Directory
The Center draws on existing members of the faculty of the School of International and Public Affairs and other schools at Columbia, as well as adjunct
faculty from the public and private sectors with expertise in the energy and marine transportation industries.
Students benefit also from frequent participation by guest faculty who are leaders in energy and marine transportation business and policymaking.
Faculty | Researchers & Staff
Click on the faculty member's name to view their biography.
Albert Bressand, PhD | Executive Director, CEMTP; Director, Marine Transportation Program; Professor
in the Practice of International and Public Affairs
David Nissen, PhD | Adjunct Professor, Concentration Track Advisor and founder and former director of the IEMP Program, Economics of Energy: International Energy Project Formation and Finance
Stephen A. Hammer, PhD | Director, Urban Energy Program
Louise Burke | Adjunct Professor (SIPA), Petroleum Markets and Trading
Jonathan Chanis | Adjunct Associate Professor
AJ Goulding | Adjunct Assistant Professor, Electricity Markets
Antoine M. Halff | Adjunct Professor, Geopolitics of Energy
Irene King | Adjunct Assistant Professor, Petroleum Markets
Phillip LaRocco | Adjunct Professor, Energy and Economic Development
Ellen Morris, PhD | Adjunct Professor (SIPA), Energy and Economic Development
Roy Nersesian | Adjunct Associate Professor, Marine Transport Economics
Neil Quartaro, Esq. | Adjunct Assistant Professor, Marine Law and Policy
Adam L. Shrier | Adjunct Professor, Energy Business
Klaus Lackner, PhD | Maurice Ewing and J. Lamar Worzel Professor of Geophysics; Executive Director, Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy; Adviser to the Center
David Walker, PhD | Higgins Professor of Earth& Environmental Sciences, Alternative Energy Technologies
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Albert Bressand, PhD
Executive Director, CEMTPP
Professor of Practice in International & Public Affairs, SIPA, Columbia University
IEMP Course: Risk and Scenario Analysis across the Energy Value Chain |
Albert Bressand is the Aristotle Onassis Professor of Practice in International and Public Affairs at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and Executive Director of Columbia University's Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP, see www.cemtpp.org). Formerly, Dr. Bressand headed the Global Business Environment department in Royal Dutch Shell's global headquarters in London from 2003-2006. In this capacity, he was responsible notably for designing a new generation of Shell Global Scenarios around an enhanced, original methodology for risk and opportunity assessment. Dr Bressand has also been appointed Special Adviser to the EU Commissioner in charge of energy in Brussels.
Previously, he was managing director and cofounder of Promethée, a nonprofit, Paris-based think tank specializing in the emerging global networked economy and its implications for corporate strategies, capital markets, and international economic relations. Dr Bressand also served as Economic Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of France and held key positions with the French Institute for International Relations and the World Bank.
Professor Bressand is a member of the faculty of the World Economic Forum, and has chaired a number of sessions at the Davos Annual Meetings. He serves on the Board of the New York Energy Forum and on the Advisory Council of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at Columbia. He has contributed to several major Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) studies on the world energy scene, notably the CERA 'Dawn of a New Age' scenarios and the just released 'Securing the Future' study on EU-Russia gas relations. He has published notably in Foreign Affairs, International Affairs, Futuribles, Politique Internationale, Revue d'Economie Financiére, Le Monde etc. The book he edited most recently, The Shell Global Scenarios to 2025, is distributed by the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C. His most recent chapter or article is ?Foreign Direct Investment in Oil and Gas: Recent Trends and Strategic Drivers?, in Yearbook on Foreign International Investment Law and Policies, Karl Sauvant editor, Oxford University Press, May 2009.
