Katz Environment and Energy Lab is a social science research lab group that aims to generate actionable insights on questions of natural resources management, environmental protection, energy transitions, and nonprofits in the policy process.
Dr. Juniper Katz, founding PI of the Katz Environment and Energy Lab, is Assistant Professor of Public Policy at University of Massachusetts, where she is based in the School of Public Policy. Dr. Katz is an affiliate of ELEVATE and the Energy Transition Institute at UMass, and a Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute in their Climate and Economic Transformation program. Prior to joining the School of Public Policy, Dr. Katz earned her doctorate in public affairs at the University of Colorado Denver, was an executive director of Montezuma Land Conservancy and data consultant for the Land Trust Alliance, among other positions.
Masters Students
Natalie Baillargeon received a BA in Environmental Science & Policy from Smith College, where she studied how ecological systems are influenced by land use and climate change. Before joining UMass, she worked as a Policy Analyst at Woodwell Climate Research Center. At UMass, Natalie is a Master of Public Policy and Administration Candidate and an ELEVATE Research Fellow.
Kushal Raju is a Master’s student in Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with an undergraduate degree in Electronics and Instrumentation from VIT Vellore. He has 4 years of Python coding experience and skills in image segmentation, data classification, web scraping, automation, and image processing. Kushal specializes in building and deploying Neural Network models for applications like autonomous systems, medical diagnosis, sentiment analysis, biometric security, and energy forecasting. Kushal has published 2 research papers in IEEE and 1 in AIP Proceedings Journal.
Undergraduate Students
Alice Potapov is pursuing Bachelor’s Degrees in Data Science and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is particularly excited about the intersection between computational science and climate, and is really looking forward to continuing work in the Katz Energy & Environment Lab.
Former Lab Students
Annika Sing, Spring 2024. Mathematics and Public Policy double major.