Carnegie Mellon University

Mike Blackhurst

Mike Blackhurst

Executive Director, Open Energy Outlook Initiative

Bio

Dr. Mike Blackhurst is the Executive Director of the Open Energy Outlook (OEO) initiative, a collaborative initiative that aims to examine U.S. energy futures to inform energy and climate policy efforts by applying the gold standards of policy-focused academic modeling, maximizing transparency, and building a networked community.

Mike was previously the Co-Director of the Urban and Regional Analysis Program at the Center for Social and Urban Research and the Leonard Peters Faculty Fellow in Sustainability at the University of Pittsburgh. He received a doctorate in Engineering and Public Policy/Civil and Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, an MS in Environmental and Water Resources at the University of Texas at Austin, and a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. 

Jason O'Connor

Jason O'Connor

Senior Research Scientist

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Bio

Jason O'Connor is a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy. Since joining Carnegie Mellon full-time, he has worked on the Energy Storage demonstration project of the National Network for Critical Technology Assessment program with Professor Kate Whitefoot. His research interests lie at the intersection of the economics of innovation and industrial organization. Prior to his current position, he was a staff Economist at the Federal Trade Commission and a Research Scientist at the Medicaid Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh. 

Natalie Ross

Natalie Ross

Project Manager, Critical Technology Strategy Initiative

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Bio

Natalie Ross is a project manager working on the Critical Technology Strategy Initiative. She is currently managing the CTSI's quality and communications review and report production process. Prior to the CTSI, Natalie was a Program Manager at Google Pittsburgh, working within the Cloud organization where she managed the entire life cycle of programs that involved turning up new datacenter capacity. She began her career at Google headquarters in the Bay Area as an Administrative Business Partner. Natalie received her B.A. in International Relations and Russian from Bucknell University.