New Light: Rising Stars in Energy and the Environment is a summer seminar series to spotlight associate research scholars, postdoctoral research fellows, and other early-career researchers affiliated with the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Weekly seminars will feature a diverse selection of researchers working on cutting-edge topics across disciplines seeking to solve society’s most pressing problems in energy and the environment.

Erin Mayfield is a sustainable systems engineering and public policy researcher. Currently an associate research scholar at Princeton University, she will be an assistant professor at Dartmouth College beginning in September. Her research focuses on developing multi-objective computational models that integrate technoeconomic, environmental, and social equity objectives to inform energy and industrial infrastructure system transitions in the context of climate change. She previously worked as an environmental engineer on natural resource damages litigation related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, hazardous waste remediation, and ecosystem services valuation related to petrochemical and pesticide contamination. Mayfield has also held positions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Congress, and Environmental Law Institute. She received her bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Rutgers University, master’s degree in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and Ph.D. in engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University.