Daniel Sperling (born March 27, 1951, in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

, United States) is the American founding director of the

Institute of Transportation Studies The Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS) at the University of California's Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, and Los Angeles campuses are centers for research, education, and scholarship in the fields of transportation planning and engineering. Facul ...

at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

(ITS-Davis); professor of civil and environmental engineering; professor of environmental science and policy; and faculty director of the Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy at the

Education

Sperling received his bachelor's degree in environmental engineering and urban planning from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1973, and his Ph.D. in transportation engineering from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

(with minors in economics, energy and resources) in 1982.

Career

From 1973 to 1975, he worked as an urban planner for the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. From 1976 to 1977 he worked as an environmental planner for the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...

. In 1991, Sperling founded the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, bringing government, industry, and nongovernmental organizations together to conduct groundbreaking scientific research, and better inform environmental and transportation policy makers. ITS-Davis is now home to more than 60 affiliated faculty and researchers and over 130 graduate students. In 2007, he was appointed to the

California Air Resources Board The California Air Resources Board (CARB or ARB) is an agency of the government of California that aims to reduce air pollution. Established in 1967 when then-governor Ronald Reagan signed the Mulford-Carrell Act, combining the Bureau of Air S ...

., and named co-director of the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard study. He is currently Vice Chair of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies and in 2015 he will be named Chair. He is currently an associate editor of the journal Transportation Research Part D He is also the Co-Director of the National Center for Sustainable Transportation, a

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

research, education, and outreach consortium aimed at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from passenger and freight travel.

Honors and awards

In 2004, Sperling was selected as a National Associate of the

National Academies A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, and serves as a public policy advisors, research ins ...

, an organization dedicated to advising the government and public on matters of science, technology, and health. He was appointed chair of the Council on the Future of Transportation for the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

in 2009. Sperling appeared on

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

to discuss the sustainable transportation issues spotlighted in Sperling’s book Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainability (2009). In 2010, he was one of ten recipients of the 16th Annual

Heinz Award The Heinz Awards are individual achievement honors given annually by the Heinz Foundations, Heinz Family Foundation. The Heinz Awards each year recognize outstanding individuals for their innovative contributions in three areas: the Arts, the Eco ...

with special focus on global change. He is one of two winners of the 2013

Blue Planet Prize The Blue Planet Prize recognises outstanding efforts in scientific research or applications of science that contribute to solving global environmental problems. The prize was created by the Asahi Glass Foundation in 1992, the year of the Rio Ear ...

by the Asahi Glass Foundation of Tokyo, which is described as the “Nobel prize for the environmental sciences.” In 2013, he served as chair of the California Fuel Cell Partnership, a public-private organization aimed at promoting the commercialization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

Research and publications

Since 1981, Prof. Sperling has authored more than 200 technical papers and 12 books, including Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainability published in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sperling, Daniel Living people 1951 births Cornell University alumni People from Albany, New York University of California, Davis faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni People of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Peace Corps people