The Breakthrough Institute: Fellows

2010 Breakthrough Senior Fellows

Chris Green is Professor of Economics at McGill University in Montreal. Green received his PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1966. He taught three years at North Carolina State University before moving to McGill in 1969, where he has been ever since. Over his more than 43 years as University teacher and researcher his interests have ranged widely. His PhD dissertation and first book (published by the Brookings Institution in 1967) was on negative income taxes and the poverty problem. After researching and teaching several years in the public finance and labor fields, Green's interests moved to industrial organization and public policies toward business, in particular antitrust (or competition) policies and economic regulation. In the late 1980s, Chris Green became interested in the climate change problem. Gradually his research and some of his teaching moved in this direction. Beginning in 1994, Green began teaching a course on the "Economics of Climate Change"--a course he now teaches regularly. Green has authored or co-authored papers on climate change-related topics, beginning with two papers that appeared in Climatic Change in 1992. Most of his work has centered on the relation between stabilizing climate and energy technology change. His most recent work, with Isabel Galiana, prepared for the Copenhagen Consensus on Climate project, sets out and analyzes a proposed technology-led climate policy. Download his CV here.

To contact Chris Green for an interview, please click here.

Gregory Nemet is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin in the La Follette School of Public Affairs and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. He is also a member of the university's Energy Sources and Policy Cluster and a senior fellow at the university's Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy. His research and teaching focus on improving understanding of the environmental, social, economic, and technical dynamics of the global energy system. He teaches courses in international environmental policy and energy systems analysis. A central focus of his research involves empirical analysis of the process of innovation and technological change. He is particularly interested in how the outcomes of this line of research can inform public policy related to improvements in low-carbon energy technologies. His work is motivated by a more general interest in issues related to energy and the environment, including how government actions can expand access to energy services while reducing their environmental impacts. He is a lead author of the Global Energy Assessment. He holds a master's degree and doctorate in energy and resources, both from the University of California, Berkeley. His undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College is in geography and economics. You can read two of his key papers on energy and technology policy here and here. You can see all of Greg's publications here.

To contact Gregory Nemet for an interview, please click here.

Daniel Sarewitz is Professor of Science and Society and Co-Director of the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes (CSPO), at Arizona State University. His work focuses on revealing the connections between science policy decisions, scientific research and social outcomes. How does the distribution of the social benefits of science relate to the way that we organize scientific inquiry? What accounts for the highly uneven advance of know-how related to solving human problems? How do the interactions between scientific uncertainty and human values influence decision making? How does technological innovation influence politics? And how can improved insight into such questions contribute to improved real-world practice? From 1989-1993 he worked on R&D policy issues as a staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and principal speech writer for Committee Chairman George E. Brown, Jr.. He received a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Cornell University in 1986. He now directs the Washington, DC, office of CSPO, and concentrates his efforts on increasing CSPO's impact on federal science and technology policy processes. See Dan's Nature article, "Three Rules for Technological Fixes"

To contact Daniel Sarewitz for an interview, please click here.

Bill Weihl is Green Energy Czar at Google, where he leads efforts in energy efficiency and renewable energy, and also manages the company's greenhouse-gas footprint. He spearheaded Google's drive to become carbon neutral, helped found the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, and helped create the RE<C initiative to develop renewable energy cheaper than coal. He has extensive business and technical experience in high-tech, including ten years as a professor of Computer Science at MIT, five years as a research scientist at Digital's Systems Research Center, and five years as Chief Architect and then CTO of Akamai Technologies. He was recently named one of Time Magazine's 2009 Heroes of the Environment.

To contact Bill Weihl for an interview, please click here.

