ERG’s sixty plus graduate students are geographically and ethnically diverse. About half are in the masters-degree program and half in the PhD program. The students come from a wide variety of disciplinary backgrounds in engineering, natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities; the characteristics they have in common are an ability to cross disciplinary boundaries, an interest in the complex problems at the interface of technology and society, and the intellectual credentials to succeed in a rigorous academic program. Graduates of the program are employed across the United States and around the world in governmental and international agencies, legislative staff positions, national laboratories, public and private utilities, other energy and resource companies, consulting firms, public-interest organizations, and universities.

ERG students have been recognized nationally and internationally for their research. Click here to find a selection of recent grants and fellowships awarded to ERG students.

Students

Acosta, Catherine

Catherine Acosta

MS

Catherine Acosta is nterested in the development and implementation of globally responsible technologies that benefit ecological and human welfare. Specific areas of interest include Renewable Energy, Carbon Sequestration, and Climate ... Continue Reading »

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Aguilar, Lauren

Lauren Aguilar

PhD

Broadly, Lauren Aguilar’s research interests focus on designing electricity infrastructure systems that promote equitable socioeconomic outcomes. In particular, she is interested in identifying infrastructure barriers that impede equitable technology adoption ... Continue Reading »

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Alford-Jones, Kelsey

Kelsey Alford-Jones

MA

Kelsey is a PhD candidate, focusing on qualitative research spanning the fields of global climate and environmental politics, political ecology, critical development studies, human and Indigenous rights, and environmental conflict. ... Continue Reading »

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Alvarez-Taubin, Sol

Sol Alvarez-Taubin

PhD

Sol Alvarez-Taubin’s research interests revolve broadly around protecting and restoring social and ecological integrity in frontline communities and lands. At ERG, she is interested in exploring how concurrent technical, ecological, ... Continue Reading »

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Ball-Burack, Ari

Ari Ball-Burack

PhD

Ari Ball-Burack is a first year PhD student in the Energy & Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley, advised by Dr. Dan Kammen. He studies data and computational ... Continue Reading »

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Ballagh, Alana

Alana Ballagh

MS

Alana Ballagh (she/her) is a first year Master’s student at the Energy and Resources Group. Alana is interested in exploring the role of more participatory decision-making in renewable energy planning ... Continue Reading »

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Bartone, Xander

Xander Bartone

MS

Xander Bartone’s research interests are broadly related to distributed energy resources — he hopes to investigate pragmatic regulatory and policy methods to ensure that vulnerable populations are able to access ... Continue Reading »

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Best, Dennis

Dennis Best

MS, PhD

Dennis has focused his career on technology and sustainability policy in emerging and developing economies. His research interests include technology and innovation policy and impacts to resource and rural development, ... Continue Reading »

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Brown, Colette

Colette Brown

MS, PhD

Colette Brown is a PhD student at the Energy and Resources Group. Brown previously graduated from the ERG Master’s program; where she used Landsat 7 imagery and machine learning to ... Continue Reading »

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Brown, Sean

Sean Brown

MS

Sean Brown is a first year Master’s student interested in using the framework of complex systems to better understand natural and human subsystems as parts of a larger, integrated system, ... Continue Reading »

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Campbell, Nica

Nica Campbell

MS, PhD

Nica Campbell is an PhD candidate at the Energy and Resources Group. Her research interests include corporate sustainability, environmental justice and policy making mechanisms. At ERG, she explores ways to ... Continue Reading »

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Chaudhry, Nabig

Nabig Chaudhry

MS, PhD

Nabig Chaudhry is an MS/PhD student at UC Berkeley. His research lies at the intersection of climate and data science and focuses on building tech and data-enabled climate adaptation solutions. ... Continue Reading »

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Chojkiewicz, Emilia

Emilia Chojkiewicz

PhD

Emilia is a PhD student at ERG and a Research Affiliate at both the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) and UC Berkeley’s India Energy and Climate Center (IECC). Her research ... Continue Reading »

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Cliburn, Cora

Cora Cliburn

MA

Cora is a first-year MA student focusing on climate adaptation and water issues. Prior to ERG, she worked on food security and waste reduction research with Stanford’s Sustainable Food Program ... Continue Reading »