Dr. Bressand earned advanced degrees in both mathematics and engineering at École Polytechnique in Paris, École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées and Paris-Sorbonne, and an MPA and a PhD in Political Economy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
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Louise Burke
Adjunct
Professor (SIPA), Petroleum Markets and Trading
President, JC Energy
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Louise Burke began her career in the energy industry working for major oil corporations, Mobil Oil Canada, Alberta Energy Company and Petroleos De Venezuela. She worked in the planning departments performing analysis of energy markets. In 1987, she became involved in the financial energy futures and options industry when she joined the New York Mercantile Exchange. She served as Vice-President, Marketing and in that capacity supervised major energy and metals futures and options product launches.
In addition to private consulting Ms. Burke serves as the Executive Director for The Energy Forum, Inc.
Ms. Burke has a BA honors in economics from the University of Alberta, and a MBA from New York University.
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Jonathan Chanis
Adjunct Professor (SIPA),
US Energy Security: The Geopolitics of Oil and Natural Gas
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Dr. Jonathan Chanis has worked in the energy and natural resource sectors, especially in the emerging markets, for over 20 years. As a banker and government advisor, he helped negotiate trade finance facilities and investment projects. As a portfolio manager, he traded equities, commodities, and currencies, especially in the resource rich countries of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Russia, and South Africa. Careful analysis of economic, military, and political conditions (especially the impact of elections and wars on global energy supplies) has been integral to Dr. Chanis’ approach to understanding interstate relations. In addition to a focus on resources and resource countries, Dr. Chanis also has been active (principally in the banking and finance sectors) in a number of non-resource rich countries including China, Japan, and Turkey.
Currently Dr. Chanis is Managing Member of New Tide Asset Management, a company raising funds for a global macro trading venture. Previously, Dr. Chanis was a Managing Director at Tribeca Global Management, and a Portfolio Manager at Caxton Associates. He also was president of several AIG companies including its Russian investment bank, and worked at Goldman Sachs, the Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of the U.S.S.R., and the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Dr. Chanis is a Member of the Board of The Energy Forum (since 1987), and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (since 1988). He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Graduate School, CUNY, and a BA in Economics from Brooklyn College.
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A.J. Goulding runs London Economics International LLC, a Boston-based global economic and financial consulting firm focused on energy and infrastructure industries. He has been working almost continuously in Ontario since 1998 on a range of electricity market designs and asset valuation-related issues.
Outside of Ontario, Mr. Goulding is currently advising governments and policymakers in Saudi Arabia (see: Saudi policymakers consider alternatives for renewables development at LEI-led workshop) and Hong Kong on electricity tariffs and market design, while in North America he has been working with private equity funds focused on small hydro. A.J. also recently worked on a report entitled Examining the potential cost of the Ontario Green Energy Act, 2009 which examined the ramifications of the proposed Act. Within the U.S., A.J. recently advised on the acquisition of a portfolio of cogeneration plants located across the U.S. A.J. has also worked extensively in Alberta on electricity market design related issues and on generation acquisitions. In addition to his role at London Economics, he serves as a faculty member in the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP) in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where he teaches a course in electricity markets.
Mr. Goulding holds an MA in International Business from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and a BA in Economics from Earlham College.
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Antoine M. Halff
Adjunct Professor, CEMTPP Vice President & Head of Energy Research, Fimat USA, LLC
IEMP Course: Geopolitics of Energy (with Prof. Shrier)
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Antoine Halff is deputy head of research and head of commodities research at brokerage Newedge in New York and adjunct professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University. He has extensive energy industry experience and during 2000-2004 served as Principal Administrator at the International Energy Agency, with primary responsibility for oil demand forecasting and analysis. He has previously held positions at Fimat, a predecessor company of Newedge; Eurasia Group, a New York-based political-risk consultancy whose global energy practice he set up in 2005; Dow Jones and Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, where he served as New York Bureau Chief. He is a member of the Beijing Energy Club, the board of directors of the New York Energy Forum and on the editorial board of Geopolitics of Energy.