2009 Breakthrough Senior Fellows

David Douglas is Senior Vice President of Cloud Computing and is also Chief Sustainability Officer at Sun Microsystems. He is responsible for Sun's cloud computing business, with a focus on creating reliable, scalable and sustainable computing and storage servers, as well as the company's developer tools and services. In addition, Dave oversees the strategy and execution of environmental initiatives across the company, including enhancements to Sun's products in the areas of energy efficiency, cooling technologies, product recycling and clean manufacturing. Dave has been in the high-tech industry for more than two decades, including more than ten years of experience leading organizations to build more innovative, efficient, and eco responsible products and has a long-standing passion about environmental issues. He earned both B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT. Dave serves on the board of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON).

To contact David Douglas for an interview, please click here.

Frank Laird is an expert in energy policy, specializing in renewable energy policy. He is an authority on the history of renewable energy policy development in the U.S. Frank, an associate professor of technology and public policy, teaches at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver. His teaching and research interests focus on environmental policy, energy policy, science and technology policy, and public policy more generally. Most of Frank's research has focused on energy policy, particularly the linkage between renewable energy policies and environmental policy. His book Solar Energy, Technology Policy, and Institutional Values was a finalist for 2004 Don K. Price Award for the best book in science and technology policy or politics. Frank has chaired and served on the public policy committee the American Solar Energy Society, during which time he served on the Society's board of directors. He has recently collaborated with the Consortium on Science Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University on a project applying the lessons of innovation policy to energy. Read his articles "Just Say No to Greenhouse Gas Emissions Targets" and "A Full-Court Press for Renewable Energy"

To contact Frank Laird for an interview, please click here.

Siddhartha Shome is an engineer who is passionately interested in various social, political, environmental and technological issues. Born and raised in India, he is particularly interested in questions related to India and other developing societies such as how to reconcile the seeming conflict between the goals of environmentalism and development. After finishing his engineering Bachelor's degree in India, Siddhartha came to the U.S. for graduate studies. In 2000, he completed his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Iowa. Currently he works at Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) in San Jose, CA, developing mechanical design and simulation software. Outside of work he loves to mull over myriad social issues. He is also involved in a number of social causes. He is an active volunteer for Asha for Education, a group that works to spread basic education in India. He has played a leading role in Asha's Silicon Valley chapter. He is also involved in Manushi, an organization that works for social and governance reform in India, particularly on issues involving women, the urban poor, etc. Read some of his Breakthrough Blog posts here, and check out his own blog here.

To contact Siddhartha Shome for an interview, please click here.

2008 Breakthrough Senior Fellows

Bill Chaloupka, an expert on the use of resentment to power the anti-environmentalist backlash, is co-editor of the forthcoming Post-Environmentalism, an anthology of international academic responses to the death of environmentalism thesis. He is a professor of political science at Colorado State University, where he has worked since 2002, serving as chair of the department from 2002-2007. Prior to that, he taught environmental studies and political science at the University of Montana in Missoula since the early 1980s, and previously taught at Ball State University and the University of New Mexico. He teaches political theory, environmental thought, and American politics. His books include Everybody Knows: Cynicism in America (1999), Knowing Nukes: Politics and Culture of the Atom (1992) and, co-edited with Jane Bennett, In the Nature of Things: Language, Politics, and the Environment (1993), all published by the University of Minnesota Press. Chaloupka was co-editor of the journal Theory & Event from 1999-2005. He is currently working on a book about environmental politics in the U.S.

and , read about him on the Breakthrough blog here and here, and read his Breakthrough interview.

To contact Bill Chaloupka for an interview, please click here.

