Jay Gulledge

Jay Gulledge is a visiting professor of the practice in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame.

Gulledge is an interdisciplinary policy practitioner with more than two decades of experience bridging science, evidence-based policy, and practice across government, civil society and academia. Trained as a systems ecologist (Ph.D., University of Alaska Fairbanks), he applies a solutions-focused approach to complex environmental and social challenges.

Gulledge is the director of scientific programs at PSE Healthy Energy, an independent research institute that advances energy and climate solutions to protect public health and the environment. He leads a team of interdisciplinary researchers working across five practice areas: clean energy transition, environmental public health, climate, energy equity, and oil and gas.

Gulledge began his policy career at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, where he advised business and policy leaders on the science and societal impacts of climate change. His collaborations with security analysts informed the first U.S. National Intelligence Assessment on Climate Change and subsequent defense legislation. For this work, the American Geophysical Union awarded him the Charles S. Falkenberg Award for contributions linking earth science to improved quality of life, economic opportunity, and planetary stewardship.

As director of the Environmental Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Gulledge oversaw a $70 million research portfolio spanning climate change, bioenergy, energy efficiency, environmental health and safety, and sustainability. He later served as a climate change advisor in the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance, where he established an international community of practice on climate and democracy and developed tools to enable USAID foreign service staff to integrate environmental interventions into governance strategies.

Gulledge has testified to Congress, organized congressional briefings, addressed corporate boards, and presented in national and international forums. Major media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and ABC World News with Diane Sawyer have interviewed him.

News & Media

• New visiting professors bring vast policy expertise to Keough School