David John Jhirad, Ph. D.
Professor and Director
Energy, Resources and Environment Program
John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies

Dr. David John Jhirad is a Professor and the Director of the Energy, Resources and Environment (ERE) Program at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. He holds the HRH Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Professorship in Environmental Policy.

Dr. Jhirad is a global leader in the field of energy and power technology innovation, infrastructure investment, science and policy, focusing on resilient and sustainable solutions to climate stability, energy security and poverty reduction. He was the Vice President of Research and Evaluation and the Special Adviser on Energy and Climate Change at the Rockefeller
Foundation. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Jhirad served as Vice President for Science and Research at the World Resources Institute, a highly regarded environmental think tank based in Washington, D.C. Dr. David Jhirad serves on the Board of the National Council for Science and the Environment and the Earth Council Alliance. He is a member of the Cosmos Club of Washington, DC and the Harvard Clubs of New York City and Washington, DC.

During the Clinton Administration, Dr. Jhirad was the deputy assistant secretary for International Energy Policy, Trade and Investment, and the senior adviser to the Secretary of Energy. He led U.S. bilateral relationships with all major energy producing and consuming nations, and represented the United States as vice chairman of the Governing Board of the
International Energy Agency in Paris and as the lead delegate to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Energy Working Group. As senior energy and science adviser to USAID, he designed and implemented bilateral programs in India, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America on energy science and technology innovation, sustainable infrastructure investment, and poverty reduction.

Dr. Jhirad has been a Professor and/or Senior Scientist at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, Brookhaven National Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Boston University and the University of Massachusetts. Co-author of three books, he has also written more than 100 technical publications on the multifaceted nature of global energy, climate and economic development challenges.

His current research involves: applying foresight to decision-making; crafting solutions for universal global electrification and poverty eradication; engaging the Sovereign Wealth Funds and the multilateral development banks in new public-private partnerships to invest in sustainable and resilient energy infrastructure and smart cities; examining the impact of climate change on the energy-water-food security nexus; and elucidating the dynamics of complex non-linear systems.

Dr. Jhirad holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Harvard University, where he won the Bowdoin Prize for excellence in research and a B.A. and M.A. in Theoretical Physics from Cambridge University.