Dalton Conley is currently Dean for the Social Sciences, as well as University Professor at New York University. He also holds appointments at NYU's Wagner School of Public Service, as an Adjunct Professor of Community Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and as a Senior Advisor to the UN Millennium Project. Conley's research focuses on the determinants of economic opportunity within and across generations. In this vein, he studies sibling differences in socioeconomic success; racial inequalities; the salience of physical appearance to economic status; the measurement of class; and how health and biology affect (and are affected by) social position. In 2005, he became the first sociologist to win the National Science Foundation's Alan T. Waterman Award, given annually to one young researcher in any field of science, mathematics or engineering. Conley holds a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.P.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Columbia University, as well as an M.S. in Biology from NYU. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Biology at the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology at NYU, studying transgenerational phenotypic plasticity and socially regulated genes. Conley is a frequent contributor of Op-Ed pieces and other essays to the mainstream press; he has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Slate, Forbes, Salon, Boston Review and Time Magazine. Read his New York Times article "Go on a Savings Spree"

To contact Dalton Conley for an interview, please click here.

Barbara Hill is Executive Director of the grassroots organization Clean Power Now, which is fighting for the first offshore Wind energy plant in the U.S. She has been a leader in non-profits and social change for over 30 years focused on renewable energy, land preservation and affordable housing. From 2001 - 2005 she served as the Project Manager for Offshore Wind with the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, Renewable Energy Trust, the state's development agency for clean energy and the innovation economy. She is a founding initiator of the CLEAN campaign, a collaborative of grassroots led organizations working for a new national energy policy advocating CLEAN's Call to Action. See her recent essay about Clean Power Now. For more information please visit www.cleanpowernow.org and www.theclean.org

To contact Barbara Hill for an interview, please click here.

Marty Hoffert wrote the landmark 2002 article in the journal Science that concluded global warming was a clean energy problem, not a regulation problem. He is Professor Emeritus of Physics and former Chair of the Department of Applied Science at New York University. He holds a B.S. (1960) in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan; an M.S. (1964) and Ph.D. (1967) in astronautics from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn; and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (1969) from the New School for Social Research where he did graduate work in sociology and economics. He has published broadly in fluid mechanics, plasma physics, oceanography, planetary atmospheres, climatic change, solar and wind energy and space solar power. His geophysical research includes the ocean/climate model first employed by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to assess global warming for different scenarios of fossil fuel use. His energy research includes laboratory and full-scale experiments on wind turbines, photovoltaic hydrogen production and wireless power transmission for solar power satellites. His present efforts focus on sustainable carbon-neutral technologies to power high-tech civilization consilient with a biodiverse planet. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Marty was recently featured on the New York Times Dot Earth blog, where he was also shown discussing the Department of Energy's new energy R&D agency, ARPA-E. You can also watch him speaking at Google.

To contact Marty Hoffert for an interview, please click here.

Roger Pielke, Jr. has done pioneering work on proper role of scientists and experts in society. He is an expert on the societal impacts of natural hazards, particularly hurricanes and floods, and a strong advocate of adaptation as a vital part of climate change policy. Roger has been on the faculty of the University of Colorado since 2001 and is a professor in the Environmental Studies Program and a Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). At CIRES, Roger served as the Director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research from 2001-2007. Roger's current areas of interest include understanding the policy and politics of science in decision making in a range of areas. In 2006 Roger received the Eduard Bruckner Prize in Munich, Germany for outstanding achievement in interdisciplinary climate research. Before joining the University of Colorado, from 1993-2001 Roger was a Scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Roger serves on various editorial boards and advisory committees, and is the author of numerous articles and essays. He is also author, co-author or co-editor of five books. His most recent book is titled The Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and Politics . In 2007 Roger was on sabbatical at the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization, Oxford University. Check out his blog, Roger Pielke Jr.'s Blog, and read his Breakthrough interview.

To contact Roger Pielke for an interview, please click here.

Jim Proctor, an expert in the role of science and religion in environmental thought, has brought together numerous groups of scholars to re-examine concepts of nature underlying contemporary environmentalism, and is co-author of several resultant volumes, including his work with Bill Chaloupka on the forthcoming After Environmentalism. Jim is Professor and Director of the Environmental Studies Program at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Before coming to Oregon, Jim spent 13 teaching in the geography department of the University of California, Santa Barbara. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1980 with a degree in religious studies and went on to work as a Peace Corps volunteer in Swaziland, southern Africa. He later attended graduate school in geography and environmental science and engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Read his article, "Environment After Nature".

