Ellen Morris Email & Phone Number

Bakersfield, California, United States

Managing and overseeing the CA Renewable Energy Laboratory (CREL), a statewide program headquartered at Kern Community College District (KCCD) in the Central Valley of CA. CREL supports community colleges across California with a focus on climate change and clean energy initiatives benefitting communities through public and student education, community and industry partnerships, research, and workforce development.

Columbia School Of International And Public Affairs

The Climate, Energy, and Environment concentration at SIPA tackles environmental and energy issues in a holistic way that gives students experience and skills across a range of subjects, in different market economies and in different contexts. Teaching: Energy, Business and Economic Development and Capstone Workshops on Energy and Development as well as serving as faculty advisor for independent research projects in the Development Practice programField work: Leading capstone workshop program on energy and development started in 2007. Work involves raising grant funds and implementing field missions to developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Projects focus on policies, enterprise models, microfinance and technology approaches to energy and developmentMentorship: Faculty advisor and mentor for SIPA Energy Association, Women in Energy, ECO Environmental Coalition, and Women’s International Leadership program at Columbia UniversityAwards: Winner of 2010, 2012, and 2014 Leous-Parry Progressive Sustainability Award for capstone workshops on energy enterprise development in Ghana (2010), solar product distribution and financing in rural Haiti with Earthspark International (2012), and scale-up strategy development for Zara Solar in Tanzania (2014)

Boulder, Colorado, United States

Sustainable Energy Solutions is a women-owned and managed professional services company that promotes the increased use and deployment of clean energy technologies and services as a means to support inclusive socio-economic development, poverty reduction, and environmental stewardship in developing countries. We focus on energy access and links to development; end-user finance for deepening access modern energy; gender and energy; productive uses for energy to support economic development; entrepreneurship and enterprise development; and enabling environments for project development and investment in clean energy. Specialized expertise:--Project scoping, design, and implementation--Research and evaluation --Field mission design and implementation--Training material design and delivery--Grant writing and fundraising--Advocacy and public speakingClients:--Economic Community of West African States--United Nations Development Programme--United Nations Capital Development Fund--National Renewable Energy Laboratory--United States Agency for International Development--Citi Foundation, United Nations Foundation and other philanthropic organizations--World Wildlife Federation, E+Co, and other non-profit organizationsPublicationsNumerous papers on topics at the intersection of clean energy and development, including effectively mobilizing project finance for energy, gender equality and energy, SME finance for energy enterprises, and microfinance for end-users. Other published papers focused on rural energy systems, poverty reduction, productive use applications, and enabling policies for energy access.

Golden, Colorado

Led up this new program to build and strengthen partnerships with universities and research institutions doing applied and basic research in renewable energy, energy efficiency, advanced transportation, and grid integration. Designed and launched the groundbreaking Student Training in Applied Research (STAR) internship program for undergraduate students at minority serving institutions and created a strong portfolio of MSIs with academic and research in clean energy. Helped create and support the CA Renewable Energy Lab (CREL) focused on academics, research, and experiential learning at CA community colleges.

Greater New York City Area

Embark Energy is a social enterprise focused on radically increasing the scale of energy access by empowering thousands of clean energy entrepreneurs in low-income countries. Our mission is to create clean energy enterprises to serve a public purpose of economic development, environmental preservation, and individual empowerment using a web-based portal (called Embark Portal). The approach of Embark Portal is centered on experiential learning, business coaching, links to financing and access to high quality energy products.The unique online training program for aspiring clean energy entrepreneurs called My Business Plan can be accessed through this link: http://embarkpro.elasticbeanstalk.com/

Greater New York City Area

After doing ground-breaking research on the role of microfinance in expanding access to energy in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, I received seed funding from Citi Foundation to launch Arc Finance. I saw that there was a big gap between access to finance and access to energy, and Arc Finance was set up to try to bridge that gap through technical assistance, funding for piloting new approaches, and advocacy.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Geological Oceanography

Dissertation on "Geophysical Constraints on Oceanic Crust" with Robert S. Detrick as my advisor

Bachelor Of Science, Geophysical Engineering

Focused on Exploration Geophysics with Tom Davis as my academic advisor

Education record