Undergraduate research opportunity (3 credit hours) in energy justice and electric utilities
The link below directs you to the complete collection of recordings from the City of Lawrence, KS, meetings I attended as a board member.
🌱🏠 We are pushing forward at the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Board to make the City of Lawrence, KS, a more affordable and sustainable city.
📜 Our proposed rental energy benchmarking ordinance would:
✔ Ease housing stress by lowering monthly utility bills for renters.
✔ Require landlords to report annual energy use, creating transparency for renters.
✔ Use market incentives to encourage efficiency upgrades.
✔ Reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with Lawrence’s climate goals.
🔎 With more than half of Lawrence households renting — and many facing severe cost burdens — this is a step that connects climate action with housing equity.
🥰 I’m proud to work with my colleagues on ESAB to advance a policy that saves money, reduces emissions, and strengthens our community.
🌐 Read the coverage in the Lawrence Times here.
🌐 Read earlier updates:
⛓️💥 Lawrence Journal-World (July 28, 2025)
⛓️💥 Lawrence Journal-World (June 7, 2025)
This piece I wrote for ICMA, “Building Climate Resilience Starts with Local Government,” reflects on ideas developed together with my co-authors in our recent climate policy article. The argument is simple: internal governance culture—how a local government learns, anticipates, and adapts—may be just as important as financial capacity.
🥰 Grateful for Two Incredible Years of PMRA Service 🥰
🙂 On August 15th, my two-year term as Co-Director of the Secretariat at the Public Management Research Association (PMRA) came to a close. As I look back, my heart is full of gratitude for what has truly been one of the most formative and rewarding experiences of my doctoral journey.
🥰 Serving under the guidance of Dr. Zachary Mohr, former Director of Secretariat and Treasurer, and alongside such inspiring leaders—former President Dr. Robert Christensen, President Dr. Lael Keiser, Vice President Dr. Tina Nabatchi, Treasurer Dr. Khaldoun AbouAssi, Association Manager Kelly Mazzoli, our dedicated Board of Directors, and the Journal Editors—has been nothing short of transformative. Their leadership, mentorship, and collaboration shaped not only my contributions but also my growth.
🔎 Over the past two years, I’ve had the privilege of contributing to PMRA through:
➡️ Communications & Member Support – connecting with members through newsletters, announcements, and direct support
➡️ Digital Modernization – helping upgrade our digital infrastructure, including website, CRM, and job board
➡️ Conference & Award Support – working with committees, participants, and hosts to ensure successful events
➡️ Governance & Leadership – supporting the Board and Executive Committee
➡️ Community Presence – strengthening PMRA’s voice through newsletters and social media
🥰 I will cherish every moment of this work—the friendships made, the lessons learned, and the pride of helping grow and strengthen such a prestigious organization.
😃 Although my service as Co-Director has concluded, I’m thrilled to remain part of PMRA as a member of the Membership Committee—continuing to give back to this wonderful community that has given me so much.
😃 A fitting finale to my time with PMRA—while colleagues gathered in Seoul, I joined virtually from Rob Christensen’s laptop screen, proving that even in hybrid form, public management finds a way to keep us all connected.
❤️ To all the incredible colleagues I had the honor of working with, thank you for your collaboration, mentorship, and friendship—I wish you all a successful and impactful year ahead as you continue leading PMRA into its next chapter. 🙏💙
❤️ Robert Christensen
❤️ Lael Keiser
❤️ Zachary Mohr
❤️ Kellye Mazzoli
❤️ Tina Nabatchi
❤️ Khaldoun AbouAssi
❤️ Kimberley Isett
❤️ Sebastian Jilke
❤️ Janine O’Flynn
❤️ Sebawit Bishu
❤️ Jason Coupet
❤️ William Resh
❤️ Asmus Leth Olsen
❤️ Leisha DeHart-Davis
❤️ Nathan Favero
❤️ Sharon Gilad
❤️ George Krause
❤️ Amanda Rutherford
❤️ Lars Tummers
❤️ Ole Helby Petersen
❤️ Kim Sass Mikkelsen
❤️ Jessica Sowa
❤️ Mary Feeney
🥰 Honored to have been awarded the 2025–2026 Dwight D. Eisenhower/Clifford Roberts Graduate Fellowship by the Eisenhower Institute.