Antoine's work mixes data-based quantitative studies and in-depth analysis of the interplay of energy markets and geopolitics. Some of his recent published articles include "Energy Nationalism, Consumer Style: How the Quest for 'Energy Independence' Undermines U.S. Ethanol Policy and Energy Security" (Stanford Law and Policy Review, 2008), "The Panda Menace" (The National Interest, June/July 2007) and "Breaching 'The Breaking Point'" (Forward, 26 August 2005). He speaks frequently at trade, government and academic conferences in Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Antoine was born and educated in Paris, where he earned an advanced studies degree from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales under the late Prof. Francois Furet. In 1985–1987, he served as staff member of the French Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, and in 1988–1989 was a visiting scholar at Columbia University.
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Stephen A. Hammer, PhD
Director, Urban Energy Program, CEMTPP
President, Mesacosa, LLC
IEMP Courses: Urban Energy Systems and Policy; Workshop—NYC Economic
Development
Corporation
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Stephen A. Hammer is Director of the Urban Energy Program at Columbia University's Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP). Dr. Hammer is also the co-founder of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), an international consortium of academic researchers focused on the analysis of climate change as it relates to cities.
In addition to his research and administrative responsibilities, Dr.
Hammer teaches the CEMTPP course on Urban Energy Systems and Policy and oversees the Urban Energy workshop at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Dr. Hammer lectures internationally on environmental and energy issues and has published articles and opinion pieces in The New York Times, the New York Daily News, Aspenia, DOMUS, Energy Policy and several other international publications.
Dr. Hammer currently serves as an appointee to Mayor Bloomberg's Energy Policy Task Force, and collaborates with the Joint U.S.-China Collaboration on Clean Energy (JUCCCE), serving as the principal architect of the urban energy policy training curriculum JUCCCE runs for the Mayoral Training Center in Beijing. (Between 2009-2011, the mayors of 300 cities from around China will participate in this training program.)
Dr. Hammer received his PhD degree from the London School of Economics, an MPP from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a BS in environmental policy analysis and planning from the University of California, Davis. Prior to joining Columbia, Dr. Hammer taught at the Milano Graduate School of Urban and Public Affairs and the Pratt Institute, both in New York City.
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Irene King
Adjunct Assistant Professor, CEMTPP
IEMP Course: Petroleum Markets and Trading
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Irene King is an independent energy consultant and lecturer at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
Until 2001 she was the Senior Energy Economist at JP Morgan & Co. and before that Manager of the firm's Commodities Research Group. Prior to joining JP Morgan in 1975 she was Research Associate at Dartmouth College, where she worked on projects funded by the Ford Foundation.
Irene King was born in Greece. She studied as a Fulbright Scholar in the United States, where she obtained her B.Sc. and M.A. degrees in Business and Economics from the Ohio State University, and conducted post-graduate research at Dartmouth College.
King's long career has included a special concentration in energy markets. She began as research associate at the Turk School of Business and at the Economics Department of Dartmouth College. In that capacity she worked on projects funded by the Ford Foundation, the U.S. Government, and the Common Fund. She worked for over 26 years at J.P. Morgan, where she was responsible for analysis of the oil and gas markets and price forecasts, as well as economic analysis of the major oil-exporting countries, particularly the members of OPEC.
She is a member of the International Association of Energy Economists (IAEE) and Global Business Network (GBN). King is the author of numerous J.P. Morgan publications on the energy markets.
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Klaus Lackner, PhD
Maurice Ewing and J. Lamar Worzel Professor of Geophysics, Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering
IEMP Course: Alternative Energy Resources (with David Walker)
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Klaus Lackner joined the Columbia University Earth Institute in 2001 as Ewing-Worzel Professor of Geophysics in Columbia's Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering. He joined the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1983, after earning postdoctoral positions at the California Institute of Technology and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. At Los Alamos, in addition to being a scientist in the Laboratory's theoretical division, he has held senior management positions including Acting Associate Laboratory Director for Strategic and Supporting Research. He is a founder of the Zero Emission Coal Alliance, an industry-led effort to develop coal power with zero emissions in the atmosphere. His recent work is on environmentally acceptable technologies for the use of fossil fuels.
