Learn About Featured Announcements From the Energy Institute
Meet Kaixin Wang: The Energy Institute’s Newest Graduate Student Affiliate
December 18, 2024
We’re excited to welcome Kaixin Wang as the most recent Graduate Student Affiliate at the Energy Institute who joined us earlier this year.
Faculty Engagement in Public Service
December 18, 2024
In addition to producing policy-relevant research and analysis, Energy Institute Faculty Affiliates serve in formal policy roles and provide informal advice directly to decision makers. We asked some of our faculty to speak about some of the important topics they are engaging on.
Faculty Affiliate Spotlight: Aaron Smith
December 18, 2024
In this newsletter, we are pleased to introduce Professor Aaron Smith. Aaron joined the Energy Institute at Haas as a faculty affiliate in 2023 and came to the University of California, Berkeley as a Professor and Gordon Rausser Distinguished Chair in Agricultural and Resource Economics in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics in 2024. Aaron enjoyed 23 years as a professor at the University of California, Davis. Originally from New Zealand, he earned his PhD in Economics from the University of California, San Diego. Aaron shared how he became interested in energy and environmental economics and what research questions he is focusing on:
What led you to become an energy and environmental economist?
Faculty Affiliate Spotlight: James Bushnell
August 6, 2024
In this edition, we shine the spotlight on Professor James Bushnell. Jim is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Davis, a Faculty Affiliate at the Energy Institute at Haas, and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Prior to joining UC Davis, he spent 15 years as the Research Director of the University of California Energy Institute in Berkeley, and two years as the Cargill Chair in Energy Economics at Iowa State University.
Q: What led you to become an energy and environmental economist?
Energy Economists Gather at Berkeley for 2024 Energy Camp
August 6, 2024
The Energy Institute’s annual Energy Camp provides a dynamic and collegial environment for sharing new energy and environmental economics research ideas among senior scholars, young faculty, and advanced graduate students. Each day of this week-long event includes six to nine presentations of research-in-progress and early research ideas.
After Postdoc at NYU School of Law, Leila Safavi Joins Pomona College in 2025
August 6, 2024
Energy Institute graduate student Leila Safavi completed her PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics in May, and will be taking a year-long postdoc at the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law(opens in a new tab) before joining Pomona College(opens in a new tab) as an Assistant Professor in fall 2025. Leila has been a graduate student affiliate with the Energy Institute since 2019.
Max Auffhammer Receives Prestigious Career Award
June 18, 2024
Energy Institute Faculty Affiliate Max Auffhammer was named a 2024 Association of Environmental and Resource Economist (AERE) Fellow in late May. The AERE Fellows Program recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of environmental and resource economics, including research, mentorship, service in the AERE community, and policy advising.
Faculty Spotlight: Paige Weber
April 1, 2024
This edition’s faculty spotlight is on Professor Paige Weber. She came to the University of California, Berkeley in 2023 as an Assistant Professor in the Energy and Resources Group. Before coming to Berkeley, Paige was an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Postdoctoral Researcher at UC Santa Barbara. She earned her PhD and two master’s degrees at Yale University and received her bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley. Paige shared why she became a researcher and where she is focusing her work.
Q: What led you to become an energy and environmental economist?
Reducing Wildfire Risk in the Power Sector
April 1, 2024
Electricity infrastructure has ignited some of the most destructive wildfires in recent years. Contact between power lines and vegetation has caused costly and deadly fires in California, Australia, Hawaii, Oregon and Texas. Utilities are deploying a variety of strategies to reduce the likelihood that their infrastructure ignites wildfires in the future. New Energy Institute research, which investigates these investments in detail, could help guide the future of utility wildfire mitigation.
POWER 2024 – In Case You Missed It
April 1, 2024
Our recent 29th annual POWER conference in Berkeley covered a broad range of topics including retail electricity market competition, home electrification, factors driving generation efficiency, the impact of transmission lines, and investments to mitigate wildfire ignition risk in the power sector. Over two hundred researchers, policymakers, and business professionals attended.
Financial Times Selects Energy Institute Research for Responsible Business Education Award
January 20, 2024
This month the Financial Times announced its Responsible Business Education Awards and selected “Paying for Electricity in California: How Residential Rate Design Impacts Equity and Electrification” for an Academic Research Award, designating the research “Highly Commended”. The study was co-authored by Severin Borenstein, Meredith Fowlie, and James Sallee at the Energy Institute at Haas and funded by Next 10, a nonpartisan research nonprofit organization. The FT’s awards celebrate academics who are “focusing their research on solutions that address some of the biggest challenges facing our society and planet”.
Faculty Spotlight: Duncan Callaway
December 8, 2023
Our latest spotlight interview is with Duncan Callaway, who shared how energy research became his field of interest and how he joined the Energy Institute. Duncan is an Associate Professor of Energy and Resources with an affiliate appointment in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and a Faculty Affiliate at the Energy Institute at Haas.
Q: What led you to become an energy researcher? A:
Diversifying the Field of Energy and Environmental Economics Through Undergraduate Mentorships
December 8, 2023
The Energy Institute has a long track record of attracting and nurturing energy and environmental economics (EEE) scholars. With the new EEE Undergraduate Mentoring Program we have expanded these efforts so that underrepresented undergraduates can envision and prepare for a PhD program in economics.
Graduate Student Affiliates on the Job Market
December 8, 2023
Meet our Energy Institute Graduate Student Affiliates, Jesse Buchsbaum and Leila Safavi, and learn about their job market papers.
Faculty Affiliate Spotlight: James Sallee
October 5, 2023
We sat down with James Sallee, Professor in the Agricultural and Resource Economics department at UC Berkeley and Faculty Affiliate at the Energy Institute at Haas, to learn about his path to the Energy Institute.
Q: How did you become interested in energy and environmental economics? A:
Sixty-five Graduate Students Come to Berkeley for 2023 Energy and Environmental Summer Graduate Program
October 5, 2023
For 12 years the Energy Institute has been offering a unique annual training opportunity for doctoral students from around the country who are exploring a research agenda in energy and environmental economics (EEE). The program, better known as “Grad Camp,” seeks to attract a group of young scholars from a variety of backgrounds to the EEE field.
Welcome Graduate Student Affiliates
October 5, 2023
Get to know incoming Graduate Student Affiliates, Thor Larson, Bora Ozaltun, and Karthik Tadepalli who joined the Energy Institute this summer.
Jenya Kahn-Lang Completes PhD and Accepts Stanford Postdoc and RFF Fellowship
June 12, 2023
Energy Institute graduate student Jenya Kahn-Lang completed her PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics in May, and will be taking a year-long postdoc at the Stanford Environmental and Energy Policy Analysis Center before joining Resources for the Future as a fellow in 2024.
Marshall Blundell Completes PhD and Joins Demand Side Analytics
June 12, 2023
Energy Institute graduate student Marshall Blundell completed his PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics in May, and will be joining Demand Side Analytics in September as a senior consultant.
Lucas Davis and Jim Sallee Receive 2023 Cheit Award
April 18, 2023
Energy Institute Faculty Affiliates, Lucas Davis and Jim Sallee have been selected as recipients of the 2023 Cheit Award. At Haas, excellence in teaching is recognized through the annual Earl F. Cheit Award where a panel of students nominate and select faculty recipients.