About the MIT Energy Initiative

Robert Stoner is the interim director of MITEI and founding director of the MIT Tata Center for Technology and Design. He was previously MITEI’s deputy director for science and technology. Stoner is currently a member of the MIT Energy Council. He also serves on the Board of Directors of, and the Science and Technology Committee of, the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, which oversees the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and as a member and secretary of the Global Commission to End Energy Poverty.

Stoner is the inventor of numerous computational and ultrafast optical measurement techniques and has built and managed successful technology firms in the semiconductor, IT, and optics industries. From 2007 through 2009, he lived and worked in Africa and India while serving in a variety of senior roles within the Clinton Foundation, including as the CEO of the Clinton Development Initiative, and director of the Clinton Climate Initiative for Africa. His present research at MIT focuses on solutions to energy poverty, and the design and optimization of energy systems and business models in the developing world. He earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from Queen’s University and Ph.D. from Brown University in condensed matter physics.

Christopher Knittel is the deputy director of policy at MITEI and the George P. Shultz Professor of Energy Economics in the Sloan School of Management MIT. He is also the director of MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, which has served as the hub for social science research on energy and the environmental since the late 1970s. Knittel is also a co-director of The E2e Project, a research initiative between MIT, UC Berkeley, and the University of Chicago, to undertake rigorous evaluation of energy efficiency investments. He joined the faculty at MIT in 2011, having taught previously at UC Davis and Boston University. At MIT, he teaches Energy Economics and Policy to undergraduates, MBA students, and graduate students from outside of the Sloan School of Management.

Martha Broad is MITEI’s executive director. As part of the leadership team, she works to link science, innovation and policy to transform the world’s energy systems. She has a track record of successfully partnering with business, government and nonprofit stakeholders to support the clean energy transition. At MITEI, she works closely with member companies who collaborate with MIT researchers on a spectrum of topics, including the Future Energy Systems Center.

In addition, she spearheads MITEI’s collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy to design, manage, and host the annual Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Women in Clean Energy Symposium and serves as a C3E Ambassador.

Previously, as part of the senior management team of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), Broad led programs and studies that focused on the commercialization of clean energy technologies. By collaborating with universities and public and private partners, she helped facilitate the state’s successful installation of hundreds of megawatts of wind and solar systems.

Antje Danielson is the Director of Education at the MIT Energy Initiative, where she directs existing energy programs—such as the MIT Energy Studies Minor and the Energy Fellows Program—conceives and oversees the development of new programs—such as the Future of Energy Systems online MicroMasters—and engages in interdisciplinary research related to transformation systems. She co-teaches energy- and climate-related classes, and leverages her extensive international network of like-minded academic and professional colleagues to accelerate climate change related capacity building.

Prior to her position at MIT, she directed the Institute of the Environment at Tufts University, where she was also an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health. From 2005 to 2008, she was the Deputy Director for Sustainability at the Centre for Research into Earth Energy Systems at Durham University in the UK, where she initiated a carbon capture and storage working group.

Danielson’s approach to finding climate solutions is systemic, interdisciplinary, collaborative, and entrepreneurial. She advances her goals through research, education, and implementation of solutions. In 1999/2000, she co-founded the car-sharing company Zipcar.

Danielson is a member of the Board of Directors of the Global Council for Science and the Environment and has also served as President of the U.S. Council for Environmental Deans and Directors. She received teaching awards from Harvard University and an Exceptional Contribution Award from Durham University.

Randall Field is executive director of the MITEI’s Future Energy Systems Center which examines the accelerating energy transition as emerging technologies, policies, demographics, and economics reshaping the landscape of energy supply and demand. He is also executive director of MIT’s Fusion Study examining the global multidecadal dynamics of the energy transition and how fusion energy can contribute to decarbonizing global energy systems. He was previously executive director for MITEI’s Mobility Systems Center, assessing the impact of transformations in vehicle and fuel technologies, service and business models, and consumer behavior in the movement of both passengers and goods. He was also executive director for MIT’s Mobility of the Future study which produced the Insights in the Future Mobility report covering global projections of alternative fuel vehicle fleets and energy consumption, deployment of charging and fueling infrastructure, attitudes towards mobility, and the impacts of innovative technologies and business models on urban mobility. As executive director for the Conversion Research Program at MIT for 10 years, Field worked with a multidisciplinary team of researchers to explore various conversion technologies for production of alternative fuels. Prior to MIT, Field worked for Aspen Technology for 23 years. Field received a SM in chemical engineering practice from MIT and a BS in chemical engineering from Caltech.

