On Thursday, March 27, 2025, CGS Research Director Ryna Cui, CGS Associate Research Professor Christoph Bertram, CGS Assistant Research Director Jiehong Lou, and CGS Assistant Research Professor Mengye Zhu, were honored at the University of Maryland (UMD) Research Excellence Celebration for their exemplary work and their commitment to making the University a global leader on climate research.
At this annual ceremony, the dean of each UMD college and school selects one faculty member who best exemplifies research excellence. Notably, CGS Research Director Ryna Cui was honored as an Exemplary Researcher for her cutting-edge research on climate change and clean energy deployment, international and national policy engagement, and global collaboration on a wide range of climate policy issues and research.
Learn more about all of CGS’s awardees!
Exemplary Researcher
Ryna Cui, Associate Research Professor; Research Director, CGS
- Ryna Cui, PhD, is an internationally recognized expert on global integrated assessment modeling of climate change, high-ambition transition pathways, fossil phaseout strategies, and US-China climate cooperation.
- Cui’s research has directly informed climate policymaking in the United States and its bilateral climate engagement with China, Indonesia, and other countries. Cui also recently participated as one of five external experts in the official US-China Energy Sub-Working Group under Sunnyland.
- Cui’s leadership at CGS has been central to establishing CGS's global reputation for its high-quality, high-impact, collaborative research on U.S. and international climate policy.
- 2024 highlights the development of round three Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, where CGS's extensive country modeling and in-depth assessments provided the central analysis to inform the third US NDC and a respected and core reference on climate ambition for the United Nations and major governments around the world.
- As the China Program Co-Lead, Cui also manages the development and implementation of CGS's China program portfolio.
Research Excellence Award
Christoph Bertram: Associate Research Professor, CGS
- Christoph Bertram, PhD, specializes in climate change policies and mitigation strategies, especially in the energy sector, both globally and in major economies.
- Bertram’s specific areas of interest focus on the interrelationship of mid-term climate policies and long-term policy goals, including questions of carbon lock-in; national energy and climate policies and targets, including nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and net-zero targets; broader sustainability impacts of mitigation pathways; and how to use mitigation scenarios to assess economies' and companies' transition risks.
- Bertram has more than ten years of experience in integrated assessment modeling and model intercomparison and has had leading roles in various international projects, including the scenarios project of the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) and ENGAGE, and was a contributing author for Chapters 3 and 15 of IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report (AR6).
Research Excellence Award
Jiehong Lou: Assistant Research Professor; Assistant Research Director; Indonesia Program Co-Lead, CGS
- Jiehong Lou, PhD, is an expert in climate finance and carbon finance, energy economics, environmental policy, energy policy, sustainable development, equity, and transportation justice.
- Lou’s research focuses on mobilization of private finance in financing climate action, corporate motivations for carbon project investment, evaluation of co-benefits from climate finance projects, measurement of different types of risks in climate finance and investment needs, behavioral change interventions on energy consumption, and how transportation accessibility imposes disparate impacts on different economic and minority groups.
- As the Indonesia Program Co-Lead, Lou manages the development and implementation of CGS's Indonesia Program portfolio.
Research Excellence Award
Mengye Zhu: Assistant Research Professor; China Program Co-Lead, CGS
- Mengye Zhu, PhD, specializes in the energy transition and climate mitigation, particularly from a political economy perspective, as well as non-CO2 mitigation.
- Zhu conducts analysis and policy engagement to enhance understanding of the opportunities and critically needed impact of rapid mitigation of non-CO2 gases, particularly methane.
- As the China Program Co-Lead, Zhu manages the development and implementation of CGS's China Program portfolio.
