ASU professor returns to home city to teach sustainability
Eleanor Hennessy (left), assistant professor in ASU’s School of Sustainability. Courtesy photo
This fall, Arizona State University welcomed Eleanor Hennessy — who goes by "Nora" — as an assistant professor at the School of Sustainability, a unit of the Rob Walton College of Global Futures.
After completing her PhD in energy resource engineering at Stanford University, Hennessy joined ASU as a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment. Hennessy, who grew up in Phoenix, is grateful to be home in the desert and excited to join an interdisciplinary team.
“The collaborative, truly interdisciplinary environment is unique and is necessary to address challenging issues like global climate change,” said Hennessy. “ASU’s charter and the focus on inclusion were also a big draw for me.”
Hennessy’s research focuses on supporting a transition to a just, sustainable and resilient energy system. Her expertise in civil and environmental engineering provides a technical lens to examine human and environmental interactions within the context of building such a system.
“I come from an engineering background but have always been interested in how engineered systems impact people and the environment, which led me to this research area,” she said.
Hennessy looks forward to advancing the impact of her work through collaborations with researchers, policymakers, practitioners and communities. She is also grateful for the opportunity to mentor the next generation of energy leaders and will start by teaching SOS 324: Sustainable Energy Technology and Systems this spring.
ASU News spoke with Hennessy to learn more about her work.
Question: What is your focus area of research?
Answer: My research is at the intersection of energy systems decarbonization, environmental justice and infrastructure resilience. The goal of my work is to catalyze and support a transition to a clean, equitable energy system that is resilient to the impacts of climate change that we are already seeing and will continue to see. Within that broader goal, I have a few major focus areas:
Technology access — understanding which populations have access to clean energy technologies like electric vehicles, identifying barriers to adoption, and evaluating policies and programs to make access more equitable.
Air quality and public health — modeling changes in air quality and health impacts of energy systems decarbonization strategies and assessing the disparities in health impacts among different population groups.
Infrastructure resilience — assessing the vulnerability of energy infrastructure systems to climate hazards (e.g., wildfires, flooding).
Q: What are you looking forward to most about being a faculty member in the School of Sustainability?
A: I’m most excited about getting to know all of my colleagues in the School of Sustainability and developing new collaborations that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries. It’s exciting to be in a school with folks from so many different backgrounds working together to solve big problems.
Q: What do you hope to accomplish at the university?
A: In addition to pursuing my research goals, I’m looking forward to building out my research group and developing strong collaborations both within the university and outside of it. I’m also hoping to engage with local policymakers, practitioners and communities to strengthen the impact of my research. Lastly, I’m looking forward to contributing to the sustainable energy curriculum.