Ellen Morris teaches Energy and Enterprise Development courses at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and is the former Director of the Energy and Environment Concentration. In addition to her faculty appointment, Dr. Morris is the President and Founder of Sustainable Energy Solutions, a professional services company that promotes the increased use and deployment of clean energy technologies and services as a means to support economic development and reduce poverty in developing countries. She is a world-recognized expert who focuses on policy analysis, applied research, strategy development, and publishing on leading issues such as energy access, gender equality, and business models for the base of the pyramid. Dr. Morris is also an Ambassador for The Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Initiative that was launched by the Clean Energy Ministerial to close the gender gap in STEM fields and serves as a Technical Expert for the Clean Energy Solutions Center for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Ellen serves as an advisor and Board Member for social enterprises focused on clean energy, including EnVenture (Uganda), Earth Spark International (Haiti), and Empowered by Light (Zambia) and was the Energy Program Advisor for the Clinton Global Initiative. She started her career in clean energy working for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in the geothermal program. In the early part of her career, she worked as a Fellow on the Science, Space and Technology Committee of the U.S. Congress and was an exploration geophysicist for Texaco. She holds 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.
