Jennifer Burney

Jennifer Burney is an American environmental scientist who works to make technology cleaner and cheaper. She is a professor at the University of California, San Diego. The National Geographic Society named her an Emerging Explorer. She has explored climate and energy problems around the world. Burney earned a doctorate degree in physics from Stanford University. She also helped to create a superconducting camera to take photos of space during her time at Stanford. Something that is superconducting means that it is a machine that conducts electricity. She helped rebuild in Nicaragua after a hurricane in 1998. Burney won the 2017 American Geophysical Union award at the fall meeting.

Burney started working with an organization called the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF). Their mission was to make a sustainable drip irrigation system after she graduated. Sustainability is keeping natural resources available for future generations. Irrigation is the water that is used to help crop growth. Burney continued working with SELF to address fuel shortages and make long-term diesel and generator prices cheaper. SELF created three systems that helped increase food security in Benin with the help of Burney. Schools in the village started to teach about the systems. Burney is currently working on a project to replace stoves with cleaner technology.