Professor Lackner has published numerous papers and articles on clean fossil fuels technology. He received his PhD. in theoretical particle physics, summa cum laude, from the University of Heidelberg, Germany in 1978. He was awarded the Clemm-Haas Prize for outstanding PhD thesis. He earned his vordiplom (bachelor of science) in 1975 and his diplom (master of science) in 1976. In 1985, he studied computational neuroscience at Cold Spring Harbor.
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Phillip LaRocco
Adjunct Professor, CEMTPP
Executive Director, E+Co
IEMP Course: International Energy Business Systems and Structures (with Ellen Morris)
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Philip LaRocco is the founder and former Executive Director of E+Co, a not-for-profit, public purpose investment company with offices in Bolivia, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Ghana, the Netherlands, South Africa, Thailand and the United States. E+Co was designated Sustainable Investor of 2008 by the Financial Times.
Mr. LaRocco has over thirty years of international experience. Until 1990, he served as the Director of World Trade and Economic Development for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey with responsibility for the World Trade Center (NY), a network of trade development offices and a portfolio of industrial development and waste-to-energy projects.
In addition to his duties as E+Co's CEO, Mr. LaRocco focuses on financing structures and the creation of practical, hands-on training materials for entrepreneurs, financial professionals, development practitioners and policy makers. More than 700 entrepreneurs in over thirty developing countries have been trained through the efforts of E+Co and its partner organizations.
Mr. LaRocco was formerly Director of World Trade and Economic Development for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where he oversaw the New York World Trade Center and a network of international offices. In August 2006, Mr. LaRocco received an Honorary Award for his contribution to the sector from the World Renewable Energy Congress (WREC) during the WREC IX Congress in Florence, Italy.
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Ellen Morris, PhD
Adjunct Professor, School of International and Public Affairs
President, Sustainable Energy Solutions
IEMP Courses: Workshop—United Nations Development Program; International Energy Business Systems and Structures (with Phillip LaRocco)
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Ellen Morris started her consulting firm, Sustainable Energy Solutions, in 1996. She is engaged
in international development, policy analysis, and research on energy issues for national governments, development agencies, foundations, and the private
sector.
Ellen has been a senior consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the sustainable energy program for the last nine years. Her work at
UNDP has focused on technical and programmatic support for countries seeking to advance energy, as a means for poverty reduction. Most recently, Dr Morris
has done pioneering work on consumer lending and microfinance to expand access to energy services by engaging with the private sector and microfinance
institutions in developing countries.
Prior to starting her own firm, she worked for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in the international and geothermal groups. In the early part of
her career, she worked as a Science Advisor for the U.S. Congress and as an exploration geophysicist for Texaco. Dr Morris has a Bachelor of Science degree
in Geophysical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and a Doctoral Degree in Marine Geophysics from the University of Rhode Island.
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Roy Nersesian
Adjunct Associate Professor, CEMTPP
Associate Professor, School of Business, Monmouth University
IEMP Courses: Marine Transportation Technology, Economics and Policy; Quantitative Methods in Energy Business and Policy Analysis
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Roy Nersesian is an adjunct faculty member at the Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP) in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where he teaches courses in Marine Transportation and Quantitative Methods with a focus on risk. Professor Nersesian is also an Associate Professor at Monmouth University in the School of Business and is a maritime consultant for Poten & Partners.
Prof. Nersesian's most recent book is Energy for the 21st Century: A Comprehensive Guide to Conventional and Alternative Sources published by M.E. Sharpe. The second edition is expected to be published March 2010. In addition, Prof Nersesian completed a study Biofuels: Fuels of the Future? published by Energy Intelligence Research. Professor Nersesian has spent most of his professional career observing the energy industry as part of his involvement in energy transportation. He holds a B.S. in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a MBA from Harvard Business School.
