Directors

The Center is under the overall supervision of the Dean of College of Natural Resources at UC Berkley. On a day-to-day basis, CERI is managed by three co-Directors, each a recognized researcher in their fields of specialization.

David Zilberman

David Zilberman

Director

DAVID ZILBERMAN is Professor and holds Robinson Chair at the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Berkeley. His areas of expertise include agricultural & environmental policy, water, marketing, risk management, the economics of innovation, natural resources, biotechnology, & biofuels. He is a Fellow of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) & the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. President Elect of AAEA (2018), David has won the the AAEA Publication of Enduring Quality Award (2005, 2010) among other awards. He has published 350 refereed articles in Science, American Economic Review, Econometrica, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, among others, and has edited 24 books. He is the Co-Founder of the International Water Resource Economics Consortium and the International Consortium of Applied Bioeconomy Research (ICABR). He established and is Co-Director of Berkeley’s Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program and the Masters of Development Practice.
You can read David’s blog here.

David Roland-Holst

David Roland-Holst

Managing Director

David Roland-Holst is a leading expert on economic and environmental policy modeling. He has extensive research experience in economics related to environment, development, agriculture, energy, and international trade, authoring six books and over 100 articles in professional journals and books. David has served in academic posts in Asia, Europe, and the United States and conducted research in over 40 countries, working with many public institutions including a variety of national governments, agencies, and numerous international organizations. David is on the faculties of Economics and Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Berkeley and he holds MS and PhD degrees in Economics from the same institution.

Jiang Lin

Jiang Lin

Director

Dr. Jiang Lin is the Nat Simons Presidential Chair in China Energy Policy at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, a Staff Scientist at its China Energy Group, and an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Lin’s research is focused on energy and climate policy, energy and emissions pathways, electricity market and planning, low-carbon economics transition and appliance efficiency issues in China. He is a co-Director of the Berkeley-Tsinghua Joint Research Center on Energy and Climate Change, a collaborative initiative between Berkeley Lab, the University of California-Berkeley, and Tsinghua University in China.

From 2007-2016, Dr. Lin was the Director of the Energy Foundation’s China Sustainable Energy Program (2007-2013) and Senior Vice President for Strategy and Analysis (2014-2016). Dr. Lin managed the growth of Energy Foundation China into one of the largest international NGOs devoted to promoting clean energy and climate solutions in China. Before joining the Energy Foundation, Dr. Lin was previously at LBNL from 1994-2007, conducting research in the Appliance Standards and China Energy Groups.

Dr. Lin has a PhD in Demography from the University of California-Berkeley, an MS in Population Studies and BS from the Department of Cybernetics Engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China.

Executive Board

To buttress the Center’s multifaceted agenda for research a policy dialog, distinguished experts are invited to join the Directors on CERI’s Executive Board, representing intellectual authority that spans the Center’s diverse initiatives. Amundson and Zilberman both have strong but complementary agricultural backgrounds, Roland-Holst and Lin are experts on climate change and energy, Ray is a leading social scientist on water and development, Shen is a prominent expert on supply chains, and Simmons is an expert on biotechnology. The Executive Board also includes five members of CNR, as well as individuals from engineering and LBNL.

Ronald Amundson

Ronald Amundson

Professor, UC Berkeley

Ron Amundson is an expert on pedology isotope biogeochemistry, impact of climate and life on earth processes, soils in biogeochemical cycles, human impacts on soils and ecosystems. To summarize his recent research, the Earth has entered the Anthropocene, a geologic epoch where humans are altering the face of the planet on a scale rivaled only by past meteor impacts or glacial cycles. These are therefore exciting and important times for earth scientists, a period requiring multidisciplinary research to understand the functioning of the present global system, a need to project the Earth’s future, and the skill to conveying this message effectively and clearly to the public.

Isha Ray

Isha Ray

Associate Professor, UC Berkeley

Professor Ray’s research interests are water, sanitation and development; water and gender; technology and development; and common property resources. Her research projects focus on access to water and sanitation for the rural and urban poor, and on the role of technology in improving livelihoods. She teaches courses on research methods in the social sciences, water and development, technology and development, and community-driven development. In addition to research and teaching, she has extensive past and ongoing experience in the non-profit sector on sustainable development, water, and gender equality.

Zuo-Jun (Max) Shen

Zuo-Jun (Max) Shen

Chancellor’s Professor, UC Berkeley

Max Shen obtained his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences from Northwestern University. He joined the department in July 2004. Before that he taught at the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at the University of Florida. His primary research interests are in the general area of integrated supply chain design and management, and practical mechanism design.

Blake Alex Simmons

Blake Alex Simmons

Deputy Director of Biological Sciences, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Adjunct Professor, UC Berkeley

Dr. Blake Simmons serves as the Chief Scientific and Technology Officer and Vice President of the Deconstruction Division at the US Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) in Emeryville. After earning his BS in chemical engineering from the University of Washington, Dr. Simmons continued his studies at Tulane University and received his doctorate in the same field. Dr. Simmons worked as part of the Senior Management team at Sandia National Laboratories for 15 years, most recently serving as the Senior Manager of Advanced Biomanufacturing as well as the Biomass Program Manager. He joined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in February of 2016 as the Division Director of Biological Systems and Engineering. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland in Australia. His expertise includes advanced biofuels, renewable chemicals, biomanufacturing, ionic liquids, abiotic-biotic interfaces, biomass pretreatment, enzyme engineering, biofuel cells, templated nanomaterials, microfluidics, desalination, and biomineralization.

CERI Staff

Ongoing operations of the Center rely on a dedicated expert staff of research and management professionals.

Thomas Eliot Brooks

Thomas Eliot Brooks

Director of Research Projects

Thomas Brooks brings to CERI’s research and outreach activities two decades of R&D experience in Switzerland, encompassing science, venture financing, and public interest work in biotech and IT.