To contact Jim Proctor for an interview, please click here.

2009 Breakthrough Generation Fellows

Teryn Norris
Associate Director (former)
Teryn Norris is one of the nation's leading young energy policy experts and political strategists. He has developed and advanced clean energy policy at the federal and state level, and his writing has appeared in the Harvard Law & Policy Review, San Francisco Chronicle, Baltimore Sun, Yale Environment 360, Huffington Post, and other publications. As a former Project Director at the Breakthrough Institute, he supported successful advocacy to achieve a $150 billion clean energy investment platform for Barack Obama's presidential campaign and co-authored the National Energy Education Act proposal, which led to President Obama's RE-ENERGYSE initiative. He is co-author of several policy white papers, and his work has been cited by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Newsweek, The Guardian, and other media outlets. He is founder of Breakthrough Generation, the young leaders initiative of the Breakthrough Institute, and he co-directed its fellowship program in 2008 and 2009 to train and empower a group of the nation's top intellectual college and graduate students. In the past, Teryn worked with Environment California to advance the California Global Warming Solutions Act and served on the Johns Hopkins President's Task Force on Climate Change to develop the university's climate and energy initiative. Teryn is currently studying economics and public policy at Stanford University, where he maintains an active role with the Breakthrough Institute. Follow Teryn on Twitter: @TerynNorris.

Jesse Jenkins
Associate Director
Jesse Jenkins is an energy and climate policy analyst, activist and blogger. Jesse joined the Breakthrough team in June 2008 to co-direct the Breakthrough Generation Summer Fellows Program. He currently directs Breakthrough's efforts to develop and advance new energy and climate solutions to power America's future, secure our energy freedom, and halt global warming. Before joining the Breakthrough Institute, Jesse spent two years as a Research and Policy Associate at the Renewable Northwest Project where he worked to advance the development of the Pacific Northwest's abundant renewable energy potential. In the past, Jesse has worked as a researcher and software developer with the Department of Physics at the University of Oregon, where he focused on alternative vehicles and fuels, and as a teacher's assistant in energy studies courses at the university. Jesse has a history of grassroots climate and energy activism and co-founded the Cascade Climate Network, the Northwest's largest network of youth working to tackle the climate crisis and build a sustainable, just, and prosperous future. An active blogger, Jesse is the founder and blogmaster of the site, WattHead - Energy News and Commentary. He currently writes at several sites throughout the blogosphere and has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, Baltimore Sun and Huffington Post. Jesse is a graduate of the Robert D. Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon (magna cum laude), where he completed an interdisciplinary course of study in computer science, philosophy, liberal arts, political science & energy studies.

Yael Borofsky graduated from Cornell University in spring 2009 with a degree in Human Development. During her time there, she worked as a sports writer and columnist for the Cornell Daily Sun and enjoyed opining about various sports controversies. She decided to pursue a career in the environmental field after spending a semester in Washington D.C. where she interned at Wildlife Alliance, a non-profit committed to ending the illegal wildlife trade. She also conducted research on the effectiveness of political documentary and its impact on the agenda setting of political elites. Her fascination with environmental communication and passion for writing led her to the Breakthrough Institute. Last semester, her course on expressions of nature in popular culture inspired her to blog about what it really means to "be green." When she is not convincing her housemates to recycle, she loves playing hockey, running, hiking, watching the Phillies win the World Series, and creating misshapen pottery on the wheel.

James Burgess graduated from Princeton University in 2009 with a B.A. in Mathematics and a certificate in Environmental Science. James is particularly interested in clean energy, sustainable development, and market-based approaches to both. As an Energy Grand Challenges fellow, he spent time studying the technical and economic feasibility of a large-scale algae biomethane program. James also has done research investigating the role of forests in the global carbon economy. After his summer at Breakthrough, James went on to do research with the Azueros Earth Project, studying sustainable reforestation in Panama before moving to Boston to work as an Associate Consultant with Bain & Company.

