Varun Sivaram

Dr. Varun Sivaram is a physicist, bestselling author, and clean energy technology expert with experience spanning the corporate, policy, and academic sectors—most recently as Chief Technology Officer of ReNew Power Limited, a multi-billion dollar renewable-energy firm that is India's largest. He is currently a visiting senior fellow at the Columbia University Center for Global Energy Policy and was formerly fellow & director of the energy program at the Council on Foreign Relations, senior energy advisor to the Los Angeles Mayor and New York Governor, professor at Georgetown University, and consultant at McKinsey & Co. TIME Magazine named him to its TIME 100 Next list of the next hundred most influential people in the world. His books include "Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet" (MIT Press, 2018), "Digital Decarbonization: Promoting Digital Innovations to Advance Clean Energy Systems" (CFR Press, 2018), and "Energizing America: A Roadmap to Launch a National Energy Innovation Mission" (Columbia University, 2020). A Rhodes and Truman Scholar, he holds a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from Oxford University and undergraduate degrees from Stanford University.