Frank O'Sullivan

Dr. Francis O’Sullivan is the Director of Research and Analysis for the MIT Energy Initiative, and a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is also Co-Director of the MIT’s Electric Power System Center. His work focuses on questions related to energy markets, financing, technology evolution and regulation. Major elements of Frank’s current research portfolio include the development of new modeling tools to understand and evaluate the value of solar, wind and energy storage assets on power system as their penetration levels increase; and the assessment and modeling of how the geology and technology learning combine to impact well productivity in unconventional oil and natural gas resource development.

Dr. O’Sullivan has written and spoken widely on these topics, and has made presentations to the U.S. President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, the EIA, the EPA, the IEA, the Brookings Institute, the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the National Governors’ Association, the National Association of Regulated Utility Commissioners, at CERAWeek, the American Physical Society, the American Geophysical Union and to numerous other academic, policy and industry forums. He is a lead author of the 2011 MIT Future of Natural Gas study, the 2015 MIT Future of Solar Energy study, and the upcoming MIT Future of Storage study.

Dr. O’Sullivan is a member of the U.S. National Academies’ Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability, he is a Senior Associate with the Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and he is a Distinguished Associate with the Energy Futures Initiative. He has also served as a member of the U.S. Secretary of Energy’s working group on methane emissions, and as a Senior Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy for the 2016 Quadrennial Energy Review.

Prior to joining MIT, Dr. O’Sullivan was a senior consultant with McKinsey & Company, where he worked on engagements related to investment analysis and risk management, strategic planning, and operations in the private equity, oil and gas, electric utility, and renewable energy sectors.

Dr. O’Sullivan received his Ph.D., E.E., and S.M. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his B.E. degree from the National University of Ireland, all in electrical engineering.