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Fall 2022 Rubenstein Lecture Features Energy Expert and Author Alice Hill
Energy expert and author Alice Hill will deliver the Rubenstein Distinguished Lecture at Duke University on Nov. 7, the kickoff to Energy Week at Duke.
Hill is senior fellow for climate change policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, where her work focuses on risks, consequences, and responses associated with climate change. She will present “Powering a Resilient Future” on Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. at Griffith Film Theater on campus and via livestream on YouTube.
This event reflects the Duke Climate Commitment, which unites the university’s education, research, operations and public service missions to address the climate crisis. The commitment builds on Duke’s longstanding leadership in climate, energy and sustainability to educate a new generation of climate-fluent innovators and create equitable solutions for all.
This event is free and open to the public, but no-cost tickets are available through the Duke Box Office. A catered networking reception will follow the lecture.
The event will also be livestreamed and recorded. For the YouTube livestream, visit on Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. Or find the livestream on Facebook.
Hill previously served as special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council staff where she led the development of national policy to build resilience to catastrophic risks, including climate change and biological threats. Her co-authored book, Building a Resilient Tomorrow, was published in 2019. Hill’s new book, The Fight for Climate After COVID-19, was published in September 2021.
In 2009, Hill served as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in which she led the formulation of DHS's first-ever climate adaptation plan and the development of strategic plans regarding catastrophic biological and chemical threats, including pandemics.
While at the Department of Homeland Security, Hill founded and led the internationally recognized anti-human trafficking initiative, the Blue Campaign. Hill served as a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution from 2016 to 2019, during which time she was awarded the National Institute of Building Sciences’ President’s Award and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center Writing Fellowship.
In 2016, Harvard University’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative also named her Meta-Leader of the Year. Earlier in her career, Hill served as supervising judge on both the superior and municipal courts in Los Angeles and as chief of the white-collar crime prosecution unit in the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s office. The Department of Justice awarded her its highest accolade, the John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement.
Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Axios, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, CNN, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Nature, and Lawfare, among others. Hill is also a contributing author to the book, Standing Up for a Sustainable World: Voices of Change, edited by Claude Henry, Johan Rockström, and Nicholas Stern.
The Rubenstein Lecture will kick off 2022 Energy Week at Duke University by exploring how resilience intersects with the climate-energy nexus and an equitable clean energy transition. Energy Week at Duke brings students, faculty, and industry professionals together for a week of energy events to promote collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and professional networking.
This year’s theme is the Energy-Climate Nexus (aligned with Duke University’s Climate Commitment this September), and the event’s student organizers are hoping to use this week as an opportunity to engage students and community members who may not already be interested in energy by focusing on its role in creating, and addressing, the climate crisis. Learn more about Energy Week at Duke: https://www.energyweekatduke.org/
Hill's talk is the fall 2022 David M. Rubenstein Distinguished Lecture of the Sanford School of Public Policy. David M. Rubenstein is a Duke alumnus and former chair of Duke’s Board of Trustees. The David M. Rubenstein Distinguished Lecture brings high-profile thought leaders and policy makers to campus each year. More info about the Sanford Distinguished Lecture Series.
This event reflects the Duke Climate Commitment, which unites the university’s education, research, operations and public service missions to address the climate crisis. The commitment builds on Duke’s longstanding leadership in climate, energy and sustainability to educate a new generation of climate-fluent innovators and create equitable solutions for all.