Leading the U.S. Energy Information Administration in a Time of Rapid Change

Joe DeCarolis Head and Professor, Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University Abstract: In this talk, I reflect on my tenure as Administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, during a period of rapid technological change, geopolitical disruption, and heightened scrutiny of federal data. I will discuss the priorities that guided my leadership: strengthening transparency in EIA’s data and analytic products and expanding the agency’s long-term modeling capabilities. I will highlight several initiatives launched in pursuit of these priorities, including construction of a new data center, development of an EIA data dictionary, new data collection on cryptocurrency mining, open-sourcing of model code, and launch of a next-generation energy system model. The talk offers an inside view of how a federal statistical agency operates and reflects on the challenges of maintaining analytic integrity and public trust in a rapidly evolving energy landscape. Speaker Biography: Joe DeCarolis is a Professor and Head of the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. His research is focused on conducting rigorous and impartial energy systems analysis to inform sustainable energy system development. From 2022 to 2025, he served in a Senate-confirmed role as Administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, one of the thirteen principal statistical agencies within the U.S. federal government. Under his leadership, EIA prioritized transparency and accessibility of its products and embarked on a bold new effort to revamp its long-term modeling program. From 2008 to 2025, he served as a professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at NC State University.