🌎 This nationally recognized fellowship supports research that advances understanding of government, public service, and world affairs. I’m deeply grateful for this support as I continue my dissertation work on energy justice and utility governance.
❤️ I owe deep thanks to the many who have supported me:
🔹 The Eisenhower Institute, for this incredible honor and for its continued commitment to developing informed leaders in public policy.
🔹 My extraordinary advisor, Dr. Rachel Krause, and the incomparable Dr. Zach Mohr— mentors, friends, role models, and a constant support system. I wouldn’t be here without their guidance and belief in me.
🔹 The KU School of Public Affairs & Administration and The University of Kansas, where I’ve grown as a scholar and public servant.
🔹 My brilliant and beautiful wife, whose support is the reason I can do this work.
🔹 And to everyone who has helped me along the way — I am profoundly grateful.
😇 I'm grateful for the opportunity to carry forward President Eisenhower’s legacy of public service through my work. ⚡📚
The New Energy Summer Summit 2025 was truly phenomenal! An unforgettable week at The Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society at Dartmouth, Dartmouth College, surrounded by brilliant minds from around the world — spanning social sciences, engineering, humanities, and natural sciences. Together, we explored everything from energy justice and equitable infrastructure to reimagining market design, cross-sector collaboration, and community-engaged research.
I left with a head full of ideas, a heart full of gratitude, and friendships and collaborations that will last a lifetime.
Deepest thanks to the exceptional Megan Litwhiler, PhD, Sarah Kelly, PhD, and all the mentors for making this experience so inspiring and seamless.
I recently spoke with the Lawrence Journal-World about a proposal currently under consideration by the City of Lawrence, KS, Environmental Sustainability Advisory Board (ESAB) that would make energy costs more transparent for renters. It would call on landlords to share average utility expenses during the housing search process, helping to ensure renters have access to crucial cost information upfront.
With energy prices on the rise and over half of Lawrence residents living in rental housing, this proposal is about more than just numbers on a bill. It’s about giving people the information they need to make informed decisions, while also creating space for and encouraging broader conversations about affordability and energy efficiency in our community.
This isn’t a final policy—it’s a starting point for community conversation. I’m grateful to LJW for covering it, and I hope it invites more voices into this important local dialogue.
Keasey, B. (2025, June 7). As energy gets more expensive in Lawrence, a KU researcher wants new ways to make tenants more aware of the costs [Interview with S. Mohsen Fatemi]. Lawrence Journal‑World. https://www2.ljworld.com/news/2025/jun/07/as-energy-gets-more-expensive-in-lawrence-a-ku-researcher-wants-new-ways-to-make-tenants-more-aware-of-the-costs/
Jun 7, 2025 - 5:00pm | Bremen Keasey | bkeasey@ljworld.com
Come summertime in Lawrence, it’s no surprise to hear the hum of air conditioning units turning on to beat the heat. But what might be a surprise to some residents is the electric bill they’re paying for it — and one KU researcher thinks there’s a way the city could help make people more aware.
As the Journal-World has reported, energy costs have been on the rise recently in Lawrence and the surrounding area. Evergy raised the electric rates in November 2023, and residential customers in the area were expected to see about a $4.60 per month increase, on average, in their electric bills from that. On top of that, Evergy projected rates could increase by as much as 9% by 2030 to fund two natural gas power plants and a solar project.
Meanwhile, Black Hills Energy, the largest natural gas provider in Lawrence, is seeking a rate increase that likely would add an extra $11 per month for residential customers later this year, as the Journal-World reported.
Those costs impact every Lawrence resident, but renters often face a higher burden than homeowners. Research from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a nonprofit research organization, found that rental units use 15% more energy per square foot than owner-occupied homes, and those rates are even higher in older buildings.
S. Mohsen Fatemi, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Kansas in the School of Public Affairs and Administration, serves on the city’s Environmental Sustainability Advisory Board, and he said the group has been exploring ways to decrease the high cost of energy, especially on renters. One step that could help renters, he said, would be creating a policy that would require landlords to disclose historical average utility costs to prospective tenants before a lease is signed.
