Amy Schweikert
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Mechanical Engineering

Amy Schweikert is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Deinert Group focused on low carbon energy technology at the Colorado School of Mines’ Mechanical Engineering Department. She received her BA in International Relations from Boston University with a focus in the Middle East and African Policy and a MSc and PhD in Civil Engineering with a focus in Civil Systems from University of Colorado Boulder. She additionally holds a certificate for Engineering in Developing Communities. Her doctoral work focused on the cost-benefit analysis of different technical strategies to address the resiliency of infrastructure systems to climate change including a focus on quantifying the potential social impact in different investment decisions. This work additionally included field work in Sub-Saharan Africa and partners in Europe.

Schweikert’s current research is focused on how to eliminate energy poverty using low carbon energy sources. This involves addressing the access needs of the nearly 2 billion people living in electricity poverty alongside the realities of global climate change. Tied to this work is how to understand and create policy initiatives that are self-sustaining, eliminating the need for constant intervention and support from outside agencies. This work combines geospatial analysis techniques, environmental and social concerns, policy, law and technological rigor in order to develop quantitative modeling to better understand these issues.