EPI Team
Dr. Kathleen Araújo
Dr. Kathleen Araújo, Director and Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems, Innovation, and Policy, kathleenaraujo@boisestate.edu
Dr. Kathleen Araújo specializes in strategic planning and policy associated with change in energy systems. This includes the resilience of critical energy infrastructure in extreme weather events, and the social and technical aspects of low carbon management amidst geopolitical flux. Dr. Araújo’s research contributes to the advancing field of energy transitions. Her book, Low Carbon Energy Transitions: Turning Points in National Policy and Innovation examines the social and technical history of country-level change with Icelandic geothermal energy, French nuclear power, Danish wind power and Brazilian biofuels following the 1973 oil crisis. Her edited volume, the Routledge Handbook of Energy Transitions, distills the state of current knowledge on energy system change. Closely related is Dr. Araújo’s work on sustainability, community-informed decision-making, and science-technology policy. She has evaluated the global sustainability tradeoffs of biofuels, international regulation of cyber-nuclear risk and post-Fukushima nuclear safety, plus the role of skills and infrastructure repurposing in energy industry clusters. In recent work, Dr. Araújo has been examining regional revitalization strategies in traditional fossil fuel-based economies that are diversifying and critical minerals security.
In 2023, Dr. Araújo was named a Presidential Innovator. She is the lead for one of twelve consortia that was established with funding by the U.S. Department of Energy to improve practices for consent-based siting, and is a lead for Boise State on a $24 million NSF award to evaluate energy-water system resilience. Dr. Araújo is Boise State’s program director for an on-line certificate on nuclear security that is offered by a group of partnering universities. She 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 her 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.
Student Researchers
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Anna Kouts
Masters of Public Administration
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Jeff Morgan
PhD Candidate in Public Policy
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Lacey Clark
Masters of Public Administration
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Ollie Newman
Masters of Political Science
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Joe Hudson
Masters of Business Administration
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Austen Apperson
Masters of Business Administration
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Rory Lepore
Bachelors of Environmental Studies
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Nathan Musgrove