Holmes Hummel is the Senior Policy Advisor in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Policy & International Affairs. In earlier public service, Dr. Hummel served as a Congressional Science Fellow focused on energy and climate policy. Experience on Capitol Hill informed Dr. Hummel’s Climate Policy Design Pro-Series, a program for Silicon Valley professionals and public interest organizers that remains an active online resource for educators and entrepreneurs alike. The series was developed from Dr. Hummel’s graduate course on Climate Policy Design offered by the Energy Resources Group at UC-Berkeley.
Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., Dr. Hummel designed corporate energy strategies for clients of the energy intelligence software firm Itron and later consulted with the Google Energy & Climate team.
As one of the first candidates to earn a PhD from the Interdisciplinary Program on Environment and Resources at Stanford University, Dr. Hummel researched Methods for Interpreting Technology and Policy Implications of Energy Scenarios for Climate Stabilization. The techniques involved were developed with support from global thought-leaders in the Greenhouse Gas Initiative at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), and subsequent work with Prof. Zhang Xiliang at the Institute for Energy, Environment, and Economy of Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Demonstrating the value of policy-relevant research beyond Stanford, Dr. Hummel immediately joined Dr. Jan Hamrin, long-time President of the Center for Resource Solutions, to co-author a Review of Role on Renewable Energy in Global Energy Scenarios for the International Energy Agency’s Implementing Agreement on Renewable Energy Technology Development.
Dr. Hummel was first hooked on energy technology innovation in 1994 as a co-leader of the Clarkson University Solar Car Team, which designed and raced a highly efficient experimental electric vehicle across the country using only the power of the sun. In addition to receiving a Switzer Environmental Fellowship in the ensuing years, the Environmental Leadership Program has recognized Dr. Hummel as a “visionary, action-oriented leader.”
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E-IPER has opened windows of opportunity to independent research with full faculty support, encouraging young researchers to explore and develop ideas beyond the bounds of existing research projects. The wide range of environmental interests and areas of expertise in the program both challenged and informed my depth in the area of energy resources. This experience sharpened my sense of how complex systems interact and extended the relevance of my own work to other fields of interest.