My PhD research attempts to quantify and, where possible, reduce the uncertainties inherent in the life cycle assessment (LCA) of transportation fuels, and to explore the implications of these uncertainties on policy design.

The LCA of biofuels in particular faces a number interesting analytical challenges due to uncertainties in both data and model structure. On the data side, a key factor is the high temporal and spatial variability of emissions of nitrous oxide from soils--the single greatest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions from bioenergy crops. The aggregation and averaging of widely used agriculural data also masks variability and uncertainty. In terms of model structure, the greatest challenge is quantifying, or at least bounding, the climate effects of land-use conversion due to the expanded production of energy crops.

New fuel regulations are sprouting up world wide that plan to measure and regulate the climate effects of transportation fuels using a life cycle approach. A better understanding of the uncertainties--and therefore the limits in our abilities to distinguish meaningfully between alternatives--will provide a basis for improved policy design.

My master's research involved the environmental consequences (both positive and negative) of biofuels production and utilization. I'm interested in improved biofuel production pathways, including the use of wastes and residues as feedstocks and primary energy sources, and in the social and environmental affects of land use conversion from expanded biofuel production.

Other interests include climate change mitigation and energy systems modeling.

Working with my ERG colleague Andy Jones to

1. develop and stochastic model of the CO2 emissions from market-mediated land use change resulting from increased biofuels production. A working paper will be released in May, 2008, as part of UC Berkeley's work with the CA Air Resources Board on the implementation of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard.


2. re-analyze USDA agricultural survey data to compute the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of corn production using a "bottom-up" approach that treats each farm as a coherent system. We will also examine the differential effects on GHG emissions of different cropping and irrigation practices.

With Steffen Mueller of the University of Illinois at Chicago's Energy Resources Center, I've recently completed a paper on the effects of CO2 regulations on the cost of producing ethanol, based on a techno-economic model of ethanol production developed with colleagues at Life Cycle Associates.

MS (2006), Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley
MS (1982), Computer Science, Yale University
BS (1981), Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, SUNY Albany

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow (2006-2009)

I was a software engineer in my first career, working on Wall Street in the eighties, in Silicon Valley in the early nineties, and in the non-profit sector in the late nineties through about 2003. I spent 8 months in Thailand in 2003-2004 working with Palang Thai to promote the use of renewable energy in Thailand, with a focus on biogas production from manure and food processing waste. I started at ERG in 2004, focusing on sustainable uses of bioenergy.