back to all student researchers

Claire McKenna

Image

Research Assistant

Status:
Current
Education
  • Ph.D. Resource Policy & Behavior student, University of Michigan, 2026 (expected)
  • B.A. Engineering modified with Studio Art, Dartmouth College, 2010
Research Interests

Claire is a first year doctoral student studying the transition from fossil fuels to electricity generated by carbon-free sources in residential heating. She is interested in the impacts of this transition on vulnerable communities and the implications that scale adoption of electric heat pumps for residential heating will have on utility rate tariffs and ultimately on consumer utility costs. Claire's work employs social science and engineering science methods to support actionable climate action policy in the building sector and utility rate design to support safe and beneficial residential heating electrification. Before entering her doctoral studies, Claire worked as a sustainable building design engineer, where her expertise in building energy systems, including heating and cooling and distributed energy resources (DERs), contributed to major new construction projects in San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Boston, and New York City