Leigh Ewbank graduated from Australia's RMIT University in 2008 with a B.A in Social Science -- Environment. Last year, Leigh completed an Honours dissertation investigating his longstanding interest in the framing of 'environment'. Conducting a case study analysis of a leading Australian environmental group, he modeled the ways in which the environment is framed and discussed the effects of those framings on policy prescriptions and political action. Leigh seeks to publish the findings of his dissertation later in 2009. As the first Australian Breakthrough Generation fellow, Leigh will provide an international perspective on investment-centered and innovation-based policy responses to our changing climate. He will also highlight valuable lessons from the Australian Government's approach to climate change policy. Specializing in framing analysis, Leigh seeks to gain further experience with political strategy and communications through the fellowship program. He's excited to work with the Breakthrough Institute team and learn from the next generation of progressive leaders.

William Oman graduated from McGill University in spring 2009 with a B.A. in economics. In the fall of 2009 he will start a Master's in Public Administration at the London School of Economics. He has dual French and American citizenship, was born and raised in Paris, and has also lived in San Francisco and Montreal. His areas of interest are economic development and international political economy. Among the issues he cares most deeply about are the identification of "institutions for development" in developing countries, the promotion of social entrepreneurship, and the role of government in driving innovation technological progress. At McGill, he worked as a research assistant for two economics professors on a project about the link between patent right systems and economic growth. He has interned at the U.S. Senate and has volunteered for Ashoka. As an inveterate traveler, he has a passion for Brazil and is keen to discover South-East Asia and the Middle East.

Johanna Peace graduated from Wellesley College in spring 2009, where she studies sociology with a particular interest in mass media theory. While at Wellesley, Johanna served as a reporter and editor at The Wellesley News for over three years and served as Editor-in-Chief. She has also worked as an intern at The Cape Cod Times and reported on a UN conference for Non-Governmental Organizations as a student journalist. Her writing has appeared in numerous print and online publications, including CNN.com. Growing up on Cape Cod, Mass., Johanna developed an interest in clean energy technology from an early age--her environmentalist father has been a longtime advocate of the Cape Wind renewable energy project. Johanna hopes to dedicate her journalistic skills to advancing progressive environmental policy. She also looks forward to exploring sunny California after many years braving the wintry East!

Daniel Spitzberg is a graduate student in sociology of science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on prizes and the transition in philanthropy and science funding towards commodification. At the Breakthrough Institute, his work focuses on 'Smart Deployment', accelerating the process of making clean energy cheap by using lessons from past cases of technological progress to guide policy. Danny also works as a freelance photojournalist and reporter on science breakthroughs, emphasizing the often-obscured value to society. He has done environmental and business work in India, with the United Nations, and at NYU's Environmental Health Clinic. On land, Danny bikes and runs. On water, he rows on the Charles River.

Devon Swezey, a native of Boulder, Colorado, is a recent graduate of Stanford University and holds a bachelor's degree in International Relations with a concentration in International Political Economy. Devon's major academic interests are in energy and environment issues, particularly as they relate to international economic development and poverty alleviation. As a member of the Roosevelt Institution Center on Environment and Energy at Stanford, Devon authored a policy paper that argued for greater federal investment in solar energy technologies. The paper, "An Apollo Project for Solar Energy", was subsequently published in the inaugural issue of The Roosevelt Review, a national student research journal. While at Stanford, Devon worked on a political psychology project examining American's perceptions of global warming, and interned for the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Washington, D.C. After graduating from Stanford, Devon was as a field organizer for Barack Obama's campaign in Colorado. Devon is currently Project Director at the Breakthrough Institute, where he works as a climate and energy policy analyst and directs the Breakthrough Generation fellowship program.

