Costa Samaras

Dr. Costa Samaras is the Director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Scott Institute for Energy Innovation and the Trustee Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy and in the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. He analyzes how technologies and policies affect energy and emissions pathways, security, climate resilience, and economic and equity outcomes. From 2021-2024, he served in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) as Principal Assistant Director for Energy, OSTP Chief Advisor for Energy Policy, and then OSTP Chief Advisor for the Clean Energy Transition. He assessed technologies and policies to achieve national climate commitments, co-led the White House report “US Innovation to Meet 2050 Climate Goals,” led the climate and clean energy efforts of the President’s Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence, and led the White House report on the climate and energy implications of digital assets. He was previously a Senior Researcher at the RAND Corporation as well as a mega-projects engineer in New York City. He received a joint Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon and an MPA in Public Policy from the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU.