Image: Emily Carter becomes PPPL’s Senior Strategic Advisor in Sustainability Sciences.
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Photo credit: David Kelly Crow
Emily A. Carter, former dean of Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science and most recently Executive Vice President and Provost at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has been named Senior Strategic Advisor for Sustainability Science in The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) of the Department of Energy (DOE) announced Steve Cowley, PPPL director.
The founding director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University, Carter, who will also be Gerhard R. Andlinger ’52 Professor of Energy and Environment and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, has won worldwide recognition for fundamental To use research contributions as well as for their vision of science and politics to find sustainable solutions to societal problems, including energy and environmental problems.
“Emily is an international leader in sustainability science from carbon to renewable energy to fusion. I am delighted that she has agreed to contribute to these important priorities for US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, ”said Steve Cowley, director of PPPL.
“I am very excited to return to Princeton and join PPPL in this crucial role,” said Carter. “This position fits perfectly and corresponds exactly to my interests and my mission. PPPL is undoubtedly a national treasure trove of fusion and energy expertise, and I look forward to working with Steve Cowley and all of the great researchers in the lab to create a more sustainable planet. “
Carter was a faculty member at UCLA for 16 years before joining Princeton faculty in 2004. She has received many honors for her work, including elections to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Mechanical Engineering. She has served on many advisory bodies, including the Boards on Chemical Sciences and Technology and Energy and Environmental Systems of the National Research Council, advisory bodies to the federal government. She has also served on the advisory board of another national laboratory, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, for the past five years, and previously on the Scientific Policy Committee of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
Her work in theoretical chemistry and applied mathematics has created a bridge between basic science and practical application. Her research spanned the fields of chemistry, physics, applied mathematics and engineering and included developing quantum mechanical tools to understand and analyze the behavior of large numbers of atoms and electrons in materials. This influential work has led Carter’s research into the discovery and design of materials for generating clean electricity from sunlight and fuel cells in recent years; catalytic production of fuels and chemicals from carbon dioxide, water, air and excess renewable energy; and investigation of light metal alloys for fuel efficient vehicles and fusion reactor walls. A sought-after speaker on the topic of sustainable energy, she is the author of more than 400 publications and has given more than 500 invited and plenary lectures worldwide.
Carter became Executive Vice Chancellor and Prostess at UCLA in 2019. She previously worked in Princeton, most recently as Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor of Energy and the Environment and Dean of the Engineering School from 2016 to 2019. Before her tenure as Dean, she was the founding director of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment in Princeton. In this role, Carter curated the development of its physical infrastructure, its interdisciplinary ecosystem, and its intellectual community. As dean of engineering, she headed 10 academic units with six faculties and four interdisciplinary centers and institutes as well as 12 undergraduate certificate programs.
She served in UCLA’s Department of Chemistry from 1988 to 2004 and the Materials Science and Engineering Department from 2002 to 2004, and helped establish the UCLA Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics and the California NanoSystems Institute.
Carter has received several notable awards, including the 2017 Irving Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics from the American Physical Society and the American Chemical Society’s 2018 Award in Theoretical Chemistry. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology, both in chemistry.
PPPL, located on Princeton University’s Forrestal campus in Plainsboro, NJ, is dedicated to discovering new insights into the physics of plasmas – ultra-hot, charged gases – and developing practical solutions for generating fusion energy. The laboratory is administered by the University for the US Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which is the United States’ single largest contributor to basic research in the physical sciences and works to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. More information is available at energy.gov/science.
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