Juliana Williams is a youth organizer, writer and activist. As the Great Plains Organizer for the Sierra Student Coalition, she works with youth across the Midwest building solutions for a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable society. Over the last five years, Juliana has won clean energy campaigns at Whitman College, organized the Northwest Climate Justice Summit, co-founded the Cascade Climate Network, helped establish the Midwest Climate Network, and supported the development and creation of statewide youth climate networks in Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. Juliana is a frequent contributor to It's Getting Hot In Here, where she focuses her attention on movement strategy and communication that resonates with public values. She graduated from Whitman College in 2007 with a degree in geology and her organizing work has been recognized with the Thomas Cronin Award from Whitman College; Dr. Joseph Barbosa Award from the Sierra Club; the Adam Werbach Award from the Sierra Student Coalition; and as Finalist for the Brower Youth Award. Juliana will be pursuing a Master's of Public Policy at the University of Maryland in Fall 2009. In addition to organizing, she is an avid ultimate player, string bassist and obsessively nurtures her plants.

2008 Breakthrough Generation Fellows

Zach Arnold, a native of Swarthmore, PA, is a senior at Harvard College studying social theory and environmental policy. At Harvard, he helps run the Resource Efficiency Program, working with students and administrators to green the campus. Zach is also a former co-chair of the Harvard College Environmental Action Committee, where he helped lead a campus-wide campaign for emissions reductions and expanded climate research at Harvard. He is particularly interested in environmental law, landscape preservation, and the ecological dimensions of agriculture. Before coming to Harvard, he spent time working for the National Park Service and as a farmhand in Pennsylvania and Italy.

Helen Aki, is a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, where she is pursuing a self-designed major in Ecological Economics and a minor in the Energy and Resources Group. At Berkeley, she is involved with the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative (BERC), an interdisciplinary student organization that utilizes resources from the Bay Area clean tech world and the Lawrence Berkeley Labs to foster innovative energy solutions. Most recently, she worked as a policy consultant on a BERC Innovative Solutions team, contributing research to a white paper on regulatory reform in California's environmental permitting processes. Currently, she also facilitates a service-learning energy efficiency course with Building Sustainability at Cal (BS@C). Helen grew up in New Hampshire and completed her first two years of college in Massachusetts, at Bard College at Simon's Rock. After receiving her A.A., she moved out to California to work as a summer fellow at the Breakthrough Institute, where she helped advocate a climate policy agenda of government investment in clean energy R&D. Helen hopes to someday work for the Rocky Mountain Institute.

Rachel Barge, is currently the Program Director of the Business Council on Climate Change, a member-driven organization of over 100 SF Bay Area companies working to reduce emissions and share best practices. Rachel is excited to work with business leaders from companies like The Gap and Sun Microsystems to catalyze private sector action in tandem with regional and municipal carbon reduction targets. Before joining BC3, Rachel founded and led Campus InPower, a non-profit consulting firm specializing in innovative financial mechanisms to support university sustainability programs. She is a winner of the David Brower Youth Award, Morris K. Udall Fellowship, Friends of the Earth Green Hero Award, Wild Gift Fellowship, and World Wildlife Fund Environmental Leadership Award. Rachel recently returned from the COP15 Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark, where she served as a U.S. Youth Delegate. Rachel is a 2008 graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, with a B.S. in Conservation & Resource Studies and Forestry.

Genevieve Bennett, a 21 year-old New Jersey native, is primarily interested in the political economy of "sustainability" and environmental policy. She is intrigued by the implications for economic development and trade of a renewable energy-based economy, and by the possibilities for participation by different actors -- public, private, and civil society. Most of her professional experience has been within the field of human rights, particularly in research and capacity-building for organizations working for social change. She interned at the Center for the Study of Human Rights, and worked as a project assistant at the Research Center for Leadership in Action, assisting in social science research on leadership in social justice work. Most recently she has been working for the New York City Commission to the United Nations planning an international summit, "Climate Change and Public Health: the Urban Policy Connection." She expects to pursue a Master's degree next year at the London School of Economics in environmental policy. She recently received her B.A. from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University, concentrating in international political economy and political theory. At NYU, she was a co-founder of the interdisciplinary undergraduate Journal of Global Affairs. Genevieve currently lives in Washington Heights, New York. She plays for a soccer team in Brooklyn, and likes to search the city for cheap meals and occasionally escape to go rock climbing.

