Leading Energy
Dr. Jared L. Cohon
Carnegie Mellon University has named President Emeritus and University Professor Jared L. Cohon as director of the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation.
He will assume the post on July 1 from current Director M. Granger Morgan, Lord Professor and head of the university's Department of Engineering and Public Policy. Andrew Gellman, Lord Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been co-director of the Scott Institute since its founding; Gellman will continue to serve in that role.
"There are few more pressing problems facing the world than the cluster of scientific and policy problems related to energy," said Carnegie Mellon President Subra Suresh. "We are all delighted that Jerry Cohon has taken on this challenge. As an engineer, civic leader, administrator and intellectual force, Jerry is superbly suited to lead Carnegie Mellon's multidisciplinary efforts at the Scott Institute."
A distinguished environmental engineer, Cohon has been a thought leader for energy-related research and policy issues throughout his career. He chaired a National Academy of Sciences panel that found the harm inflicted on public health by the pollution generated by burning coal or gasoline approaches $120 billion.
Cohon also is an expert on environmental and water resource systems analysis, and has worked on water resource problems in the United States, South America and Asia.
The Scott Institute was established in 2012 with a founding gift from CMU alumni Sherman Scott (E'66), president and founder of Delmar Systems, and his wife, university trustee Joyce Bowie Scott (A'65). Additional support for research in energy was provided with a generous grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation of Pittsburgh in 2013.
The institute, which leverages the expertise of more than 100 faculty and researchers across CMU's seven schools and colleges, is focused on improving energy efficiency, expanding the mix of energy sources in a clean, reliable, affordable and sustainable way and creating innovations in energy technologies, regulations and policies.
It has already participated in policy analysis on energy-related projects, including re-engineering the U.S. electricity grid, creating more efficient building designs and operations and researching shale gas in Western Pennsylvania. The institute recently announced a second round of seed grants to stimulate new research initiatives and connections across the campus.
"Carnegie Mellon, through the faculty and students of the Scott Institute, has the scientific, engineering, economic, and policy perspectives to point the way to a sustainable energy future," Cohon said. "I am grateful for the opportunity to lead this extraordinary group of researchers in discoveries about the most important and complex challenge facing our world, and to collaborating with others locally, nationally, and globally on these issues."
Related Links: Read press release | Scott Institute for Energy Innovation | Scott Institute on YouTube | Carnegie Mellon University and the Global Energy Future