J.J. Laukaitis is the Director of Member Services at the MIT Energy Initiative, where he manages the growth of impactful collaborations between leading corporations and MIT faculty, researchers, and innovators.

J.J. has over 25 years of experience in engineering, product management, and large account sales management across multiple industries including mechanical design, software, electronics, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

During his industry career J.J. has led new revenue growth and business development initiatives at large established corporations and was a key contributor to early revenue generation and the IPO at PTC.

At MIT, J.J. has a track record of initiating and growing large, strategic engagements between industry partners and MIT, resulting in mutually beneficial research projects and technology commercialization initiatives. For 11 years, J.J. has worked closely with some of the largest and boldest initiatives across MIT, such as the MIT Energy Initiative, Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Systems Lab, and Advanced Manufacturing Initiatives.

J.J. received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University and a masters in Science from the MIT Sloan School of Management. J.J. is a graduate of Leader 2 Leader (L2L), MIT’s nationally-recognized development program for MIT leaders.

Heather Leet joined MITEI as the development officer in May of 2023 and has been privileged to spend the last 20 years helping donors fulfill their philanthropic wishes for several education, service, and humanitarian organizations. Prior to joining MITEI, Heather was the Director of Development at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.

Heather’s past fundraising has included a variety of organizations including the Old State House in Boston, Rotary International, and the United of Way of Metro Chicago. Heather has attributed her choice to support organizations that are making an impact on their communities and the world to her service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria, where she taught English as a second language and supported several student projects, including a Danube River pollutant research project by High School Students for which she raised funds from USAID.

Tom Melville joined MITEI as communications director in April, 2021. Before joining MITEI, he spent nine years at Boston’s NPR news station, WBUR, leading the largest public radio station newsroom in the United States. He directed reporting teams covering politics, the environment, healthcare, education, the arts, business/innovation/technology and investigations. He joined WBUR as executive editor of content in 2011, was promoted to news director in 2013 and to executive news director in 2015. Before joining WBUR, he was news director at the nation’s largest regional news channel, New England Cable News (NECN). At NECN, Melville rose through the ranks from reporter to executive producer and to assistant news director before being named news director in 2008. He was executive producer and co-writer of an NECN documentary film on hospice care, “Look for Me Here: 299 days in the life of Nora Lenihan,” which won more than a dozen regional, national and international awards, including the George Foster Peabody Award.

He began reporting the news at a radio station in his native Newton, Massachusetts when he was 16 years old. He covered sports at the Boston Herald-American while an undergraduate at Boston University. He served in the United States Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic, teaching vegetable gardening in the public schools in the town of El Valle. He is a graduate of Boston College Law School and holds a law license in Massachusetts.

Early in his career, Melville was a news reporter covering small town government at radio stations in New Hampshire. He covered agriculture and was weekend anchor at the ABC television station in Sioux City, Iowa. He was an anchor, reporter, producer and news director at the NBC television station in White River Junction, Vermont. He covered consumer news and the courts for the NBC television station in West Palm Beach, Florida. He then moved home to Boston to become chief political reporter for NECN.

Melville was also a consultant with the Boston-area media relations firm eMedia Junction, advising nonprofit and for-profit organizations on communications strategy, media training, content creation, storytelling, and crisis communications.

Robert Tolu has worked for 17 years in finance and previously sponsored award administration for Harvard University and Education Development Center. At MITEI, he serves as senior fiscal officer and is responsible for overseeing all financial matters, pre- and post-award, to ensure smooth operations and minimal surprises. Robert’s extensive experience includes work with the federal government, industry, and foundation funders.