Samantha Sekar

Samantha (Samy) Sekar is a Ph.D. student in the interdisciplinary environment and resources program and a David and Lucille Packard Foundation Fellow. She researches how to estimate public opinion at state and local levels, so that public opinion data is more relevant for policymakers. She also studies how people form their attitudes toward climate change and how those attitudes shape civic behavior, such as voting or donations to environmental organizations.

Prior to joining Stanford University, Samy was a research assistant for the environmental policy think tank, Resources for the Future, where she worked on the team which helped design President Obama's Clean Power Plan. She also completed Masters degrees in environmental science and applied economics from The Ohio State University, during which she conducted a two-year research project in rural India testing the impacts of a carbon negative soil amendment on soil quality and crop growth. Samy was a recipient of the national Morris K. and Stewart L. Udall Scholarship for her work as a leader on environmental issues, advocating for numerous sustainability initiatives on campus as well as working with state policy makers to support clean energy development in Ohio.