Jared Starr Receives Bridge-Building Fellowship from the National University Energy Institute Leadership Collaborative
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Jared Starr, Ph.D., the executive director of The Energy Transition Institute @ UMass Amherst, has been selected by the University Energy Institute Leadership Collaborative (UEILC) as one of six researchers nationwide to receive its prestigious Bridge-Building Fellowship. The Bridge-Builder Fellows Program is designed to empower professional staff at UEILC-affiliated energy institutes to lead projects that benefit both their home institutions and the broader collaborative. Starr will use his fellowship to develop a podcast that communicates the research of UEILC-associated energy institutes throughout the U.S.
As the UEILC announcement explained the fellowship’s purpose, “By tapping into the expertise of existing energy-institute leaders, the program aims to strengthen the national network of energy institutes, ensuring they are well-positioned to address complex policy, research, and educational challenges. Each fellow receives a one-year appointment, which may be renewed for a second year based on performance.”
To ensure that fellows have the capacity to drive national impact, the program provides each fellow with salary relief to offset time dedicated to UEILC initiatives and travel funds to attend the annual UEILC summit and other in-person meetings. As the announcement said, “Our six new fellows have proposed a robust slate of activities aimed at expanding the reach and sustainability of the UEILC.”
Starr is a sustainability scientist whose research analyzes how economic inequality – particularly at the very top of the income-distribution system – shapes the dispersal of environmental benefits and problems throughout the global economy. His work on emissions inequality has been extensively covered in a variety of national and international media outlets, including The Washington Post, Fortune, CNN, Salon, The Guardian, Forbes, The Hill, PBS Newshour, The Associated Press, Anthropocene Magazine, MSNBC, and others.
As Starr explained the plan for his fellowship, “As part of my fellowship work, I will be developing a UEILC podcast to communicate the work of university energy institutes to the public and scientific community. This is going to be an awesome opportunity to tell compelling stories about energy research happening across the country. It will also help raise UMass's profile, since I'll be at the center of this work. In addition, my fellowship will include expanding the UEILC network and developing webinars for academic audiences.”
According to Starr, “I see a critical need for our energy institutes to build community, share knowledge, market the UEILC to new members or funders, and communicate the value of our work to the broader public. Podcasts are a popular and effective medium that could accomplish these goals by telling compelling stories about why academic energy research matters. I am really excited to use this fellowship to develop a UEILC podcast.”
Sarr added that “Each episode would tackle a facet of energy (such as how do we make energy affordable, what role might nuclear play in a decarbonized economy, how does climate change impact the grid, where should we site battery storage, etc.) and would feature relevant researchers from different UEILC member institutes.”
Starr earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Environmental Conservation from UMass Amherst and a B.A. in Political Science from George Washington University.
The mission of the Energy Transition Institute (ETI), under Starr’s directorship, is to enable a fast and fair transition to a decarbonized energy system in the United States. ETI does stakeholder-engaged interdisciplinary research at UMass Amherst, with a dual focus on technology systems and human systems. Distinguished Professor Erin Baker from the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department serves as the ETI Faculty Director and Professor Michael Ash from Economics and Public Policy serves as Co-Director.