Erin Whitney

Erin Whitney currently serves as Director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Arctic Energy Office, following her impactful tenure as Research Faculty at the Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP). After earning her bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Williams College and PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder, she spent nearly a decade as a staff scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory before returning to her hometown of Anchorage in 2014. During her nine years at ACEP, she founded and directed its Solar Technologies Program, managed the Data Collection and Analysis Program, and led groundbreaking work on the Alaska Affordable Energy Strategy. Her achievements include establishing the Bifacial Solar Photovoltaic test site with Sandia National Laboratories, founding the Alaska Hydrogen Working Group, and leading a multi-year National Science Foundation project exploring food, energy, and water security. As a 2022-23 Fulbright Scholar to Germany at the Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy, she studied hydrogen energy systems for remote microgrids. In her current role as Arctic Energy Office Director since January 2023, she continues to champion innovative energy solutions while implementing the Department of Energy's Arctic Strategy to facilitate national energy policies and initiatives.