Fatemi believes a policy like this would help empower renters by showing them what the full cost of a unit could be, as well as encouraging landlords to invest in basic energy-efficiency measures.
Although Fatemi acknowledged there are details to iron out with any such proposal, he believes with the rising costs in Lawrence, this is the time to get serious and think of solutions to decrease the burden of energy costs and find ways to be more efficient.
“I wanted it to be something we start a conversation with,” Fatemi said. “I think it could be a good first step.”
Several U.S. cities have already adopted some form of utility disclosure policy for tenants — from large Midwestern cities like Minneapolis and Chicago to the Southern college town of Gainesville, Fla. Fatemi said those policies promote transparency in housing costs and encourage energy efficiency.
Kansas law does require some landlords to provide “a written explanation of utility rates, charges and services to the prospective tenant,” but that doesn’t apply if the utility charges are “paid by the tenant directly to the utility company.”
In his research, Fatemi said he would hear from people who said they signed a lease at a place with a low monthly rent, but once they got the utility bills, they found out the rates were much higher than they anticipated.
Fatemi said around half of Lawrence residents are renters, and a report from KU’s Life Span Institute and the LiveWell Sexual Violence Prevention Work Group found in 2023, roughly 49% of area renters are “cost-burdened,” meaning that a third or more of their income goes toward paying their rent, as the Journal-World reported. As utility rates continue to rise, Fatemi said the increased cost for energy can lead to residents making hard decisions to keep on the electricity.
“An increased energy burden means skipping food, skipping medication, skipping medical care and stress and anxiety and everything that comes with it,” Fatemi said.
With those higher utility costs, local nonprofits have seen more people come in seeking helping paying those bills. The Ballard Center is just one Lawrence nonprofit that provides rental or utility payment assistance. Kyle Roggenkamp, the nonprofit’s CEO, said the demand for utility assistance has grown every year. This year, the group put an extra $40,000 aside “to try to meet some of the additional need.”
Another reason why many renters have seen an increased burden for their energy bills is how the units themselves are built, Fatemi said. Homes in the U.S. built in 2000 and later use 21% less energy for heating than older homes. This improvement is due to more efficient heating equipment and better building designs that comply with stricter energy codes.
In Lawrence, nearly 75% of the homes were built before that year, and many more rental units are older and inefficient, using more energy and costing more.
A key concept of Lawrence’s comprehensive plan, Plan 2040, is promoting responsible and energy efficient construction or remodels. Douglas County recently launched an energy savings hub website to help residents find incentives to make their properties more energy-efficient, as the Journal-World reported. But because owners of rental properties don’t live in their units, it makes it less likely that they could use those types of incentives to upgrade their units.
Fatemi thinks that having potential landlords disclose utility costs to tenants could create a market pressure for upgrades if renters can better compare the energy efficiency of units. A study from ACEEE found renters were 21% more likely to choose energy-efficient units when energy labels were provided.
“If I’m seeing one property getting 100 applications for one place, and my other one only getting one, it tells me something,” Fatemi said.
When Fatemi first introduced the discussion with the ESAB in April, many members were supportive of the idea, but they also raised practical concerns, including data access, privacy protections and the challenges of enforcement. Any discussion of policies will still take a lot of work, but he thinks it can be a good way to start working to lower energy burdens since it won’t be imposing any costs on stakeholders while working toward other more systemic solutions.
“I hope this can create a conversation in the community … but (this policy) is somewhere to start,” Fatemi said.
And Fatemi believes it is important to start talking about energy concerns sooner rather than later. Energy usage, in part because of a rise of data centers that use a lot of energy resources, is increasing while costs are going up. All of this is not only more burdensome on the power grid, but also makes it harder for people already facing financial burdens.
“(Costs) are on the rise,” Fatemi said. “We need to do something; otherwise, we’ll deal with the consequences.”
Thank you, Public Management Research Association (PMRA), for the recognition at #PMRC2025, in Seoul, South Korea! It’s been an incredible honor and a true privilege to serve as Co-Director of the Secretariat. Grateful to be part of such a vibrant and dedicated community advancing public management research.
