Kirsten Verclas is an ORISE Science and Technology Policy Fellow. Previously, she was a Program Manager in the International Department of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) working on regulatory partnerships in Africa under a NARUC-U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Cooperative Agreement. Before coming to NARUC, Ms. Verclas was a Senior Program Manager at the American-German Institute (AGI) at Johns Hopkins University, where she managed the Institute’s grant projects. She initially joined AGI as Executive Assistant in 2003 and started working in the Institute’s Research Program in 2008. Ms. Verclas has written extensively on energy and climate as well as security policy in the transatlantic context. She holds a BA in International Relations with a Minor in Economics from Franklin and Marshall College and an MA in International Relations with a concentration in Security Studies from The Elliott School at The George Washington University. She also earned an MS in Energy Policy and Climate from Johns Hopkins University in August 2013.
She is a 2017-2018 participant in AGI’s project “A German-American Dialogue of the Next Generation: Global Responsibility, Joint Engagement,” sponsored by the Transatlantik-Programm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland aus Mitteln des European Recovery Program (ERP) des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi).
New Ideas for an Evolving Transatlantic Partnership
Foreign and Domestic Policy Recommendations During 2017-2018, the AGI project “A German-American Dialogue of the Next Generation: Global Responsibility, Joint Engagement” examined transatlantic challenges and new ideas for the German-American-European …
Changing Resource Needs for a Clean Energy Future: Transatlantic Implications – Part II
Transatlantic Opportunities for a Clean Energy Future As Part I of this blogpost highlights, the transatlantic partners face some risks and uncertainties when it comes to the resources necessary for …
Changing Resource Needs for a Clean Energy Future: Transatlantic Implications – Part I
Critical Materials for a Clean Energy Transition: Rare Earths and Strategic Resources The transformation toward cleaner energy sources entails a demand for resources that are required in clean energy technologies. …
Building New Transatlantic Bridges on Climate Change
President Trump’s announcement of the U.S. withdrawal from the UN Paris Climate Agreement caused many European policymakers and experts to shift their focus on deepening the subnational transatlantic energy and …
The Next Generation: Remapping the German-American Relationship
Policy Report 63 This year’s Symposium is framed around the idea of “A New Transatlantic Generation.” We know that German-American relations have long been shaped by the personal connections that …
New Policy Priorities for the Transatlantic Partnership
More than twenty-five years after the end of the Cold War, the United States and Germany remain close political and economic allies. However, personal ties between the two allies have …
The Reform of the German Renewable Energy Act in 2014
Introduction On 11 July 2014 the Bundesrat (the upper house of the German parliament) passed a reform of Germany’s renewable energy law. The reform subsequently went into effect on 1 …
Fracking and the Presidential Election: Drilling for Jobs
On November 6, the U.S. presidential election will be decided in nine swing states: Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, and North Carolina, representing a crucial number …
Nuclear Energy in the U.S. and Germany: Weighing the Risks
Issue Brief 42 Energy and climate policy in the U.S. and in Germany seem to be miles apart. In 2011, Germany decided to phase-out nuclear, whereas in early 2012 the …
The Decentralization of the Electricity Grid – Mitigating Risk in the Energy Sector
Introduction Natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. in 2005 and the earthquake off the coast of Japan in 2011 (which resulted in a devastating tsunami and the nuclear …
