Newsha K. Ajami is the Chief Strategic Development Officer for Research in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. A leading expert in sustainable water resource management, smart cities, and water innovation, policy and finance, in her role at LBL, she is focused on developing and leading interdisciplinary and impact-focused research initiatives at the nexus of water, energy, and carbon. Dr. Ajami was a mayoral appointee to the San Francisco PUC, serves on the National Academies Water Science and Technology Board, is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, and sits on several advisory boards. She received her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC, Irvine.