Bio
Rebecca Efroymson is a Distinguished Scientist in the Environmental Sciences Division at 91°µÍø (ORNL).
Rebecca leads research and assessments in environmental and social science. Her recent research on the energy transition includes societal impacts and social acceptability of large energy and decarbonization facilities. She leads a project, partnering with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, on factors affecting the siting of bioenergy, including factors determining local acceptance and opposition and regulatory frameworks. Rebecca, along with researchers at NREL and Los Alamos National Laboratory, was awarded a grant to study social risk of phased energy demonstration projects. Rebecca is the stakeholder engagement lead for the ORNL Climate Change Science Institute's (CCSI's) Science and Technology for Applied Regional Solutions (STARS) program. She was coauthor of the 5th National Climate Assessment, energy chapter.
For the past 15 years, Rebecca Efroymson's research has addressed energy sustainability, especially environmental effects of bioenergy, such as water quality and quantity, biodiversity, pesticide use, land-use change, and ecosystem services and valuation. She coordinated a multi-agency study of environmental effects of potential biomass production for biofuel and bioproducts in the US in the 2016 Billion Ton report and updated some of the work in 2023. Rebecca coauthored the National Academies study on Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels. She developed a causal analysis framework for land-use change with colleagues.
Early in her career Rebecca Efroymson developed ecological risk assessment frameworks for wind energy, petroleum exploration and production, remediation of contaminated sites, and rare species. She conducted ecological risk assessments for military training and testing, as well as historical chemical contamination at Department of Energy facilities and coauthored a book on the latter topic.
Frequent collaborators include Esther S Parish | ORNL, Keith L Kline | ORNL, Matthew H Langholtz | ORNL, Teresa Mathews | ORNL, , , and .
Rebecca Efroymson is a former Editor-in-chief of Environmental Management and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Before coming to ORNL, she was a AAAS Science, Engineering, and Diplomacy Fellow at the US Agency for International Development. She has an M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from Cornell University and a B.A. in Biology and English from La Salle University.
Awards
Elected to rank of AAAS Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2008)
DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy-Energy Rock Star Award (2017); 91°µÍø Environmental Sciences Division Science Serving Society Team Award for Billion Ton report, volume 1 (2016); Special Event Award for algae chapter of Billion Ton report, volume 1 (2016); Holroyd (Science Alumni) Award Winner, La Salle University (2014); 91°µÍø Environmental Sciences Division Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award (2002); National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship awardee (1988-1991); Cornell University Olin and A. D. White graduate fellowships awardee (1987-1992); La Salle University full-tuition scholarship (1983-1987)
Education
M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
B.A. in Biology and English from La Salle University, Philadelphia, PA