EEI_NEW_LOGO_HEADER

MTRP People

headshot of sarah outcault

Sarah Outcault, Ph.D. – Director

Sarah Outcault is the Director of the Market Transformation Research Program. Dr. Outcault designs and implements studies and experiments to explore the drivers of technology adoption, use and maintenance, as well as opportunities for market intervention. She works in a wide range of contexts – e.g, disadvantaged communities, commercial dairies, schools, sustainable communities – in California and abroad, to understand the needs and constraints of stakeholders and ensure that solutions are designed to address them. 

Prior to joining UC Davis, Dr. Outcault worked as an Assistant Policy Analyst at the RAND Corporation, where she also conducted her doctoral research on financial decision-making through the lens of behavioral economics and policy analysis. Previously, she worked as a consultant at Econ One Research, advising on infrastructure policy for governments, NGOs, and the private sector in Africa, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Dr. Outcault has a Ph.D. in Policy Analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School, an M.Sc. in Economic History from the London School of Economics.

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sarah-Outcault 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-outcault-62185168/ 

Email: smoutcault@ucdavis.edu 

Angela Sanguinetti photo with red background

Angela Sanguinetti, Ph.D. – Faculty Researcher

Angela Sanguinetti is a Faculty Researcher with an emphasis in Environmental Psychology. Dr. Sanguinetti directs the Consumer Energy Interfaces Lab (cEnergi.ucdavis.edu), which focuses on the topic of eco-feedback–interfaces that provide information about natural resource use (e.g., energy feedback) to consumers with the aim of promoting more resource-responsible behavior. Her research interests center on how the design of the built environment, including our neighborhoods, homes, and vehicles, impacts our behavior and well-being. Outside of UC Davis,  she is also Director of the Cohousing Research Network, which seeks to increase the rigor and reach of research on collaborative neighborhoods. 

Dr. Sanguinetti has an M.S. in Psychology with an emphasis in Behavior Analysis from CSU Stanislaus, and a Ph.D. in Planning, Policy and Design with an emphasis in Design-Behavior Research from UC Irvine’s School of Social Ecology in 2013. 

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Angela-Sanguinetti 

Email: asanguinetti@ucdavis.edu 

Eli Alston-Stepnitz, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Researcher

Eli Alston-Stepnitz is a Postdoctoral Researcher and holds a Ph.D. in Sociology. Prior to UC Davis, he worked as a researcher in the Health Equity Institute at San Francisco State University. Dr. Alston-Stepnitz’s work focuses on decarbonization and electrification, in particular how new clean technologies interact with social systems, groups, and individuals. He is particularly interested in the ways different technologies intersect with access and equity, and the ways in which the tech, as well as the policies and programs created to support adoption, can be designed to enhance access and reduce disparities. He has worked on several different projects related to electrification including ones focused on heat pumps, HVAC, air quality, solar PV, EVs, AFVs, and micromobility vehicles.

Email: ecalstonstepnitz@ucdavis.edu

Ellian Eorwyn, M.A.,M.S. – Graduate Student Researcher

Ellian Eorwyn is a Ph.D. candidate in the Sociology department at the University of California, Davis. They hold an M.A. in Sociology and an M.S. in Science and Technology Studies. As part of the MTRP team, they have contributed to projects on heat pumps, data center efficiency, waste heat recovery for pasteurization, and other emerging technologies, often serving as a translator between social scientists and engineers. Their academic work, rooted in the sociology of knowledge, social epistemology, and STS, focuses on the intersection of dominant and marginalized epistemologies. Prior to their current studies, they produced research on the social impacts of engineering and design standards, the lives and knowledge of appliance repair workers, and the history of mechanical testing and labor. Ellian’s work across these contexts benefits from their interdisciplinary training, mixed-methods approach, and technical expertise gained over 10 years of work in IT.
 

Emily Searl, M.A. – Graduate Student Researcher

Emily Searl is a Ph.D. candidate in the Sociology department at the University of California, Davis. As part of the MTRP team, she uses a variety of methodologies to research the connections between energy technologies, consumer behaviors, policies, and programs. Through her ongoing work at WCEC, Emily has contributed to projects spanning a wide variety of energy technology topics.These include projects about community virtual power plants, commercial energy product procurement, the non-energy benefits of heat pumps, interdisciplinary approaches to energy poverty, rural youth usage of micromobility, and best practices for engaging energy research participants. In addition to her work at the Western Cooling Efficiency Center, Emily conducts research at the nexus of family, employment, and social stratification. Her ongoing dissertation research focuses on the experiences of parents who work remotely for nonprofit organizations.
 
 
Shahar Zach

Shahar Zach, M.A. – Graduate Student Researcher

Shahar Zach is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology department at the University of California, Davis. As a researcher with the MTRP team, his work focuses on developing data-driven methods to support energy program design, evaluation, and technology adoption. He works across a range of projects spanning load flexibility, heat pump adoption, and emerging energy systems, using statistical modeling, experimental design, and computational approaches—including applied AI architectures.

In parallel, his dissertation research uses network-based methods to study belief formation and polarization across social groups. His work examines how shared structures of belief emerge and evolve, even when groups differ in the strength and consistency with which those structures are held.

 

Alan Meier, Ph.D. – Senior Scientist

Alan Meier is a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Adjunct Professor at UC Davis in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, and a faculty researcher at the UC Davis Energy and Efficiency Institute. Previous appointments include four years as a senior advisor at the International Energy Agency in Paris and as a postdoctoral fellow at Waseda University in Tokyo. His research focuses on understanding how people and equipment use energy and opportunities to reduce consumption. Meier’s research on “standby power use” in appliances—equal to 1% of global CO2 emissions—led him to propose an international plan to reduce standby power loss in all devices to less than 1 watt, which was endorsed by the G8 countries. He was Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Energy and Buildings, and the  founder of the magazine, Home Energy.  He is the author of many articles spanning technology, behavior, and policy, plus two two books, Supplying Energy through Greater Efficiency and Saving Electricity in a Hurry. Alan holds a Ph.D. in energy and resources from University of California, Berkeley.

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alan-Meier-2 

Email: akmeier@ucdavis.edu