Deb Niemeier

Deb Niemeier is the Clark Distinguished Chair in Energy and Sustainability at the University of Maryland, College Park; she serves as a professor in the Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering and an affiliate professor in the College of Information Studies and the Dept of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science. Her research focuses on the identification of vulnerable populations and environmental health disparities in the built environment. She studies risks associated with outcomes in the intersection of social and demographic characteristics, housing and infrastructure with environmental hazards such as air quality, disasters, and more broadly climate change. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for “distinguished contributions to energy and environmental science study and policy development;” a Guggenheim Fellow for foundational work on pro bono service in engineering and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. She was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2020. She recently received the Perry L. McCarty Founders Award (2022) and 2023 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science.