Daniel Sperling
Director, Institute of Transportation Studies
Acting Director, Energy Efficiency Center
Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Professor, Environmental Science and Policy
2027 Academic Surge Bldg
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA 95616
530-752-7434 (voice)
530-752-6572 (fax)
dsperling@ucdavis.edu
Daniel Sperling is Professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and Policy, and founding Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis (ITS-Davis). The Institute is staffed by over 150 faculty, staff, and student researchers. He is also Acting Director of the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center.
In February 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Dr. Sperling to the “automotive engineering” seat on the California Air Resources Board. His appointment was confirmed by the California Senate in January 2008. His chief responsibilities are oversight and design of the state’s climate change, alternatives fuels, vehicle travel and land use, and zero emission vehicle programs. He also served as co-director of the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard study, requested in the Governor’s January 2007 Executive Order. In 2008 he was appointed chair of the “Future of Mobility” Council of the Davos World Economic Forum.
Dr. Sperling has led ITS-Davis to international prominence by building strong partnerships with industry, government, and the environmental community, integrating interdisciplinary research and education programs, and connecting research with public outreach and education. ITS-Davis won the 2006 Robert M. Zweig Public Education Award of the National Hydrogen Association, 2005 TRANNY award for Organization of the Year by the California Transportation Foundation, 1998 Employer of the Year Award of the Women’s Transportation Seminar of Sacramento, and was selected as a finalist for the 2003 World Technology Energy Award.
Dr. Sperling is recognized as a leading international expert on transportation technology assessment, energy and environmental aspects of transportation, and transportation policy. He has testified ten times to the US Congress and state legislatures, and provided keynote presentations and invited talks in recent years at international conferences in Asia, Europe, and North America. In the past 25 years, he has authored or co-authored over 200 technical papers and 11 books, including Two Billion Cars (Oxford University Press, 2009). He has made 500 professional presentations in his career, including many keynote talks in the past few years.
He was “lead author” of the transportation chapter in the 2007 IPCC report, “Mitigation of Climate Change,” (IPCC won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008) and a recent member of 13 National Academies committees on Energy Efficiency, Gasoline Taxes, Hydrogen, Transport in China, Biomass Fuels R&D, Sustainable Transportation, and related topics. He was founding chair of standing committees for the U.S. Transportation Research Board on Alternative Transportation Fuels (1989-’96), and Sustainability and Transportation (2006-08). He is the founding organizer of the premier conference on transportation and energy policy, bringing together every two years since 1988 the leaders from industry, government, academia, and the environmental community. He serves on many advisory committees and advises senior executives of many automotive and energy companies, environmental groups, and national governments, including review committees at three DOE national laboratories. He is widely cited in leading newspapers, has been interviewed many times on NPR radio, including Science Friday, Talk of the Nation, and Fresh Air, and in February 2009 he was featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
He received the following awards: 2009 Robert Zweig Public Education Award of the National Hydrogen Association, National Associate member of the National Academies in 2004, 2002 Carl Moyer Memorial Award for Scientific Leadership and Technical Excellence by the Coalition for Clean Air, 1997 “Clean Air Award” by the American Lung Association of Sacramento, 1996 Distinguished Public Service Award by the University of California, Davis, and 1993 Gilbert F. White Fellowship by Resources for the Future (Washington, D.C.).
Prior to obtaining his Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley (with minors in Economics and Energy & Resources), Professor Sperling worked two years as an environmental planner for the US Environmental Protection Agency and two years as an urban planner in the Peace Corps in Honduras. He has an undergraduate degree in engineering and urban planning from Cornell University. During 1999-2000, he was on leave as a visiting scholar at OECD (European Conference of Ministers of Transport).