Clare Sierawski won a Distinguished Alumni Award from Pitt’s Department of Geology and Environmental Science

Clare Sierawski, senior energy counselor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is this year’s recipient of the Department of Geology and Environment Science Distinguished Alumni Award.

Sierawski (A&S ’05) helps lead energy policy for the Rural Development mission at USDA, including helping develop, launch, and manage its $13 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding for clean energy in rural America.

Previously, she has served at the White House as a special assistant to the President for climate change finance, a lead on clean energy projects in West Africa for the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and an environmental policy advisor for the U.S. Department of Transporation.

A triple major in environmental studies, political science and Chinese at Pitt, Sierawski also earned her Master of Public Administration in environmental policy from Princeton University.

Adam Leibovich, Bettye J. and Ralph E. Bailey Dean of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and the College of General Studies, will present the award at 4 p.m. Nov. 16 in Thaw Hall 104. Sierawski will also present a talk: “Climate Change: What will make the difference?”