Jennie Stephens’ Current Research Projects
My Research In Context
The primary goal of all of my work, including my research, my teaching and my community engagement, is to contribute to and accelerate a societal transition toward sustainability. My research has developed within the emerging field of sustainability science, an evolving discipline that embraces and promotes use-inspired interdisciplinary research that addresses the increasingly urgent societal human-environment challenges by integrating and synthesizing social and physical sciences and by internalizing the link between knowledge and action. The focus of much of my work has been on climate change mitigation, energy technology innovation, and energy policy to facilitate an energy technology transition to a low or no-carbon emitting energy system.
Two major themes:
I. Carbon Management: Energy Technology Innovation and Energy Policy for Climate Change Mitigation
II. Sustainability Education and the Role of Higher Education as a Change Agent for a Sustainable Transition
Current Projects
Diffusion of Emerging Energy Technologies within a State Context
This cross-disciplinary research examines the interconnected, state-level, socio-political influences on diffusion and deployment of emerging energy technologies with potential to contribute to an energy system transformation for climate change mitigation and energy security. Using a case study approach this research focuses on two very different emerging energy technologies, wind power and carbon capture and storage (CCS); both have large potential to change the energy technology landscape and to dramatically reduce CO2 emissions. The project uses a retrospective analysis of the diffusion history of wind power technology to ground identification and analysis of the interplay of factors that will influence future diffusion of wind and CCS. By examining these two technologies in six geographically and politically diverse states, the project will identify and evaluate relationships between the socio-political dimension of state energy technology systems and stakeholder perceptions of risks and benefits of the technologies. The integrated analysis characterizes the interplay of socio-political factors influencing technology diffusion to provide diverse and valuable insights about potential state-level barriers and opportunities for these and other emerging energy technologies.
Collaborators: Elizabeth Wilson, University of Minnesota & Tarla Rai Peterson, University of Texas
Environmentalists' Perspectives on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Technology
As the idea of carbon capture and storage (CCS) has rapidly evolved from a relatively obscure concept to an increasingly recognized potential climate change mitigation approach that could contribute to stabilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, environmental advocacy groups have been engaged in a limited, but growing, capacity in public discussions related to carbon storage. Given the important role that environmental advocacy groups play in shaping public perceptions of different potential approaches to solving environmental problems and given the recognition that public perception of CCS will influence its advancement, understanding environmentalists' perspectives on CCS is critical. With the unprecedented complexity and scale of social and technical change required to mitigate climate change, the environmental community is not united in its advocacy for how society should respond. Divisions among environmental groups with regard to whether and to what degree society should invest in developing CCS technology have emerged, particularly among groups with a focus on different scales, local, regional, national, and international, are evident when considering how environmentalists view the advancement of CCS technology.
Collaborator: Preeti Verma, World Resources Institute
Geochemical Approaches to Carbon Management
Drawing from my geochemistry background, I am interested in understanding the technical feasibility and technical limitations of geochemical approaches to carbon management, as well as the societal feasibility and societal limitations. While carbon storage discussions and research have focused primarily on physical trapping of CO2 in underground geologic formations or on the biological uptake of CO2, less attention has been given to approaches that rely primarily on geochemical reactions that could enhance transformation of CO2 gas into dissolved or solid phase carbon by liberating cations to neutralize carbonic acid. Despite major limitations, geochemical approaches have unique potential to contribute to CO2 reductions in ways that neither physical nor biological carbon storage can by allowing for the direct removal of CO2 from the atmosphere with minimal requirements for integrating with existing infrastructure.
Collaborator: David Keith, University of Calgary
Analysis of U.S. Federal Funding for Fossil-fuel Based Energy Technology Development
In collaboration with researchers from Harvard’s Energy Technology Innovation Project, I am working on a project involving analysis and assessment of trends in government funding for innovation of clean coal technologies, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and hydrogen technology. We are interested in the distribution overtime of funding for research, development, and demonstration projects. Despite the widely acknowledged massive scale and increasing urgency of energy related environmental, economic, and security challenges currently facing society, the amount of federal money spent on energy technology innovation in the United States is low when compared to the amount of federal money spent on other basic societal needs including health, transportation, etc. Given the discrepancy between the widely acknowledged and ever-increasing need for energy technology advances and the relatively stagnant level of federal funding made available for energy technology development, the allocation of limited resources for federal investments in the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of energy technologies has critical influence. Despite the relatively small scale of federal investment in energy technology innovation, the government has been spending substantial amounts of money on fossil fuel technology innovation.
This project analyzes the federal funding levels and trends for energy technology innovation related to advanced fossil-fuel energy technology (not renewable energy) from 1995-present with a focus on three (distinct but overlapping) categories of technology: (1) clean coal technologies (CCT), (2) hydrogen and clean fuels (H&CF) and (3) carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).
Collaborators: Aleks Kalinowski and Ananth Chikkatur, Harvard University
First-Year Student Engagement in Sustainability Education: Lessons from Project Based Courses on Climate and Energy
This research aims to improve understanding of opportunities and challenges associated with engaging first-year students in sustainability education. Designing effective first-year experiences is a crucial part of sustainability in higher education, but the special challenges and opportunities of course design and engagement strategies for first-year students is not a particular focus in the current literature. First-year sustainability education provides a key opportunity for leverage that deserves more specific attention. This work develops an empirically and conceptually robust framework for effective design of first-year courses with a focus on the value of project-based learning. The goal of this research is to provide guidelines for instructors throughout the world who are developing new courses that are designed to engage first-year university students in grappling with the challenges of sustainability in their own communities. Given the critical influence of first-year experiences on college students’ educational direction, effective engagement during the first year has particular value.
Collaborator: Amanda Graham, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Institutions of Higher Education as Agents for Change in Advancing Sustainability in Different Cultures and Contexts
This project involves developing an exploratory framework for identifying critical issues related to the opportunities and challenges for higher education as a change agent in advancing sustainability in different cultures and contexts. The goal of presenting this framework is to facilitate consideration and development of institutions of higher education as agents for change in advancing a transition toward sustainability throughout the world.
Collaborators: Participants of Going Global International Workshop on Sustainability in Higher Education.
Maria Eugenia Hernandez (Universidad Tecnològica Nacional, Regional Tucumàn, Argentina), Roland Scholz (Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich), and Mikael Roman (Stockholm Environment Institute)
Regional Centers for Environmental Information Dissemination to Support Social Change for Environmental Improvement
This project involves the development of community-based regional center to disseminate information for environmental improvement in urban communities like Worcester, Massachusetts. Integrated educational, research, and outreach activities as well as energy technology implementation and demonstration at such a Center will have broad application to individuals, homeowners, developers, builders, college campuses, and urban communities around the country and throughout the world, as the environmental and energy challenges and opportunities of the Worcester area are similar to those of many other urban communities. The goal of these Centers is to provide a unique action-oriented institutional framework to facilitate community-scale social change to promote sustainable energy practices in urban communities.
Collaborators: Mark Tigan, Community Development and Planning, Clark University,
Marìa Eugenia Hernàndez, Universidad
Tecnològica Nacional, Regional Tucumàn, Argentina
Technological Uncertainty and Strategic Behavior in Environmental Regulation
This project is exploring strategic interactions between government and industry with regard to technical feasibility during development of environmental regulations. Established industries have an inherent resistance to changing their processes and products, so when faced with potential regulated changes to reduce environmental impacts, resistance is strong and often based upon technical arguments drawn from scientific or technical uncertainty. Case studies include the development of regulations for automobile emissions, dioxin reduction in the pulp and paper industry, and methyl bromide.
Collaborator: Ted Parson, University of Michigan