Joanna Calabrese, is a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park and a 2009 Udall Scholar. At Maryland, Joanna co-founded a student clean energy advocacy group that has led successful efforts to implement a clean energy student fee, elect local green leaders to political office, and influence the passage of state-wide energy policy. Furthermore, as a leader in Student Government, she led a campaign that stopped the destruction of ten aces of campus woodlands, co-authored a climate action plan for the university, and helped host the first Powershift Conference at College Park in 2007. She has conducted research on social psychology and sustainable behavior change and has interned for the House of Representatives' Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. In 2008, Joanna served as a summer fellow at the Breakthrough Institute where she worked with fellow Udall Scholar Rachel Barge to create and launch Campus InPower, a national training program that helps student organizers create funding mechanisms to pay for large-scale sustainability projects on their campuses. After graduation, Joanna hopes to work in the Washington DC area for a few years before applying to graduate school for public policy.

Alisha Fowler was a part of Breakthrough's inaugural summer fellowship in 2008. After the fellowship, she began working with the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) as an Educator and Social Media Maven. With ACE, Alisha delivers presentations about climate science and solutions to high school students and works to engage thousands of students online as she drives ACE's social networking and online video efforts. Before joining ACE, Alisha worked in Communications with National Wildlife Federation in Washington, DC, where she performed media work around a massive global warming campaign. Alisha also worked with the State PIRGs as a Campus Organizer in Massachusetts. A native of greater Philadelphia, PA, Alisha graduated with a B.A. in geoscience and environmental studies from Hamilton College in 2006. When not blogging at work, Alisha writes at Watthead and ItsGettingHotInHere.

Lindsey Franklin, graduated from Middlebury College in 2007 with a B.A. in Environmental Studies/Philosophy and a passion for climate change solutions. The summer and fall of 2007 found her in New Hampshire for the Presidential primary, working on three consecutive campaigns to highlight climate change as a key voting issue in the 2008 elections. She helped organize a five day walk for clean energy across New Hampshire in the beginning of August, then joined with the Step it Up campaign to coordinate hundreds of climate rallies nationwide in November. She spent the last months before the primary co-directing a campaign with the League of Conservation Voters to increase climate change visibility and coverage at candidate events, sparking and developing her interest in a socially just national climate policy that also spurs economic opportunity. Living now in San Francisco, she misses the snow of New England but loves the thriving culture of city life and the extraordinary amount of environmental and social justice action in the Bay Area. She also can't wait to explore everything mountainous within just a few hours of the city.

Chris Knight graduated from UC Davis in 2007 with a B.A. with highest honors in economics and a minor in sociology. After his 2008 summer fellowship with the Breakthrough Institute, Chris moved to Washington, D.C. where he interned with the New America Foundation and took a research assistant position with the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. With ACEEE economist Skip Laitner, Chris has co-authored multiple papers on the application of information technologies in energy efficiency policy. He has also written a paper on U.S. solar photovoltaic policy that will be published in 2010 as a chapter in a Paradigm Publishers book edited by UC Davis Sociologist Fred Block. Chris currently divides his time between consulting for ACEEE and working in social and personality psychology labs at UC Davis.

