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
Christopher Williams
MA
The Hands that will Build our Energy Future: Administrative and Labor Capacity for Building Energy Efficiency Policies In China and India (MA ’11)

Jim Williams
MS, PhD
M.S. 1986 – A Vehicular Power Plant Application of the Monolithic Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Ph.D. 1995 – Fan-Lizhi’s Big Bang: Science and Politics in Mao’s China ERG alumnus Jim Williams, now ... Continue Reading »
- acid rain
- Arctic haze
- China
- comparative religion
- cosmology
- dissidents and outlaws
- economic globalization and cultural survival
- fuel-cell powered vehicles
- global change
- over the last ten years: speech synthesizers
- science and politics
- the theory and practice of Utopia
Deborah Wilson
MS
Government Policies and Programs for the Promotion of Residential Energy Conservation, An International Perspective (87 MS)
- climate change: emphasis on CDM/mitigation/adaptation
- environment and development: emphasis on alternative energy options (renewables and efficiency)
Margrethe Winslow
PhD
Environmental Quality, Economic Growth, and Democracy: A Theoretical and Empirical Examination of the Linkages (’02 PhD)
Ryan Wiser
MS, PhD
Alternative Windpower Ownership Structures: Financing Terms and Project Costs (’96 MS) Public Goods and Private Interests: The Role of Voluntary Green Power Demand in Achieving Environmental Improvements (’02 PhD)

Maggie Witt
MS
Maggie’s research focuses on reducing the environmental impacts of transportation by decreasing both the amount that people drive and the per-mile emissions of personal vehicles. Her work focuses on California’s ... Continue Reading »

Cleo Woelfle-Erskine
MS, PhD
In the tradition of Barad and Haraway, I practice Science and Technology Studies (STS) “from the inside”, drawing on my own natural science training to inform the theoretical frameworks I ... Continue Reading »
- community science
- groundwater-surface water interactions
- mediterranean streams
- rainwater harvesting
- salmonids
- Stephanie Carlson Lab
- watershed rehabilitation
Cecile Wolf
MA
Daylight Availability: Review & Analysis of the Literature up to 1979: Relevance to Daylighting Design in the U.S.: Suggestions for Futher Data Collection and Treatment (’79 MA)
Gabrielle Wong-Parodi
MA, PhD
NGO Perceptions of Geologic Sequestration (MA ’07) Perspectives on Carbon Capture and Sequestration in the United States (PhD ’11)
Nicole Woodling
MS
The Role of Socioeconomic Analysis in California Marine Protected Area Planning (03 MS)
- eco-certification
- marine conservation
- marine ecology
- marine policy
- marine protected areas
- sustainable seafood

Emily Woods
MS
Impacts of Student-Led Service Learning Water Project in Rural Cameroon (MS’16) A graduate of Georgia Tech with a B.S in mechanical engineering. A selection of her work includes drilling water ... Continue Reading »

Peter Worley
MS
Ohio Industrial Electricity Rates: Is the Price Right? (MS ’19) Peter is interested in investigating the market and regulatory barriers to technological solutions to renewable energy generation, net-zero buildings, and ... Continue Reading »

Marshall Worsham
MS, PhD
Marshall is an interdisciplinary environmental scientist with a focus on high-elevation forests of the Rocky Mountains. He applies methods spanning remote sensing, community ecology, dendrochronology, and soil science to explore ... Continue Reading »

Grace Wu
MS, PhD
Land Use in Renewable Energy Planning (PhD ’18) Inspired by the possibility of ecologically-bounded growth, Grace is interested in water and land use impacts of energy technologies; water management that ... Continue Reading »
- ecological economics
- GIS
- land use impacts of energy systems
- renewable resource assessment
- spatial statistics
- water-energy nexus

Xi Xi
MS
Xi Xi is starting a PhD on energy and development in Africa. She is exploring both utility-scale grid development and demand stimulation that interact with VRE-dominated grids, including e-mobility, green ... Continue Reading »
Feng Yang
MS
Integrated-Gasification-Combined-Cycle and Its Future Market Penetration in China (’95 M.S.)
- exploring relations between energy development and environmental degradation in China
- full-cost assessment of technological alternatives for both supply and use of energy including social/economic/institutional aspects
- techniques of raising energy use efficiency
David Yardas
MS
Regional Hydrologic Interdependence and Electric Power System Planning: The Pacific Northwest, California, and the Pacific Northwest-Pacific Southwest Intertie (’84 M.S.)
- environmental remediation
- International transboundary water resource conflicts and dispute resolution
- public education (K-12) and private sector support
- source community improvement
- water transfers
Sami Yassa
MS
Acid Deposition and Forest Nutrient Cycles: An Analysis of Changes in Soil Chemistry over Time on Camels Hump Mountain in Northern Vermont (’88 MS)
Emily Yeh
PhD
Taming the Tibetan Landscape: Chinese development and the transformation of agriculture (03 PhD)

Edem Yevoo
MS
Edem received his B.S in Environmental Science and Technology, with a concentration in Ecological Technology Design and minor in Geographic Information Science (GIS) from the University of Maryland, College Park ... Continue Reading »

Anna Yip
MS
Anna spent most of her undergrad career studying and analyzing her campus’ ‘Zero Waste by 2020’ goal. She quickly fell in love with the field and plans to dedicate the ... Continue Reading »

Svetlana Zenkin
MS
Challenges and Opportunities for Corporate Fleet Transitions to Lower-Carbon Fuels (MS ’14) Svetlana is interested in the intersection of public policy and corporate social responsibility, as well as in the ... Continue Reading »
Nina Zheng
MS
Urbanizing China: Residential Energy Implications and the Role for Energy Efficiency Standards (MS, ’09)
- energy and economic development in china
- global climate change
- renewable energy and energy efficiency policymaking and implementation
- technology transfer and adoption in developing countries
Neil Ziemba
MS
Management of a Contaminated Groundwater Basin in California’s San Gabriel Valley (’88 M.S.)
Scott Zimmermann
MS
Sustainable Biofuels: Designing Indirect Land Use Change Regulations that are Compatible with International Trade Law (MS ’08)
Seth Zuckerman
MS
Social and Ecological Prospects for Second-Growth Forestry in the Mattole Valley (Humboldt County, California) (’90 M.S.)
- alternatives to regulation
- ecological restoration
- forest certification
- how can humans coexist with wild nature/develop a mutually beneficial relationship with nature and live as members of the ecosystems in which they dwell?
- salmon
- socially and ecologically sustainable forestry