🎉 Congratulations to my phenomenal co-authors, Dr. Rachel Krause, Dr. Le Anh Nguyen Long, Dr. Gwen Arnold, and Sara Ludwick!
❓ The piece asks, "What makes some cities go beyond the bare minimum in preparing for climate disasters, while others stall?"
💡 We find that cities with greater Transformative Governance Capacity—those that are proactive, learning-focused, and willing to take risks—are more likely to implement ambitious flood mitigation policies.
Heading back home from the 2025 Social Equity Leadership Conference
#2025SELC at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, Maryland. Presented my paper, “A pathway toward activating social equity in public administration education from the bottom up: The case of the energy and environmental justice educational and advocacy program,” and reconnected with wonderful friends, colleagues, and role models. Grateful for such a caring community.
😍🥳 Excited to have been selected to attend the 2025 New Energy Summer Summit, hosted by The Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society at Dartmouth!
📅 From June 22–25, I’ll join an incredible community of early-career energy and climate scholars to explore cross-disciplinary insights, strengthen our research, and collaborate on building a more just and sustainable energy future.
🥰 Grateful for this opportunity and excited to learn, connect, and contribute. 🎊
I’m genuinely excited to be part of the 2025 New Energy Summer Summit at Dartmouth College’s The Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society at Dartmouth this summer! ⚡🌍
This summit brings together a global, interdisciplinary cohort of early-career scholars working at the intersection of energy, climate, and justice. Over four days in Hanover, NH, we’ll dive into workshops, lightning talks, and collaborative sessions aimed at accelerating just and sustainable energy transitions.
Grateful to be part of this dynamic community—and counting down the days! 💡🌱
👨💼👩💼 2025 New Energy Summer Summit Participants:
➡️ Joy Adul – Doctoral Researcher, Chemical Engineering & Renewables, Penn State
➡️ Yasmin Afshar – PhD Scholar, Urban Planning & EV Infrastructure, ASU
➡️ Mathieu Blondeel – Asst. Prof., Global Energy Politics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
➡️ Brendan Davidson – PhD Candidate, Environmental Labor Politics, Colorado State
➡️ Ayda Donne – Doctoral Candidate, Indigenous Sovereignty & Energy, NYU
➡️ S. Mohsen Fatemi – PhD Candidate, Energy Justice & Governance, Univ. of Kansas
➡️ Adam Gallaher – Postdoc, Energy-Land Use Systems, Cornell
Mel George – Postdoc, Energy-Climate Policy & Modeling, Univ. of Maryland
➡️ Tommy George – PhD, Electrochemistry & CO₂ Removal, Harvard
➡️ Smitakshi Goswami – Grad Student, Solar Materials, Dartmouth
➡️ Prabhat Hegde – PhD Candidate, Climate Risk & Infrastructure, Dartmouth
➡️ Junsuh Kim – PhD Student, Renewable Energy Materials & Policy, MIT
➡️ Rafael Lembi – PhD Candidate, Energy Justice & Participation, Michigan State
➡️ Maitreyee Marathe – Lecturer, Power Systems & Access, UMass Amherst
➡️ Rodrigo Mercado Fernández – Asst. Prof., Sustainable Energy Policy, Loyola Chicago
➡️ Jorge Morales Guerrero – Postdoc, Community-Centered Energy Transitions, ASU
➡️ Nathaniel Otjen – Asst. Prof., Environmental Humanities & Extraction, Ramapo College
➡️ Joanna Ridgeway – Postdoc, Ecosystem-Climate Feedbacks, Dartmouth
➡️ Leo Rodriguez Segura – Postdoc, Electrochemical Conversion, Univ. of Pennsylvania
➡️ Rachel Sheinberg – PhD Candidate, Energy Equity & Grid Decarbonization, UCLA
➡️ Felipe Verastegui – PhD Student, Energy Systems & Market Design, Columbia
➡️ Kester Wade – PhD Candidate, Energy Equity & Electrification, Carnegie Mellon
➡️ Julia Wagner – Postdoc, Climate Finance & Housing Justice, Boston University
➡️ Dania Wright – Postdoc, Engineering & Environmental Justice, ASU
Yuting Yang – Asst. Prof., Climate Policy & Economics, Univ. of New Mexico
➡️ Weimin Zhang – PhD Candidate, Decarbonization & Energy Justice, Boston University
Excited to be selected as a 2025 Public Administration Theory Network Fellow! Grateful to join a cohort of scholars advancing critical research on government, governance, and public administration.
