Dr. Jason O’Leary has been deeply immersed in solar data and policy over the past 12 years. During this time, he has worked closely with scientists, researchers, policymakers, and business interests related to Solar PV. As such, one of his key skills is translating and communicating knowledge between these different worlds and stakeholder engagement.
Jason thrived as a researcher within academic research bodies at ASU (QESST, Center for Energy & Society, Social Energy Atlas) where he earned his doctorate from the “Human and Social Dimensions of Science & Technology” program at ASU’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society (SFIS). He also holds a Professional Science Master’s degree in Science and Technology Policy as well as a Bachelor’s degree in communications. His research deals with the geographic distribution of solar PV using solar data, census data, GIS, and mixed methods.
One of Jason’s favorite projects involved creating an agent-based model (ABM) to simulate the spread of solar PV throughout society like a virus, controlling for policy and economic variables. His passion for solar data and policy brought him to work with PV Intel. He’s driven by a desire to compile all the data, curate it, analyze it, and make it easily accessible to folks who need to understand what’s going on in the solar landscape.
As we use solar and other renewable technologies to transform our energy systems and all the systems in which we live, Jason considers what kind of future we are creating and for whom? How are the very foundations of our society changing alongside energy transitions? How can we use better quality data and informatics to make better decisions and co-produce better outcomes for more people in our rapidly changing world?