Policy Talk with Rachael Nealer
Join the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation for a policy talk with Dr. Rachael Nealer, Director, Atlas Public Policy and Former Fellow at Scott Institute.
In this talk on lessons learned, Dr. Rachael Nealer will reflect on the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (JO), an institutional experiment: the first federal office to span two Cabinet departments (DOT and DOE), built to test whether a purpose-built cross-agency structure could move faster while staying accountable. She joined the JO as its first federal hire in 2022 and left in 2025 as Acting Executive Director. After highlighting the office’s accomplishments, including launching the NEVI and CFI programs with FHWA, publishing the first federal minimum standards for EV charging equipment, and helping industry converge on a single non-proprietary connector, she will use three case studies to show where friction arose: a fixed 500,000-charger goal that outran its funding and authority, the challenge of merging two agency cultures with different processes and no shared operating systems, and a connector shift that moved far faster than federal rulemaking. She will draw five lessons for future interagency offices: match public commitments to resources and authority, delegate technical and communications authority, design accountability to remove barriers rather than just document them, invest early in shared “how you work” infrastructure and clear decision rights, and build in flexibility for technical and political change.
Lunch will be provided.
Please RSVP if you plan to attend.
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Bio:
Dr. Rachael Nealer is a researcher and executive leader at the intersection of energy and transportation currently a Director at Atlas Public Policy and previously a Non-resident Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University. Throughout her career spanning academia, policy, and management, she has both advanced environmental impact research focused on electrification and fuels and created the national systems and processes to implement real-world change in the United States.
She has demonstrated success in innovating federal government policy and operations, building and leading cross-agency teams, designing and managing funding programs, and acting as a trusted convener to advance collective public and private sector transformation. Most recently, Dr. Nealer was the Acting Executive Director and Deputy Director of the U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, a new federal office she helped to create and then operate. The office delivered a first-of-its-kind national electric vehicle charging guidance and standards, from policy to implementation, catalyzing the U.S. market and advancing secure, accessible public infrastructure and technology.
Dr. Nealer advises and contributes to organizations including the Center for Sustainable Energy and the Transportation Research Board, and previously the American Center for Mobility, the Electric Power Research Institute, and the Electric Vehicle Working Group Federal Advisory Committee. She has been recognized for her contributions to civil service and science with the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal Finalist, EPA Excellence Award for Clean School Bus Program, and as Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) 2025 Awardee. Her work has resulted in several publications that model lifecycle assessments for vehicles and freight across multiple sectors and develop and compare greenhouse gas emissions mitigation strategies.
She received her joint PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, with a focus on sustainable transportation supply chains, energy use, and emissions. She is based in Washington, D.C.