Dr. Kathleen Araújo

Dr. Kathleen Araújo, Director and Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems, Innovation, and Policy, kathleenaraujo@boisestate.edu

Dr. Kathleen Araújo specializes in international planning and policy associated with managing change in energy systems. This includes innovation in low carbon management as well as the resilience of critical infrastructure systems amidst disruption from conditions, such as geopolitical flux, extreme weather or cyber complexities.

Dr. Araújo’s research contributes to the advancing field of energy transitions. She analyzes regional revitalization strategies, for example, in traditional fossil fuel-based economies that are diversifying, including with opportunities for critical minerals development. She has also evaluated the global sustainability tradeoffs of biofuels, the role of skills and infrastructure repurposing in energy industry clusters, and international regulation of emergent technology. Her book, Low Carbon Energy Transitions: Turning Points in National Policy and Innovation, examines the energy histories of four, prime mover countries, following the 1973 oil crisis. Her edited volume, the Routledge Handbook of Energy Transitions (awarded Best Edited Volume in Energy in 2023 by the American Energy Society), reviews the state of current knowledge about energy system change.

In 2023, Dr. Araújo was named a Presidential Innovator. She is the lead for one of twelve, national consortia that was established with U.S. Department of Energy funding to provide recommendations on better practices for consent-based siting. Additionally, she is a lead for Boise State on a $24 million NSF award to evaluate energy-water system resilience. Dr. Araújo has presented or led discussions in forums with the Arctic Circle Assembly and Fukushima Medical University. Dr. Araújo also consults for communities, industry and inter-governmental organizations.

For information about Dr. Araújo’s work in energy education, see Innovative partnership powers student education in ’21st Century Opportunities and Challenges in Energy’. To hear a discussion by Dr. Araújo and Mr. David Shropshire on energy resilience, click Resilience.

Ms. Cassandra Koerner

Ms. Cassandra Koerner, Assistant Director of Research, Communications & Development, cassiekoerner@boisestate.edu

Ms. Cassandra Koerner joined the EPI team in March 2020 as the Assistant Director of Research, Communications, and Development. She brings years of experience working in the public sector as a regulator, researcher, technical writer, and budget manager as well as a private contractor. Her education and experience provide a scientific and technical framework on which to build policy investigations. She has published articles and book chapters regarding small modular nuclear reactors, nuclear perceptions, energy efficiency, renewable energy in the west, carbon sequestration, and international carbon markets, as well as others on general energy and environmental issues. Koerner holds a Master of Public Administration from Boise State University (2012) and a Master of Arts in political science and environmental policy from Colorado State University (2016). She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in natural resource conservation from the University of Montana (2005).

Dr. Stephanie Lenhart

Dr. Stephanie Lenhart, Senior Research Associate and Associate Research Professor, stephanielenhart@boisestate.edu
Stephanie Lenhart is a Senior Research Associate with the Energy Policy Institute and is faculty in the School of Public Service at Boise State University. She studies energy system governance, environmental policy implementation, and inter-organizational collaboration. Recent work has focused on decision-making by public utilities and electric cooperatives and inter-organizational collaboration in regional transmission organizations.

Jake Placido

Jake Placido, Business Operations Manager, jakeplacido@boisestate.edu
Jake Placido is the Energy Policy Institute’s Business Operations Manager. After completing his undergraduate studies at Boise State, he served in the United States military. Following his service, he worked in the financial technology sector and completed a Professional MBA with Boise State.