Shannon Baxter-Clemmons, Ph.D. presently serves as the Executive Director of the South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance. The South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance is a public-private collaboration for cooperative and coordinated utilization of resources in the State used to advance the commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.
Dr. Baxter-Clemmons previously held the position of Assistant Secretary for Hydrogen and Alternative Fuel Policy under the Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency. In 2004, she led the development of the California Hydrogen Blueprint Plan for the State with the input of over 200 active stakeholders. Governor Schwarzenegger adopted the Blueprint in May 2005 as the State’s hydrogen policy agenda. Prior to 2004, she worked in the Chairman’s Office of Science and Advanced Technology at the California Air Resources Board. She served as ARB’s representative on the California Fuel Cell Partnership’s Working Group from 1999-2004. She managed the development of two ground breaking studies for the CaFCP, including Bringing Fuel Cell Vehicles to Market: Scenarios and Challenges with Fuel Alternatives, 2001; and Support Facilities for Hydrogen Fueled Vehicles: Conceptual Design and Cost Analysis Study, 2004.
Before arriving in California, she was the Director of Special Projects at Fuel Cells 2000 in Washington, DC and was awarded research appointments at E. I. Du Pont de Nemours, WESTVACO, and Argonne National Laboratory. She received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of South Carolina in 1999. Her graduate research emphasized using electrochemical engineering to find environmentally responsible solutions to energy and waste issues, namely fuel cells as a source of clean power and electrolyzing hazardous waste streams.
Dr. Baxter-Clemmons currently serves on the Fuel Cell Seminar Board of Directors, as a co-chair for the Transportation Research Board’s Alternative Fuels and Technologies Committee, on the University of South Carolina's Engineering Dean's Advisory Board, and the DOE/NREL Hydrogen Education Review Panel. Dr. Baxter-Clemmons is also a member of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) and a 2011 graduate of the Urban Land Institute. In 2009, she assumed the role as the Chair of the South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Economic Cluster. Previously, Dr. Baxter-Clemmons served on the National Hydrogen Association’s “H2 and You” public education campaign’s Steering Committee.
Dr. Baxter-Clemmons was born and raised in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. She and her husband, David Clemmons, have two children Isabelle and Jacob, and live in Charleston, SC.
