Daniel Sperling

Daniel Sperling (born March 27, 1951, in Albany, New York, United States) is the American founding Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis (ITS-Davis); Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Professor of Environmental Science and Policy; and Faculty Director of the Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy at the University of California, Davis.

[3] In 1991, Sperling founded the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, bringing government, industry, and nongovernmental organizations together to conduct groundbreaking scientific research, and better inform environmental and transportation policy makers.

[14] In 2010, he was one of ten recipients of the 16th Annual Heinz Award with special focus on global change.

[15] He is one of two winners of the 2013 Blue Planet Prize by the Asahi Glass Foundation of Tokyo, which is described as the “Nobel prize for the environmental sciences.”[16] In 2013, he served as chair of the California Fuel Cell Partnership, a public-private organization aimed at promoting the commercialization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

[17] Since 1981, Prof. Sperling has authored more than 200 technical papers and 12 books,[18] including Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainability published in 2009.