Stepping Into The Sun: A Mission To Bring Solar Energy To Communities Of Color

Deborah Sunter is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Tufts University. While at the University of California, Berkeley, she was a BIDS Data Science Fellow and a postdoctoral fellow in the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory. Her research interests included data science for sustainability, national energy planning, city-integrated renewable energy systems, environmental justice, and clean technology innovation. While working on her BS in Mechan­i­cal and Aero­space Engi­neer­ing at Cor­nell University, she developed a nanosatel­lite mis­sion that was suc­cess­fully launched into orbit. Although fas­ci­nated by aero­space applica­tions, the time-​critical issue of global warm­ing shifted her focus in grad­u­ate school to explore renew­able energy. Spe­cial­iz­ing in com­pu­ta­tional mod­el­ing of thermo-​physics in mul­ti­phase systems, she devel­oped a novel solar absorber tube and received her PhD in Mechan­i­cal Engi­neer­ing at the Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia, Berke­ley. The need for better global envi­ron­men­tal solu­tions led her to do research abroad in both Japan and China. After receiving her doctorate, she advanced her understanding of energy policy as an AAAS Science and Tech­nol­ogy Pol­icy Fel­low at the U.S. Depart­ment of Energy.