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Cullen, Kate

Kate Cullen

PhD

Kate Altemus Cullen (she/her) is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Energy & Resources Group and Fulbright-Hays Fellow. Her dissertation research examines the role of climate change in exacerbating issues ... Continue Reading »

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De Jonge, Nat

Nat De Jonge

MS

As a pre-med and environmental history student in undergrad, Nat De Jonge has always been broadly fascinated by the intersection between human and environmental health. While he is a bit ... Continue Reading »

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Dolton-Thornton, Nathaniel “Nate”

Nathaniel “Nate” Dolton-Thornton

PhD

Nathaniel Dolton-Thornton is a first year PhD student in the Energy and Resources Group. Dolton-Thornton’s research interests center on China, the Belt and Road Initiative, Latin America, and the clean ... Continue Reading »

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Elias, Micah

Micah Elias

MS, PhD

Payment for Watershed Ecosystem Services: Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Equity (MS ’20) Micah Elias earned his B.S. in International Agricultural Development from UC Davis in 2012. After graduating he worked with ... Continue Reading »

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Engel, MJ Wong

MJ Wong Engel

MS

Broadly, MJ Wong Engel is interested in the intersecting challenges between climate change, migration, and governance. As an ERG MA/JD student, she aims to explore how international refugee law responds ... Continue Reading »

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Gill-Wiehl, Annelise

Annelise Gill-Wiehl

MS, PhD

Annelise Gill-Wiehl is currently an NSF Graduate Student Researcher and a Ph.D. Candidate in the Energy & Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley, co-advised by Dr. Dan Kammen ... Continue Reading »

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Grayson, Alexandra

Alexandra Grayson

MS, PhD

Alexandra (she/her) is an MS/PhD in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research lies at the intersection of climate policy modeling and critical environmental ... Continue Reading »

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Gröschel, Tim

Tim Gröschel

MS

Tim Gröschel’s main interest lies in renewable energy systems, how they enable industry decarbonization, and what can be done to make them socially and economically feasible. Having worked across both ... Continue Reading »

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Haley, Ben

Ben Haley

PhD

Ben has unique experience developing energy system models to support energy transformation decision making in his role as Co-Founder of Evolved Energy Research. His models have been utilized by parties ... Continue Reading »

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Hall Rocha, Alex

Alex Hall Rocha

MS

Alex Hall Rocha is a Master’s student at the Energy and Resources Group. Her interests include community-based participatory research and how it can be used to address cases of environmental injustice. ... Continue Reading »

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Hall, Anaya

Anaya Hall

MS, PhD

Modeling Organic Waste Management for Soil Carbon Sequestration in California (MS ’19) Anaya (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the Energy and Resources Group (ERG) at UC Berkeley. She is ... Continue Reading »

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Hunter, Chris

Chris Hunter

MA, MPP

Chris is a M.A./M.P.P. student with the Energy & Resources Group and the Goldman School of Public Policy, focused on advancing effective and equitable climate and energy policy at the ... Continue Reading »

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Jones, Ryan

Ryan Jones

PhD

Ryan has spent the last decade developing modeling tools to explore technology pathways for deep decarbonization with special focus on electricity systems. His current research works to incorporate additional dimensions ... Continue Reading »

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Karasaki, Seigi

Seigi Karasaki

MS, PhD

Seigi’s research focus is on the intersection of drinking water access, social justice, institutional capacity, and individual agency. He is primarily interested in weaving together historical and current race- and ... Continue Reading »

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Katz, Jessica

Jessica Katz

MS, PhD

Siting Renewable Energy in a Changing Climate: A Reimagining of BLM’s Solar Energy Zones (MS ’20) At ERG, Jessica is focusing on learning advanced methods to comprehensively evaluate the ecological, ... Continue Reading »

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Kingdon, Cora

Cora Kingdon

MS, PhD

Cora Kingdon is a PhD candidate in the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley. As an interdisciplinary scholar, she draws from environmental economics, climate science, decision making under deep ... Continue Reading »

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Kirby, Lily

Lily Kirby

MS

Lily is a Master’s student in the Energy and Resources Group. Her research focuses on expanding utility access for medically vulnerable and low-income American communities. Lily’s work is also concerned ... Continue Reading »

