Noël Bakhtian named new director of Center for Advanced Energy Studies

Mark Peters, director of the Idaho National Laboratory, announced this week the appointment of Noël Bakhtian as director of the research and education consortium the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES), effective May 15.

“Dr. Bakhtian’s energy policy and technical experiences span the programmatic portfolio of CAES,” Peters said. “She will help forward the CAES mission of conducting advanced energy research, educating the next generation of scientists and engineers, and partnering with industry to advance our regional competitiveness.”

Bakhtian most recently served as the senior policy advisor for environment and energy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

Prior to her role at OSTP, she was the inaugural Energy-Water Nexus lead at the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of International Affairs, technical lead on various grant programs for DOE’s Wind and Water Power Technologies Office, consulted on energy R&D and investment for DARPA, served as an energy and environment fellow in the U.S. Senate and worked as a graduate researcher at NASA Ames Research Center.

Bakhtian also serves as a trustee of the Summer Science Program, a science education nonprofit organization, and serves as the energy and environment associate editor for the Science & Diplomacy Journal.

Bakhtian succeeds the current acting director of CAES, Mike Hagood.

CAES is a research and education consortium between Boise State University, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho State University, University of Idaho and University of Wyoming.