Ashley Lin a Minnesotan transplant to Berkeley, CA, is in her final year at the University of California, Berkeley. She will obtain her bachelor's degree in rhetoric in Spring 2010. Upon graduation, Ashley plans to take a year off to teach English in Korea, after which she hopes to continue on to law school. Ashley's interest lies in environmental law, evidenced by her experience studying and writing about issues related to the environment and energy. Ashley has interned for the Institute for Food Policy and Development and for Breakthrough Institute. She has published a paper on bio-fuels in the student-run science journal, the Triple Helix and was a contributing writer to the "Case Studies in American Innovation," published on the Breakthrough Institute's website. Ashley is fluent in mandarin Chinese and is proficient in French. She enjoys learning new languages and believes that being multilingual will be important for her future career, as environmental policies are increasingly made on an international scale.

Lindsay Meisel earned her degree in Rhetoric from UC Berkeley. From there, she put her academic skills to good use by spending a season as a farmhand in Bolinas, California. After mastering the arts of tractor driving and compost tea brewing, Lindsay left her bucolic paradise for the Breakthrough Institute, where she learned to avoid the fall narratives of traditional environmentalism. She is now a copywriter at Underground Advertising, where she applies the Breakthrough perspective to non-profit communications.

Adam Rodriques is a senior political science major at Yale University. At Yale, Adam's studies focus on terrorism and insurgency, with particular focuses on those two phenomena in Iran and Afghanistan. Adam has worked with many different organizations both within and outside of Yale. As a member of the Center on Security and Foreign Policy of Yale's chapter of the Roosevelt Institution, he worked on a paper examining the feasibility of an international fund to promote person-to-person peace efforts in the Middle East. At the Breakthrough Institute, Adam worked on a project to develop a psychologically-resonant national security strategy for progressives; at the International Center for Terrorism Studies, he monitored the fallout of the 2009 Iranian election and its impact on Iran's support of terrorists. After he graduates from Yale, Adam hopes to work in Afghanistan for a time before embarking on a career making policy towards Iran and Afghanistan.

Molly Tsongas recently joined Citizen Group, a San Francisco-based advertising agency that builds brands for organizations and companies that lead with their values. She oversees program management and develops social media activation strategies for Citizen's clients, including the World Wildlife Fund, United Nations, Rock the Vote, United Way, and the SF School Alliance. In her prior work, Molly has over 10 years of on-the-ground and online campaign experience, collaborating with the Citizen Engagement Laboratory, managing a field office for the Obama for President campaign, and recruiting local governments to purchase and market clean energy as the PA State Director for SmartPower. She studied climate politics and messaging as part of the Breakthrough Generation Fellowship and was trained by Al Gore to give Inconvenient Truth presentations. She later partnered with Free Range Studios to develop the Alliance for Climate Education's high school assembly presentation that engages youth nationwide around climate solutions through animation, live action and storytelling. Molly graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Environmental Studies.

Natasha Yurk has been active on the speech and debate circuit for the past ten years: first as a high school national champion, and now as a regular coach and judge. As a sophomore in college, she spent a year debating solutions to the energy crisis, and soon became fascinated with the breadth of options for innovation in the field. In the spring of 2009, Natasha graduated Summa cum Laude from Northwestern University with concentrations in Social Policy and Legal Studies. She is currently a Paralegal in the Treasury Department, where she aides in litigating labor arbitrations and cases before the MSPB and EEOC

Adam Zemel is finishing up his first year at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. He grew up in the D.C. area, where political and governmental awareness and discussion are a fact of life. A philosophy major, he is deeply interested in philosophy of language and theories of knowledge. Adam borrowed Break Through from a friend last November, and has been exploring the ecological and social ideas proposed in the book for the past few months. He is drawn to the Breakthrough Institute for the broad and big ideas about progressive politics, the recognition of a need to create a new social contract in America, and the acknowledgment of material security as a precondition for ecological concern and awareness. The understanding that humans organize their world and understand their individual places within it through narratives and stories, and the recognition that this is more profound a fact than liberals have appreciated up until now, is the reason he identifies with the Breakthrough Institute's mission.