After more than two years of sustained effort, it is immensely gratifying to see the problem of rental energy burden gain traction on the policy agenda. I am honored to collaborate with my dedicated colleagues on the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Board at the City of Lawrence as we work to develop thoughtful solutions aimed at improving energy efficiency in the rental housing sector. At last night’s meeting, we explored the potential of a utility bill disclosure ordinance—an important step toward ensuring that prospective tenants are informed of average utility costs prior to signing a lease.
Great news for hiring committees: the wait is over. As of today, Mohsen Fatemi has officially advanced from PhD student to PhD candidate 😅—and and will be on the academic job market in Fall 2025, seeking a faculty position beginning in Fall 2026.
I’m deeply grateful to my committee—Dr. Rachel Krause, Dr. Dorothy Daley, Dr. Zach Mohr, Dr. Ward Lyles, and Dr. Tsvetan Tsvetanov—for their invaluable support and guidance in pushing my research forward. A heartfelt thank you as well to the amazing friends who showed up and cheered me on. And most importantly, to my incredible wife, Golnaz—none of this would have been possible without your love, patience, and unwavering support. 🥰❤️
It was also such a delight to receive a conditional acceptance on our paper the morning of my defense, which turned into a published piece, "Do cities with greater transformative governance capacity pursue more ambitious policies? Examining US cities through the lens of climate resiliency," and my very first leading author in Climate Policy, a few days later.
📢 New Publication! 📢 My first lead-author article has just been published in Climate Policy Journal! 🥳
🎉 Congratulations to my phenomenal co-authors, Dr. Rachel Krause, Dr. Le Anh Nguyen Long, Dr. Gwen Arnold, and Sara Ludwick!
❓ The piece asks, "What makes some cities go beyond the bare minimum in preparing for climate disasters, while others stall?"
💡 We find that cities with greater Transformative Governance Capacity—those that are proactive, learning-focused, and willing to take risks—are more likely to implement ambitious flood mitigation policies.
Presenting the preliminary results of my dissertation research at ASPA 2025.
Fatemi, S. M. (2025, March 28–April 1). Utility-scale social equity: Electric utility planning and energy justice [Paper presentation]. ASPA 2025 Conference, Washington, DC, United States.
OMG, is this even real?! I just received the acceptance email for my very first solo-authored research article, "A Pathway Toward Activating Social Equity in Public Administration Education from the Bottom Up: The Case of the Energy and Environmental Justice Educational and Advocacy Program," in the Journal of Public Affairs Education! And guess what? It only took a conditional accept 😍—which, according to my mentors, is rare (and apparently, I shouldn't get used to it... noted!😃).
🌹A huge THANK YOU to the amazing editors, Dr. Sarah Young and Dr. Sara Rinfret, for such a smooth and supportive review process. To the reviewers—your thoughtful, constructive, and encouraging feedback truly made this possible.
🌹Big shoutout to the Sierra Club for supporting this research and to my rockstar undergraduate research assistant, Sophia Pascente—your contributions were phenomenal!
💖A very special thank you to my incredible wife—your unwavering support means the world to me. And of course, the biggest thanks to my mentors, Dr. Rachel Krause, Dr. Zach Mohr, and Dr. Ward Lyles, whose guidance and encouragement have been invaluable every step of the way.
🥰I am so ridiculously happy right now that typing this is a challenge. Just wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who helped make this happen!
International Journal of Public Administration (IJPA)
I am deeply honored to have been mentioned in the invited essay of Management Matters and to be named alongside the esteemed George Frederickson. Serving the Public Management Research Association (PMRA) over the past couple of years has been a privilege, and I am truly humbled by this unexpected recognition of my contributions. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to my mentor, friend, and supervisor, Dr. Zach Mohr, for providing me with the opportunity to serve and for his invaluable guidance and support throughout this journey. Additionally, I would like to sincerely thank the PMRA Board, particularly the Executive Board, including President Dr. Robert Christensen, Vice President Dr. Lael Keiser, and Association Manager Kellye Mazzoli, for their exceptional leadership and support.