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Lazarus, Eli

Eli Lazarus

MS, PhD

Eli is an Ecological Economist working on comprehensive welfare measurement, tracking, and optimization. His research investigates and contributes to filling the gap between market optimization/welfare and broader social welfare. Recent ... Continue Reading »

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Lockwood, Cello

Cello Lockwood

MS, PhD

Cello focuses on the environmental impacts and social implications of the proposed Circular Economy with specific attention to application in the textile industry. Her current research seeks to measure and ... Continue Reading »

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Longmate, Julia

Julia Longmate

MS, PhD

Julia’s research focuses on the performance and usability of climate model outputs at decision-relevant scales. She received her S.B. in Environmental Engineering from MIT in 2016 where she studied the ... Continue Reading »

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Lottman-Craigg, Jessica

Jessica Lottman-Craigg

PhD

My research focuses on the social, spatial, and climate implications of energy transition in the Atlanta area. I draw on political ecology, energy geography, and political economy of development and ... Continue Reading »

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Luo, Annika

Annika Luo

MS

Annika is a Master’s student specializing in sustainable transitions and industrial and political ecology. Her research on commodity chain analysis examines the environmental health and labor practices in Southeast Asian ... Continue Reading »

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Manocha, Aneesha

Aneesha Manocha

PhD

Aneesha Manocha (she/her) is a PhD student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley in the Energy Resources Group. She is particularly interested in developing optimization ... Continue Reading »

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McAdams, Jasmine

Jasmine McAdams

MS, PhD

Jasmine is a MS/PhD student at UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group, with a passion for supporting robust and equitable decision-making in climate and energy. Her research interests include developing ... Continue Reading »

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Mohamed, Eigan

Eigan Mohamed

MS

Eigan Mohamed is interested in Water-Food-Energy systems, resources planning across different geographical scales, with a focus on water resources under climate uncertainty and political instability and leverage technology in data-scarce ... Continue Reading »

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Munnings, Clayton

Clayton Munnings

MS, PhD

Clayton’s research focuses on design evaluations and performance assessments of carbon offsets, carbon prices, and clean electricity standards with a geographic emphasis on the United States and China. He founded ... Continue Reading »

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Murayama, Hikari

Hikari Murayama

PhD

Hikari’s research largely focuses on combining remote sensing and machine learning methods to study human impacts on large spatial scales. She was selected to be a Data Science Fellow at ... Continue Reading »

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Kingsley Ofori

MS

Kingsley Ofori attended Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Ofori works as a Research Assistant at CSIR-Food Research Institute. Contact: oforikingsley765@gmail.com

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Pekerti, Dakota

Dakota Pekerti

MS

Dakota Pekerti (he/him) is a first-year Master’s student in the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley. Dakota is passionate about working in sustainable development in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, ... Continue Reading »

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Penakalapati, Gauthami

Gauthami Penakalapati

MS, PhD

Evaluation of Social Networks and Measures of Empowerment Among Adolescent Girls in Uttar Pradesh, India (MS ’19) Gauthami’s interdisciplinary research intersects global health, feminist theory, science technology studies, social network ... Continue Reading »

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Pesek, Sophie

Sophie Pesek

PhD

Sophie Pesek is a PhD student in the Energy and Resources Group (ERG) at UC Berkeley. She is interested in using causal inference and remote sensing techniques to support vulnerable ... Continue Reading »

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Rennels, Lisa

Lisa Rennels

MS, PhD

Sobol Sensitivity Analysis for Integrated Assessment Models: Supporting Result Characterization (MS ’19) Lisa is interested in using computer science to explore issues related to the economic impacts of climate change, ... Continue Reading »

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Santasheva, Ana

Ana Santasheva

MS, PhD

Ana Santasheva is a researcher passionate about creating practical solutions to make the energy transition secure, decentralized, and resilient. For her undergrad, she studied Systems Design Engineering at the University ... Continue Reading »

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Sarfaty Epstein, Sarah

Sarah Sarfaty Epstein

MS

Sarah Sarfaty Epstein is a first year M.S. student interested in landscape-scale climate resilience decision making in California’s agriculture sector, particularly at the agriculture-energy-water nexus. Currently, Sarah is part of ... Continue Reading »

