Carnegie Mellon University
February 18, 2014

Press Release: Carnegie Mellon Names Jared Cohon as New Director of Scott Institute

CMU President Emeritus Will Oversee Mission To Improve Energy Efficiency, Develop New Sources

Contact: Ken Walters / 412-268-1151 / walters1@andrew.cmu.edu

Jared CohonPITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University has named President Emeritus and University Professor Jared L. Cohon the 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. Requested by Congress, the report quantified many of the external effects and costs of energy, and results were reported to the White House. Currently on sabbatical leave, Cohon is also 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. Last week, the institute 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."

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A distinguished environmental engineer, Jared L. Cohon (pictured above) has been a thought leader for energy-related research and policy issues throughout his career.