The 2024 APPAM was an incredible experience!
I had the opportunity to present two papers:
The first output of my doctoral dissertation on incorporating energy justice into utility planning.
A study on how local governments process information to prepare for environmental disasters.
I received invaluable feedback to refine and enhance my research.
I witnessed my amazing advisor and mentor receive the prestigious 2024 World Citizen Prize in Environmental Performance for her extraordinary contributions to the field.
I connected with so many brilliant researchers and colleagues, enriching my professional and personal journey.
I also had a wonderful time exploring National Harbor and the DC area with my incredible wife.
To top it off, I received the thrilling news that my first solo-authored paper received praise from reviewers and a thoughtful R&R.
A heartfelt thank you to APPAM for organizing this inspiring event, to the outstanding scholars I met and learned from, to my phenomenal advisor for her guidance and support, and to my beautiful wife, the best companion I could ask for in every step of life .
← Guess what? My tweet made it into APPAM’s newsletter as the conference’s favorite post!😄
It was such a pleasure and honor to engage with Dr. Gang He's MPA students and share my experience in local climate policy with them.
I was reappointed to the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Board (formerly the Sustainability Advisory Board) in Lawrence, Kansas.
Term: Sep 01 2024 - Sep 01 2027
I had the opportunity to present my research with Professors Rachel Krause, Gwen Arnold, and Le Anh Long at the 2024 Public Management Research Conference in Seattle, where I also received the Meier Travel Inclusion Award. Additionally, I actively participated in my capacity as the co-director of the PMRA Secretariat.
Fatemi, S. M.*, Krause, R. M., Nguyen Long, L., & Arnold, G. (2024, June 26-29). Navigating Transformative Change: Insights into City Information Processing and Disaster Preparedness Evolution in Public Management. [Paper presentation]. PMRC 2024 Conference, Seattle, WA, United States.
The PMRC 2024 was an immensely valuable learning experience, and it was both a privilege and an honor to be one of the 34 recipients of the Meier Travel Inclusion Award.
Presented to the City of Lawrence's Sustainability Advisory Board on "Policy Recommendations for Enhancing Energy Efficiency in Rental Properties." I hope this will spark broader conversations within the community, city departments, and Douglas County, aiming to contribute to the affordable housing and climate action efforts, by developing tailored solutions that address the high energy burdens faced by renters and low-income households. #EnergyJustice
Check out my opinion piece in Kansas Reflector titled "Why Kansas must invest in energy efficiency for rental housing: It's good for all of us."
Also picked up by The Newton Kansan , News From The States, and Wellington Daily News.
ASPA 2024, presenting a paper on the role of local transformative capacity in policy innovation.
April 12-16, 2024. Minneapolis
Twelve University of Kansas graduate students from the Lawrence and KU Medical Center campuses will present their innovative research March 21 at the state Capitol.
Upon completing my doctoral coursework in Spring 2023, I reflected on my journey and shared insights for an enjoyable first two years in a Doctoral program in an Inside Higher Ed article.
Inside Higher Ed highlighted "Navigating the First Years of a Ph.D. Program" among the most-read career advice pieces of 2023.
Sustainability Advisory Board meetings at the City of Lawrence, KS
Lawrence World-Journal's interview on the ongoing protests in Iran and their impacts on KU Iranian students.
September 26th, 2022
The University Daily Kansan reports on the gathering of the Iranian Community on KU campus in memory of Mahsa Amini, who died as a result of police brutality in Iran for the enforcement of strict hijab laws.
September 22nd, 2022
Kansas Reflector reported about this hearing.
Kansas Public Radio also reflected on the hearing.
Title: Experience and Information: What shape why city governments change their preparation practices for climate-related hazards.
May 13, 2021
My profile on KU SPAA's website
I wrote in the Sustainability Series on the ELGL website about my journey from Architecture to Public Administration.
DURP Convocation, UIUC, May 2020
List of teachers ranked as excellent by their students, UIUC, 2019
Lomenz Restaurant project published on Archdaily.com, 2018
Lomenz Restaurant project published on Kanisavaran Architectural Group website, 2016