NYU School of Professional Studies Appoints Amy Myers Jaffe as Director of the School’s Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab

Leading Climate and Energy Expert Jaffe to Also Teach Graduate Courses in Global Climate Finance, Energy and Climate Justice and Policy

NEW YORK, December 13, 2022—The NYU School of Professional Studies (NYU SPS) is pleased to announce that Amy Myers Jaffe will join as director of the NYU SPS Center for Global Affairs’ Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab starting this month.

A leading expert on global energy policy, sustainability, and geopolitical risk, Jaffe is the author of several books, including her most recent publication, Energy’s Digital Future, published in 2021 by Columbia University Press. A frequent media commentator, Jaffe is co-chair of the Women in Energy Initiative at Columbia University and a non-resident faculty affiliate at the Climate Policy Lab at Tufts University. From 2014 to 2017, Jaffe served as senior advisor on sustainability to the Office of the Chief Investment Officer of the University of California, Regents, where she helped design the sustainable investing framework for the UC’s $140 billion in pension and endowment funds.

“We are making a serious investment in all areas of global importance that touch and impact equity, economic justice, and leadership,” said NYU SPS Dean Angie Kamath. “The appointment of Amy Myers Jaffe is the first in a series of efforts we are committed to for prioritizing our experiential education and applied research agenda.”

In addition to her role leading the Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab, Jaffe will be a research professor teaching graduate-level courses examining global climate finance and energy as well as climate justice and policy.

“I am looking forward to being part of the NYU SPS Center for Global Affairs team who established the Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab,” said Jaffe. “Helping to take the Lab to the next level, being a valuable resource for students, and an incubator for innovative thinking on addressing our global energy and climate issues will be major goals of mine in this new role.”

Jaffe is a regular contributor to the popular podcast The Energy Gang and a frequent media commentator in television and print media, including The New York Times, Financial Times of London, CNN International, and The Wall Street Journal.  A prolific author, Jaffe holds a career prize in energy economics from the US Association for Energy Economics and served as the organization’s president in 2020. She is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, where she was a senior fellow for energy and environment from 2017 to 2020. She serves on the boards of several academic journals, including Energy Journal, Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, and Energy Policy.

Jaffe has advised numerous organizations on climate risk strategy and scenario analysis, including Ceres, the investor advocacy network, and major Fortune 500 companies. She is a frequent contributor to the Aspen Institute Congressional program and the World Economic Forum, where she most recently served on the Global Future Council on Net Zero Transition.

She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Princeton University in Middle Eastern Studies, with a specialization in Arab language and history.

NYU SPS Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab
The mission of the NYU SPS Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab is to train a new generation of leaders to develop workable and resilient sustainability solutions to address real-world opportunities and challenges at the local, national, and global scale in a manner that will advance the quality of life for all.

The Lab, housed at the Center for Global Affairs, will develop a curriculum and research that intersects across the full spectrum of SPS professional degree programs, allowing students to pursue project-based practicums and research that serves the business, philanthropic, and public sector communities' needs and goals. The Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab aims to enhance traditional classroom learning and professional training by integrating classroom study with specialized, experiential learning in the field of choice.

In addition to Jaffe, Carolyn Kissane, Lab founder and faculty lead for strategy and planning, and Michelle D’Amico, director for outreach, program, and events, will help support the Lab’s mission and objectives.

NYU School of Professional Studies
For more than 87 years, the NYU School of Professional Studies (NYU SPS) has been a deeply respected institution of higher education grounded in applied learning. From its early years, training returning World War II veterans to fulfill the nation’s urgent need for skilled technical workers, it has evolved into a professional education powerhouse that offers 22 graduate degrees, 13 bachelor’s degrees for traditional and degree completion students, four associate degrees, and a plethora of continuing education courses and credentials.

Home to some of the largest and most prestigious industry conferences in the world, including the NYU SPS Institute on Federal Taxation, the Schack Institute of Real Estate’s Capital Markets Conference, REIT Symposium, and National Symposium of Women in Real Estate; and the Jonathan M. Tisch Center’s International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, the School’s invaluable connections to industry leaders is a truly distinguishing factor in the education that it provides. Through career development services and resources provided by the NYU Wasserman Center for Career Development at NYU SPS, guest lecturers, site visits, participation in numerous conferences and events, and Global Field Intensives, students benefit from an NYU education that will set them apart. In addition, they have the opportunity to learn from and network with more than 39,000 NYU SPS alumni who live, work, and contribute to innovation in industries around the world. To learn more about NYU SPS, visit sps.nyu.edu.