Appendix B

Panelists’ Biographies

SARAH KAPNICK is responsible for guiding the programmatic focus of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) science and technology priorities. Previously, Dr. Kapnick served as a physical scientist and deputy division leader at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). Her work spanned seasonal climate prediction, mountain snowpack, extreme storms, water security, climate economics, and climate impacts. She was a recipient of the NOAA Albritton Outstanding Science Communicator Award, the American Geophysical Union Cryosphere Early Career Award, and the National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship award. Most recently, she served as a managing director at J.P. Morgan, functioning as senior climate scientist and sustainability strategist for Asset and Wealth Management, supporting sustainability and climate action efforts, and serving as an advisor on new business and investment opportunities and risks. Additionally, she co-founded a renewable energy forecasting startup and has held positions at a voluntary carbon registry and Goldman Sachs. Dr. Kapnick earned a PhD in atmospheric and oceanic sciences with a certificate in Leaders in Sustainability from UCLA and an AB in mathematics with a certificate in finance from Princeton University.

DAVID ALLEN is the author of seven books and more than 300 papers, primarily in the areas of air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, the engineering of sustainable systems, and the development of materials for environmental and engineering education. He served on a variety

of governmental advisory panels and, from 2012 to 2015, chaired the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board. In 2017, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (Section 3: Chemical Engineering) and in 2020 he received the ENI Energy Transitions Award in recognition of his work on methane emissions from oil and gas systems. Professor Allen earned his BS in chemical engineering from Cornell University in 1979 and his MS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1981 and 1983, respectively.

ERKAN ERDEM is an experienced economist with expertise in data analytics, program evaluation, policy analysis, econometrics, and financial modeling. He supports both government agencies and private clients with a variety of analyses and solutions, such as social impact analyses and climate risk assessments. Dr. Erdem supports leading law firms with economic analyses and has testimony experience in federal court. He has published in peer-reviewed journals and frequently presents at national conferences. He taught graduate-level econometrics at the University of Maryland as an adjunct professor for many years. Dr. Erdem earned a BA in economics and a BS in mathematics from Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey, and a PhD in economics from Penn State University.

ARUN MAJUMDAR is the Jay Precourt Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Energy Science and Engineering and a senior fellow and the former director of the Precourt Institute for Energy. He is also a faculty member in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (by courtesy) and in the Department of Photon Science at SLAC. He served in the Obama administration as the founding director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and as the acting under secretary of energy. He served as a science envoy for the US Department of State and

currently serves as the chair of the US Secretary of Energy Advisory Board. Dr. Majumdar was also vice president for energy at Google and advises numerous businesses in the energy innovation ecosystem. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the US National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

DEANNE BELL is an engineer, television host, and entrepreneur. Her television hosting credits include PBS, ESPN, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, DIY Network, and CNBC’s Make Me a Millionaire Inventor. She is the founder and CEO of Future Engineers, an education technology company that engages students in online contests and challenges. Future Engineers’ inaugural competition, developed with the ASME Foundation and NASA, produced historic achievements including the first student-designed 3D print in space, and her company was selected by NASA to host the Mars 2020 “Name the Rover” contest. Ms. Bell worked at Raytheon for 3 years as an opto-mechanical engineer, initially focused on packaging FLIR into a helicopter-mounted gimbal, involving redesign of the afocal telescope and packaging of the cryo-cooled imager and CCD camera. She then worked for other R&D programs at the company, including as head of the mechanical design and build of a synthetic aperture ladar (SALTI) optical test bench. She earned a BS in mechanical engineering at Washington University, St. Louis, and is the 2019 Young Alumni Award recipient for its McKelvey School of Engineering. She is also the featured interviewee in the fall 2019 issue of the NAE’s The Bridge.

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