastewater in the United States-Mexico Transboundary Santa Cruz Basin (’09 ... Continue Reading »
Irving Mintzer
PhD
Sunlight Through the Clouds: Economic and Environmental Effects of Centralized and Dispersed Photovoltaic Power Systems in Electric-Utility Applications (’83 Ph.D.)
- energy and security
- Energy economics
- global warming
- ozone depletion
- risk management
- trade and environment
Jennifer Mitchell-Jackson
MS
Energy Needs in an Internet Economy: A Closer Look at Data Centers (’01 MS)
Marcus Moench
MS, PhD
Resource Utilization and Degradation: An Integrated Analysis of Biomass Utilization Patterns in a Garhwal Hill Village, Northern Uttar Pradesh, India (’85 MS) From Forest to Agroforest: Land-Use Dynamics and Crop ... Continue Reading »
Priyanka Mohanty
MS
What are the Best Practices for Rapid and Just Energy Transition? (MS ’22) Priyanka earned her Masters of Science with the Energy and Resources Group. At ERG, she works on ... Continue Reading »
- China
- climate
- development
- economics
- environmental justice
- Green New Deal
- India
- Indonesia
- Low-Carbon Transport
Alison Monroe
MS
Nuclide Migration Consequence Analyses for High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal: What Are They Likely to Prove? (’78 M.S.)
Alex Montgomery
MA
Reconstructing Reliability: Confidence in Nuclear Weapons under Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship (’99 M.A.)
- energy policy
- fusion
- game theory
- international security
- models and risk analysis
- nuclear power
- science policy
- technology and society
Sangcheol Moon
MA
Sangcheol is interested in feedstock resources and materials loop modeling under the scenario of institutional regulation to support circular economy, Industrial ecology, green chemistry, and the design and implementation mechanisms ... Continue Reading »
Deborah Moore
MS
Opportunities for Basinwide Cooperative Management of Water Resources in the Verde River Basin, Arizona (’89 M.S.)
- bank reform
- environmental restoration
- irrigation
- multilateral development
- Native American resource issues
- population/over-consumption
- sustainable development
- water conservation
- water quality
- Water Resource Management
Jill Moraski
PhD
Jill is interested in addressing electric grid reliability and resilience challenges in a future characterized by economy-wide decarbonization, climate vulnerability, and deep risk uncertainty. Specifically, she’s interested in adapting best ... Continue Reading »
Laura Moreno
MS, PhD
Everyday Transformations of Food to Waste: What and Why Food is Discarded in U.S. Households (PhD ’19) From digging through trash to looking inside of people’s refrigerators, Laura researches household-level ... Continue Reading »
Raquel Moreno-Penaranda
PhD
From Livelihoods to Labels: Assessing the Contribution of Organics to the Sustainability of Small Family Farming with Participatory Multi-Criteria Indicators in a Community in Brazil (’08 PhD)