Team
Ellen Morris, Ph.D.
Managing Director, California Renewable Energy Laboratory (CREL)
Dr. Ellen Morris is the Managing Director of the CA Renewable Energy Laboratory (CREL), an initiative focused on creating a more inclusive and expansive clean energy workforce with community colleges. She also teaches the Energy and Development capstone course at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Morris came to CREL after working at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to launch and manage the University Partnerships Program. At CREL she will be building new partnerships, experiential learning opportunities and workforce development initiatives in climate, energy, and resiliency for the CA community college ecosystem. Morris is also a world-recognized expert on energy and international development, with a particular focus on policy analysis, research, and strategy development on energy access, gender equality, and business models in developing countries. Early in her career, Morris was a Congressional Fellow on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and was an Exploration Geophysicist at Texaco in Los Angeles. Morris received her bachelor’s degree in Geophysical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and her doctorate in Geological Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography.