Ph.D., California Institute of Technology
Research interests: climate change, technology and policies to mitigate climate change, energy technology innovation, CO2 capture and storage, renewable energy, improving the use of science in environmental decision-making

Professor Stephens’ research focuses primarily on the technologies and policies associated with confronting global climate change. She has particular interest in technologies that have potential to satisfy increasing demand for energy in both developed and developing countries without increasing CO2 emissions and the policies that could promote and support the deployment of these technologies. Technologies associated with capturing and storing CO2 have been one recent focus of her work. Other research interests include analyzing the strategic use of scientific and technical information in government-industry interactions during the development and implementation of environmental regulations. She maintains affiliations and research collaborations with the Energy Technology Innovation Program and the Science, Environment and Development Group at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, where she was previously a research fellow. She also maintains connections with the Environmental Policy Group at MIT where she was a visiting lecturer as a part of the MIT-USGS Science Impact Program. She earned her Ph.D. (2002) and M.S (1998) in Environmental Science and Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, and her B.A. (1997) in Environmental Science and Public Policy at Harvard.

Courses

EN 101 Environment, Society, and Technology

EN 103 The Sustainable University

EN 124 Global Warming: How to Respond? / First-Year Seminar

EN 203/IDCE 30226 Biogeochemical Cycles and Global Change

EN 206/IDCE 30205 Climate Change, Energy, and Development

Selected Publications

Stephens, J.C. 2005. “Coal Technologies for a CO₂-Constrained World: Current Challenges of Advancing These Technologies” OGEL (Oil, Gas, Energy Law Intelligence) Vol. 3, Issue 3 October 2005.

Stephens, J.C. & B. van der Zwaan. 2005. The Case for Carbon Capture and Storage. In Issues in Science and Technology .; Fall, 2005. p. 69-76

E.A. Parson and J.C. Stephens. Technological Uncertainty and Strategic Behavior in Environmental Regulation. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Forthcoming.

Stephens, J.C. & B. van der Zwaan. 2005 CO 2 Capture and Storage (CCS): Exploring the Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment Continuum" BCSIA Discussion Paper 2005-08, Energy Technology Innovation Project, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2005.

Stephens, J.C. 2005. Coupling CO 2 Capture and Storage with Coal Gasification: Defining “Sequestration-Ready” IGCC. Proceedings of the 4 th Annual Conference on Carbon Capture and Sequestration. May 2-5, 2005. Alexandria, Virginia.

Stephens, J.C. & D. Keith. 2005. Health, Safety and Environmental Risks of CO 2 Storage. Module 8 in Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Training Manual on CO 2 Capture and Geological Storage.

Stephens, J.C . & D. Keith. 2005. Regulatory and Legal Aspects of Carbon Storage. Module 10, in Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Training Manual on CO 2 Capture and Geological Storage.

Stephens, J.C. and J.G. Hering. 2004. Factors Affecting the Dissolution Kinetics of Volcanic Ash Soils: Dependencies on CO 2 , pH and organic acids. Applied Geochemistry . Vol. 19, No. 8, p. 1217-1232

Stephens, J.C . and J.G. Hering. 2002. Comparative Characterization of Volcanic Ash Soils Exposed to Decade-Long Elevated Carbon Dioxide Concentrations at Mammoth Mountain, California. Chemical Geology. Vol. 186 No. 3-4, p. 301-313.

Stephens, J.C. 1997-98. Factors limiting the acceptance and use of innovative environmental technologies: A case study of the Solar Aquatics System TM (SAS) technology for wastewater treatment. Journal of Environmental Systems . Vol. 26, No. 2, p. 163-170