Michael Davidson is an Assistant Professor at the University of California San Diego's School of Global Policy and Strategy and the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department of the Jacobs School of Engineering. Michael studies the engineering implications and institutional conflicts inherent in deploying renewable energy at scale, particularly in systems with emerging electricity markets.

Prior to joining UC San Diego, Davidson was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center’s Environment and Natural Resources Program. He received his Ph.D. in engineering systems at the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, and SM in technology and policy from MIT, and a BS in mathematics and physics and BA in Japanese studies from Case Western Reserve University. His dissertation project and research focus at the Belfer Center is on China’s low-carbon transition in the electricity sector.