Leadership
Amanda Ormond
Executive Director, Just Energy Transition Center
Amanda Ormond serves as co-director of the Just Energy Transition Center at ASU where she helps design and direct the work of the Center. Ormond is a consultant specializing in policies and technologies that will transition the Western U.S. energy generation and electrical grid to a low-carbon system. She has worked in energy and public policy for more than 30 years in Arizona and the West. Prior to starting her consulting firm, the Ormond Group, in 2001, Ormond served for seven years as State Director of the Arizona Energy Office, where she was responsible for developing state policy and promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy and alternative fueled vehicles. She also held various positions at the state energy office, a division of the Arizona Department of Commerce.
Ormond is a trained mediator who specializes in developing and managing stakeholder processes to identify collaborative solutions to address complex energy issues. She is a seasoned communicator adept at translating technical energy concepts to lay audiences. She enjoys mentoring and teaching the next generation of leaders.
Dr. Lauren Keeler
Director, Just Energy Transition Center
Lauren Withycombe Keeler is an assistant professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University. She has a doctorate and master's in sustainability science. Her master's research focused on defining the knowledge and skills necessary for undergraduate and graduate sustainability education. She has consulted with universities in the U.S., Europe and Mexico, helping them develop sustainability degree programs. Her doctoral studies focused on the use of foresight methods to explore complex governance challenges in sustainability, including climate governance, water governance, the governance of emerging technologies, and urban planning for sustainability.
In her research, Keeler studies how different people with different professional responsibilities understand and make sense of the future and how futures are created through professional practice. She creates and utilizes foresight methods to anticipate the future impacts of emerging technologies, policies and other interventions on organizations, communities and cities. Her work focuses on building capacity among individuals and groups to think about the future in ways that yield more inclusive and sustainable futures and develop strategies to make those futures a reality. As a part of this work, she creates games that help players create and contend with alternative futures and address urgent sustainability problems. She has worked in the U.S. and Germany on issues of sustainability and responsible innovation and the role of universities and international university partnerships in facilitating local sustainability transitions.
Dr. Kit Batten
Senior Fellow, Just Energy Transition Center
Kit Batten is a recognized expert in climate change policy and international development with twenty years of sustainability leadership in governments, companies, NGOs, and universities. Dr. Batten is a Professor of Practice and a Senior Global Futures Scientist in the College of Global Futures. Dr. Batten has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Oberlin College and master’s and doctoral degrees in ecology from U.C. Davis.
In addition to her roles at Arizona State University, Dr. Batten runs a climate change and sustainability consulting practice. She also serves on the board of Unite Oregon, a non-profit organization led by people of color, immigrants and refugees, rural communities, and people experiencing poverty that is dedicated to working across Oregon to build a unified intercultural movement for justice. In previous roles, Dr. Batten led a company-wide initiative to increase the climate resilience of Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E’s) operations, infrastructure, and customers. Dr. Batten also served as a political appointee in the Obama Administration, as the Global Climate Change Coordinator at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she led the agency’s efforts to implement climate-resilient, low-carbon sustainable development programs in more than 40 countries, and as science advisor to the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. She also held positions in the offices of Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Joe Lieberman, U.C. Davis, and Center for American Progress.
Staff and Researchers
Karen Loschiavo
Program Manager
Karen is an alumni of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at ASU, a degree which propelled her towards a career in marketing and communications for local political campaigns with a slight detour as a project manager for the family software business.
After teaching herself to build websites, Karen started her own marketing firm in 2020 to build websites and communications strategies for political campaigns and small businesses. She joined JET in 2023 to allow her to pursue her passion for building an equitable future as we face the impacts climate crisis.
She's a mother, a wife, an avid hiker and is happiest spending time in Arizona's deserts. She is adamant about conservation and influencing others to see the climate crisis for what is is: an opportunity to build a better future and a better way of doing things where everyone and everything can thrive.
Mamelang Mela
Research Associate
Mamelang is a PhD student in the Sustainable Energy program at the School of Sustainability with an interest in the justice implications of energy transitions. She is particularly interested in exploring the intersection of renewable energy, environmental justice and climate policy, with a focus on how South Africa plans to diversify its coal-dependent energy mix through market mechanisms. She's also interested in investigating the inclusion of coal-dependent communities in policymaking in the context of a just transition framework in the decarbonization process.
Prior to her PhD, she earned an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies and French in Oregon and worked on national and state level climate advocacy campaigns across the U.S., emphasizing community engagement and environmental justice in climate policy. Her experiences in climate communications enhance her ability to bridge technical and public understanding.
Ritvik Shukla
Graduate Research Assistant
Ritvik is an Environmental Social Science PhD student in Arizona State University’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change. Ritvik has also attained a Bachelor’s in Environment and Natural Resources from Ohio State University and a Master’s in Earth and Environmental Resources Management from University of South Carolina. His research interests lie in the development of just and equitable energy systems. In his ongoing dissertation project, he is interested in assessing how polycentric governance can allow for a equitably distributed electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Maricopa County. Some of his past work has investigated how communities frame wind farms and natural gas pipelines and how framing can influence procedural and recognitional justice for host communities. He has also worked closely with the United Nations’ Environmental Programme in developing the 2022 edition of “Measuring Progress: Environment and SDGs.” These experiences have allowed him to gain experience working with local as well as multinational stakeholders.
Liliana Caughman, PhD
JET Affiliated Faculty
Liliana is an Assistant Professor in American Indian Studies at Arizona State University. They are a Global Futures Scholar and Faculty with the Earth Systems Science for the Anthropocene (ESSA) network. Dr. Caughman's research uses anti-colonial methods and values to explore how processes relate to outcomes, specifically in collaborative and community-based transformation and climate justice initiatives. They are interested in procedural justice, and the ability of cooperative and iterative practices to achieve equitable and lasting transformation.
Dr. Caughman serves as Co-PI for Weaving Relations, an NSF Racial Equity in STEM grant focused on team science experience for Indigenous and Latinx graduate scholars. They are also on the leadership team for the NOAA Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) Climate Adaptation Partnerships (CAP) Program in the Pacific Northwest. This work supports the development of knowledge, expertise, and abilities of Tribal and rural decision makers to plan and prepare for climate variability and change.
Outside of work, Liliana enjoys spending time outdoors exploring the world with her spouse and son, as well as cooking and eating Puerto Rican food as a way connect with her culture and ancestors.