Dharik S. Mallapragada is a Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), where his research focuses on developing advanced decision-support tools for planning and operating resilient, low-carbon energy systems as well as design and integration of novel energy technologies.

Prior to MIT, Dharik spent nearly five years in the energy and petrochemicals industry working on a range of sustainability-focused research topics, including conversion of biomass to fuels and chemicals, low-carbon hydrogen production, and developing optimization-based tools for energy infrastructure planning, as well as process and product design.

Dharik’s research contributions include over 35 peer-reviewed publications across a spectrum of journals and development of open-source software such as the GenX model, a tool for planning low-carbon electricity systems.

Andrew (Drew) Jones is Co-Founder and Co-Director of Climate Interactive. An expert on international climate and energy issues, his quotes and data stories appear frequently in the New York Times, The Washington Post, and other media.

Jones and his team at CI and MIT Sloan developed “C-ROADS”, the climate simulation that was used by John Holdren, Jonathan Pershing, and John Kerry in advance of the Copenhagen and Paris climate summits. Ahead of the recent passage of US climate legislation, his team engaged 128 members of the US Congress with the En-ROADS simulator.

Trained in system dynamics modeling at Dartmouth College and through a M.S. at MIT, Jones has worked at Rocky Mountain Institute and served dozens of clients ranging from the CDC to Harley-Davidson Motor Company.

Jones co-accepted the System Dynamics Society’s award for the best real-world application of modeling. He won Dartmouth College’s Ray W. Smith award for the most significant contribution to the status of the College.