Our Upcoming Events
Mar 9 | 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Oil and Gas in the Energy Transition
SAIS Energy and Environment Presents: Oil & Gas in the Era of Energy Transition: A Discussion with Michael Cohen and Douglas Hengel. Join us to discuss how fossil fuels fit into the global clean energy transition with Professors Michael Cohen and Douglas Hengel. Prof. Cohen and Prof. Douglas will engage in a conversation on the role of oil and gas in the era of the energy transition. Following their discussion, the floor will open for a Q&A session with students. Michael Cohen is Chief US Economist and Head of Oil Analysis in BP’s Group Economics team. In this role, he is responsible for oil, transportation, and US energy policy related analysis in BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy and Energy Outlook. The Economics team helps inform decision making for BP’s board and executive team as well as for the Upstream, Downstream, Government Affairs, Trading, and Fuels/Marketing businesses. Prior to joining BP in May 2019, Mr. Cohen was Barclays’ Global Head of Commodities Research and was responsible for preparing and delivering differentiated research on commodities markets to Barclays’ global corporate and institutional investor client base. He worked for a decade in the public sector as an Economist with the US Energy Information Administration, the Department of Energy’s Office of Policy and International Affairs, as well as two years in Paris as a senior member of the Oil Markets Division at the International Energy Agency. Prior to government service, Mr. Cohen worked on electricity market design for LECG (now Navigant) and as a trading desk analyst for American Electric Power. He graduated with a BSBA in Business Economics and a BA in Political Science from The Ohio State University and a Masters in International Economics from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Douglas Hengel is a former American diplomat who worked extensively on economic and energy issues, including as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy, Sanctions and Commodities. In that capacity, his responsibilities included formulating and advancing U.S. international energy policy and being a member of the Governing Board of the International Energy Agency in Paris. Mr. Hengel served at the U.S. Embassies in Rome, Bratislava, Prague, Lima, and Caracas, in addition to a variety of assignments in Washington. In addition to teaching The Geopolitics of Energy at Johns Hopkins SAIS, Mr. Hengel works with a trade association for the U.S. LNG industry and as an energy consultant. He is also a Visiting Fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States.
(Sign in to see the location)
Mar 11 | 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Forests Under Fire: Illegal Deforestation and the Security Crisis in the Amazon, Featuring Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown
Join SAIS Energy and Environment Club and SAIS Latin America Studies Club for a conversation on illegal deforestation in the Amazon and the global security, governance, and development challenges it presents on Wednesday, March 11, from 12:00–1:30pm at Johns Hopkins SAIS. Our distinguished guest speaker guiding us through these complexities is Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown. The Amazon rainforest—often described as the “lungs of the planet”—sits at the center of global climate stability. Yet illegal logging, land grabbing, illicit mining, and wildlife trafficking continue to erode its ecosystems at alarming rates. Beyond biodiversity loss and carbon emissions, environmental crime in the Amazon fuels corruption, strengthens nonstate armed actors, undermines state legitimacy, and threatens Indigenous communities whose livelihoods depend on forest protection. As Latin American governments confront competing pressures—economic development, political fragmentation, criminal networks, and international climate commitments—critical questions emerge: Why do enforcement gaps persist despite national and international pledges? How do illicit economies entrench themselves in fragile governance systems? And what role can international institutions, foreign policy, and security cooperation play in countering environmental crime without exacerbating local vulnerabilities? Vanda Felbab-Brown is a senior fellow in the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. She directs the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors and co-directs the Africa Security Initiative. An internationally recognized expert on insurgency, organized crime, illicit economies, and governance in conflict-affected settings, Dr. Felbab-Brown’s research examines how criminal networks, armed groups, and weak institutions intersect to shape political order. Her work increasingly focuses on environmental crime—including wildlife trafficking, illegal logging, and resource extraction—and the ways these activities undermine state capacity, security, and sustainable development. She is the author of several influential books, including The Extinction Market: Wildlife Trafficking and How to Counter It and Militants, Criminals, and Warlords: The Challenge of Local Governance in an Age of Disorder. Her field research spans Latin America, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, and she regularly provides congressional testimony and expert analysis on transnational crime and governance. Dr. Felbab-Brown received her PhD in political science from MIT and her bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard University.
(Sign in to see the location)
