James D. Coan

James D. Coan is a research associate for the Energy Forum at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. His research interests include renewable energy, U.S. strategic energy policy and international relations. Coan has previously interned at the Energy and National Security Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Transportation Program of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, and Sentech Inc., an alternative energy consulting firm. In 2008, Coan was a winner in the Presidential Forum on Renewable Energy Essay contest. He also was awarded second place two years in a row in The Brookings Institution Hamilton Project Economic Policy Innovation Prize Competition for proposals concerning coal-to-liquids fuel (2007) and a program similar to the “Cash for Clunkers” idea passed by Congress (2008). Coan graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and received a certificate in environmental studies. His thesis estimated the impact of an oil shock on subjective well-being, a measure of happiness and life satisfaction, in the United States.