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Event Details:
We are proud to recognize alumni for their highly significant contributions to addressing today’s sustainability challenges and building awareness about the solutions. Join us in celebrating the 2025 Alumni Award recipients' impact on the Stanford community and worldwide.
Join us as we celebrate the 2025 Alumni Award recipients, Jan Pepper, ’76, MBA ’81, Distinguished Alumni Award, and Narasimha D. Rao, PhD ’11, Early- to Mid-Career Alumni Award.
Jan Pepper, ’76, MBA ’81, is the founder of 4 energy-related start-ups, and was the founding CEO of Peninsula Clean Energy from 2016 to 2023. During her tenure there, she advanced the forward-looking goal of delivering 100% renewable energy on a 24/7 basis at no additional cost. With a legacy of industry-leading innovations, her other ventures include APX, where she developed and implemented the first use of renewable energy credits, now the standard currency for trading and tracking renewable power; and Clean Power Markets, which designed and implemented the Solar Renewable Energy Credit program for the state of New Jersey. Pepper served 8 years on the Los Altos City Council and was the mayor in 2015 and 2020. In 2017, she was named Green Power Leader of the Year by the U.S. EPA and the Center for Resource Solutions. She is currently a visiting scholar at the Precourt Institute for Energy.
Narasimha D. Rao, PhD ’11, is a Professor of Energy Systems at the Yale School of the Environment. His research examines the relationship between energy systems, human wellbeing and climate change. His project Decent Living Energy quantifies the energy needs and climate impacts of eradicating poverty around the world by blending economics and engineering with ethical analysis. His current focus is on investigating the barriers to household electrification and clean technology adoption in energy transitions. He is a lead author on the IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report and has been a Lead Author on the UN Emissions Gap Report 2023. He has testified at a Congressional House Sub-Committee hearing and served on multi-stakeholder panels at the UN Social and Economic Council. His work has been supported by the European Research Council, National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency and other organizations.
He is also a Senior Research Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). He received his PhD from Stanford University E-IPER program in Environment and Resources, and Master’s in Technology Policy and Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Event Schedule:
4:00 p.m. Reception and Undergraduate Summer Research Poster Presentations
5:00 p.m. Award Ceremony