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Schill, Jack

Jack Schill

MS

Jack Schill is generally interested in watershed management in the American west. He is interested in incorporating interdisciplinary approaches to help address how to manage these critical resources in light ... Continue Reading »

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Singhal, Aaryaman “Sunny”

Aaryaman “Sunny” Singhal

MPP, MS, PhD

Sunny Singhal is interested in how the Western U.S. can adapt to aridification and climate change from the standpoint of freshwater – drinking water, agriculture, ecosystem health, etc. To do ... Continue Reading »

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Speizer, Simone

Simone Speizer

PhD

Simone Speizer is a PhD student in the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley. Her research interests center on air pollution and climate impacts, and especially their intersections with ... Continue Reading »

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Strecker, Jesse

Jesse Strecker

MA, MPP

Jesse Strecker is a researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a PhD candidate at UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group, and an interdisciplinary political economist. They hold an MPP ... Continue Reading »

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Sungkar, Faraj

Faraj Sungkar

MS

Faraj is a Master’s student at the Energy and Resources Group (ERG). He is passionate about exploring how to address the complex challenges of balancing the energy trilemma (energy security, ... Continue Reading »

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Swenson, Bree

Bree Swenson

MS

Bree Swenson is interested in exploring the impacts and unintended consequences of climate policies across levels of government, with the goal of better understanding how to make informed policy decisions ... Continue Reading »

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Verley, Dawson

Dawson Verley

MS

Dawson is a Master’s student in the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley. His interests lie at the intersection of data science and sustainable development, with a focus on ... Continue Reading »

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Villalpando Páez, María

María Villalpando Páez

PhD

María is interested in exploring rural and peasant women’s role in the advancement of food sovereignty and in understanding the complex negotiation processes between communities, individuals, and the environment in ... Continue Reading »

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Wang, Liyang

Liyang Wang

MS, PhD

Liyang is a PhD student in the Energy & Resources Group and a Senior Research Associate at Berkeley Lab. Her research interest is at the intersection of decision science, climate ... Continue Reading »

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Ward, Rachel

Rachel Ward

MS, PhD

Tropical Forests and the Allocation of Carbon to Reproduction (MS ’20) Rachel is interested in the social, ecological, and geophysical dynamics of agro-forestry coffee and cacao systems in the tropics. ... Continue Reading »

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Warner, Cody

Cody Warner

MA, PhD

Lights Off in San Diego County: the Effect of Utility Deenergization Events on Household Electrification (MA ’20) Cody applies statistical and econometric models to the electricity sector and studies how ... Continue Reading »

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Winn, Leila

Leila Winn

MS

Leila Winn (she/her) is a master’s student pursuing a MS in ERG. Her research interest lie in urban ecology with a focus on urbanization and habitat. She is also deeply ... Continue Reading »

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Yerrapotu, Amulya

Amulya Yerrapotu

MS

Amulya Yerrapotu is interested in studying utility governance, its impacts on environmental and economic justice, and potential avenues for democratizing our energy system! She is pursuing a concurrent JD-MA at ... Continue Reading »

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Yu, Felix

Felix Yu

MS

Felix Yu is interested in both nature-based and technological decarbonization strategies. Nature-based climate solutions need to be scaled up to mitigate climate change, but our ability to quantify its impacts ... Continue Reading »

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Yu, Hilary

Hilary Yu

MS, PhD

Mining Data on Reclaimed Coal Mines: a Machine Learning Approach to Assessing Habitat Suitability (MS ’18) Hilary received her B.A. in Government and Biological Sciences, with a concentration in Ecology ... Continue Reading »

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Yuen, Anna

Anna Yuen

MS

Anna Yuen has experience in using remote sensing and large scale geospatial data to explore impacts of climate change events (specifically flooding) on critical infrastructure. Yuen would like to expand ... Continue Reading »

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Zahid, Mustafa

Mustafa Zahid

PhD

I’m interested in using cutting-edge data to assess how environmental factors causally affect social and economic outcomes, teasing out important impact channels and mechanisms to assess how communities and individuals ... Continue Reading »

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Zárate, Alina Leticia

Alina Leticia Zárate

PhD

Alina Leticia Zárate is a first year PhD student in the Energy and Resources Group. Zárate’s research interests center around farmworker justice and farmworker vulnerability to climate changes in addition ... Continue Reading »

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