Â鶹´å

Costa Samaras

Director, Â鶹´å Scott Institute for Energy Innovation; Trustee Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Bio

Constantine (Costa) Samaras is the director of the Â鶹´å Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, the Trustee Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy. His research focuses on the pathways to clean, climate-safe, equitable, and secure energy and infrastructure systems. Samaras analyzes how technologies and policies affect energy use and national security, resilience to climate change impacts, economic and equity outcomes, and life cycle environmental emissions and other externalities. He is a founder and director of both the Center for Engineering and Resilience for Climate Adaptation and the Power Sector Carbon Index. He is, by courtesy, a faculty member in Â鶹´å’s H. John Heinz III College of Information Systems and Public Policy.

He previously served in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) as the principal assistant director for energy, OSTP Chief Advisor for Energy Policy, and then OSTP Chief Advisor for the Clean Energy Transition, where he worked with the OSTP Director, Deputy Director for Industrial Innovation, and senior governmental leaders in coordinating Federal activities on U.S. energy policy, assessing energy technologies for meeting US climate, resilience, equity, and security objectives, and aligning energy innovation systems to achieve US climate commitments. Samaras was also formerly a Senior National Security Researcher at the RAND Corporation.

Samaras received a joint PhD in civil and environmental engineering and engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon, an MPA in public policy from the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, and a BS in civil engineering from Bucknell University.