Professor Daniel M. Kammen earned his bachelor’s degree in Physics from Cornell University (1984) and his master’s degree (1986) and PhD (1988) in Physics from Harvard University. He held postdoctoral positions at the California Institute of Technology and Harvard University. He also previously taught at Princeton University, where he chaired the Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy Program at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, before moving to the University of California, Berkeley, and later Johns Hopkins University. At Johns Hopkins University, he is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Energy and Climate Justice, with joint appointments in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering (CASE) and the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and a leadership role in the Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI).

His research and policy work span energy innovation, decarbonization, energy access, and climate justice, and he has published over 500 scientific papers through his Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) at the University of California, Berkeley. His current projects focus on decarbonization of power systems worldwide, energy access and social justice, materials science for low-carbon economies, big-data approaches to clean transportation, and the electrification of health facilities across Africa.

He has served in numerous high-level advisory roles, including Senior Advisor for Energy and Innovation at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID, 2021–2022), the first Environment and Climate Partnership for the Americas (ECPA) Fellow appointed by Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton (2010), and Science Envoy for Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama (2016–2017). He was also the inaugural Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at the World Bank (2010–2011). In addition to his academic work, he has co-founded and advised more than ten companies, and serves on several boards, including Native Renewables, the Chabot Space and Science Center, the Human Needs Project/Kibera Town Center, and the Energy & Environment Committee of the X-Prize Foundation.

Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020 and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2025, Professor Kammen has also been a contributing and coordinating lead author on multiple reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 1999, his work was recognized when the IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Beyond research and policy work, he is a member of the Diversity Scholars Network and co-hosts the Energy Matters podcast with Claire Broido.