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David Nissen, PhD
Concentration Track Advisor, Program in International Energy Management and Policy,
Adjunct Professor
IEMP Courses: Economics of Energy; International Energy Project Development and Finance
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David Nissen For 12 years prior to joining CEMTPP, Dr. Nissen was Manager of Strategic Consulting at Poten & Partners, a leading energy broker and LNG project consultant, where he pioneered the industry-standard LNG Cost and Competition service. He has held senior positions with Exxon's Corporate Planning Department and Chase Manhattan's Corporate Lending Group. During the Carter Administration, Dr Nissen served in the U.S. Federal Energy Administration (precursor to the Department of Energy), where he directed the quantitative assessment of the Carter Administration's National Energy Plan.
Professor Nissen has held faculty positions at the Rutgers School of Business and the Rice University Department of Economics. His publications include articles in Econometrica, Review of Economic Studies, Management Science, and various energy journals. His current research is focused on the evolving industrial organizations of energy activities and implications for effective policy.
Dr Nissen holds a BS from the California Institute of Technology as well as an MA in Statistics and a PhD in Economics, both from the University of California at Berkeley.
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Neil Quartaro, Esq.
Adjunct Assistant Professor, CEMTPP
Associate, Watson, Farley and Williams
IEMP Course: Marine Transportation Policy
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Neil Quartaro is an associate at the law firm Watson, Farley & Williams (New York). In the latter capacity, he assists primarily with commercial litigation, alternative dispute resolution and international law, with a specialty in maritime litigation, arbitration and charter parties.
Prior to Watson, Farley, Mr. Quartaro represented blue and brown water vessel owners in cargo disputes, collisions, and salvage matters. Mr. Quartaro serves on the Admiralty Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the International Law committee of the New York State Bar Association.Mr. Quartaro also writes the "Maritime Law" column in MARNEWS, a leading Latin American maritime magazine.
Mr. Quartaro received his JD degree from Fordham University in 2002, where he served as an Editor on the "Fordham International Law Journal." He attended York University in Toronto, Canada, where he received a Specialized Baccalaureate in International Relations.
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Adam L. Shrier
Adjunct Professor, CEMTPP President, Global Development Opportunities, LLC
IEMP Course: Geopolitics of Energy (with Antoine Halff)
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Adam Louis Shrier, President of Global Development Opportunities, LLC, has been a business developer and management consultant to the energy and chemical industries since 1988. He has started-up and acquired firms in the energy, environment and chemical fields, and has arranged for international investments and technology transfers. As a strategic advisor, he has helped private and state-owned companies to formulate and implement long-term investment strategies and to streamline their organizational structure and business processes, and he has consulted to government agencies on planning, policy development and economic reform programs. The scope of his activities has been worldwide, but he has maintained a special interest in the emerging market economies, with projects and clients in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and China.
Previously, Dr Shrier spent 25 years at Exxon (now ExxonMobil) Corporation, in various commercial, technical and corporate positions, including management of international planning and policy activities. His earlier responsibilities spanned multiple functions, including corporate planning and government relations; international supply, transportation and trading; energy security and emergency preparedness; alternative energy; corporate ventures and new business development; and research and engineering.
From 1983–1988, he served on the Industry Advisory Board of the International Energy Agency. Dr Shrier holds degrees in chemical engineering from Columbia University, MIT and Yale University, and a law degree from Fordham University. He has lectured at universities in the U.S., China and Czech Republic, and since 2000 he has been adjunct professor of international business at American University.
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David Walker, PhD
Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
IEMP Course: Alternative Energy Resources (with Klaus Lackner)
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David Walker received his B.A. at Oberlin College, where he studied geology. While studying mining at Harvard, his interests turned to lunar rocks
and he went on to earn his MA and PhD in experimental petrology. In his research, he investigates the magmatic processes that have resulted in differentiation
of the earth's core, mantle and crust, and similar differentiations of other planets. This work also relates to the synthesis of new materials such as
high-temperature superconductors.
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