Amy Schweikert

Research Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Amy SchweikertAmy Schweikert is a Research Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Colorado School of Mines. She is a Fellow in the Payne Institute for Public Policy and co-appointed in Nuclear Science. Her work focuses on optimal technology choices to alleviate electricity poverty as well as the role that nuclear energy can play as part of a low-carbon energy portfolio. Her research includes a focus on quantitative risk modeling for infrastructure in the face of climate change and natural hazards and how policies can be shaped to aid electricity expansion in developing regions. She also holds an appointment at the Santa Fe Institute for Complex Systems and is a consultant for the World Bank on issues related to infrastructure. She is a Colorado native and holds a PhD in Civil Systems Engineering and a certificate in Engineering for Developing Communities from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She completed her undergraduate degree in International Relations at Boston University.

Contact

Brown Hall W310I
303-384-2481
aschweikert@mines.edu

Research Areas

  • Low-carbon energy technology choice, including nuclear and solar photovoltaics
  • Natural hazard impact on critical infrastructure systems
  • Climate change model evaluation and impacts on critical infrastructure operation and components
  • Geospatial analysis and data visualization
  • Small modular reactor siting and considerations

Publications

(*Denotes Best Paper Awardee)

 Journal Publications in Print

  1. *Chinowsky, P., Hayles, C., Schweikert, A. and, Strzepek, N. (2011). “Climate Change As Organizational Challenge: Comparative Impact On Developing And Developed Countries,” Engineering Project Organization Journal, 1(1), 67-80.
  2. Chinowsky, P., Schweikert, A., Strzepek, N., Manahan, K., Strzepek, K., and Schlosser, C.A. (2013)“Climate Change Adaptation Advantage For African Road Infrastructure,” Climactic Change, 117(1-2), 345-361.
  3. *Schweikert, A., Chinowsky, P., Espinet, X., & Tarbert, M. (2014). “Climate change and infrastructure impacts: comparing the impact on roads in ten countries through 2100.” Procedia Engineering, 78, 306-316.
  4. Schweikert, A., Chinowsky, P., Kwiatkowski, K., Johnson, A., Shilling, E., Strzepek, K., and Strzepek, N. (2014). “Road Infrastructure and Climate Change: Impacts and Adaptations for South Africa.” Journal of Infrastructure Systems, 21(3),
  5. Schweikert, A., Chinowsky, P., Kwiatkowski, K., Espinet, X. (2014). “The Infrastructure Planning Support System:  Analyzing the Impact of Climate Change on Road Infrastructure and Development” Transport Policy, 35, 146-153.
  6. Chinowsky, P., Schweikert, A., & Hayles, C. (2014). “Potential Impact of Climate Change on Municipal Buildings in South Africa.” Procedia Economics and Finance, 18, 456-464.
  7. *Schweikert, A., Espinet, X., Goldstein, S., & Chinowsky, P. (2015). “Resilience versus Risk: Assessing the Cost of Climate Change Adaptation to California’s Transportation System and the City of Sacramento”. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2532: pgs. 13-20. DOI: 10.3141/2532-02.
  8. Espinet, X., Schweikert, A., & Chinowsky, P. (2015). “Robust Prioritization Framework for Transport Infrastructure Adaptation Investments under Uncertainty of Climate Change.” ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering, E4015001.
  9. Chinowsky, P., Schweikert, A., Hughes, G., Hayles, C.S., Strzepek, N., Strzepek, K., and Westphal, M. (2015) “The impact of climate change on road and building infrastructure: A four-country study.” International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment6(4), 382-396.
  10. Chinowsky, P., Schweikert, A., Strzepek, N., & Strzepek, K. (2015). “Infrastructure and climate change: a study of impacts and adaptations in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia.” Climatic Change, 130(1), 49-62.
  11. Chinowsky, P. S., Schweikert, A. E., Strzepek, N., & Strzepek, K. (2015). “Road infrastructure and climate change in Vietnam.” Sustainability, 7(5), 5452-5470.
  12. , X., Schweikert, A., Van den Heever, N., Chinowsky, P. (2016). “Planning Resilient Roads for the Future Environment and Climate Chance: Quantifying the Vulnerability of the Primary Transport Infrastructure System in Mexico.” Transport Policy. DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2016.06.003
  13. Schweikert, A., Espinet, X., Chinowsky, P. “The Triple Bottom Line: Bringing A Sustainability Framework to Prioritize Climate Change Investments for Infrastructure Planning” Sustainability Science (2017). doi: 10.1007/s11625-017-0431-7
  14. Hummel, M. A., Wood, N. J., Schweikert, A., Stacey, M. T., Jones, J., Barnard, P. L., & Erikson, L. (2017). Clusters of community exposure to coastal flooding hazards based on storm and sea level rise scenarios—implications for adaptation networks in the San Francisco Bay region. Regional Environmental Change, 1-13.
  15. Nicolas, Claire, Jun Rentschler, Albertine Potter van Loon, Sam Oguah, Amy Schweikert, Mark Deinert, Elco Koks et al. “Stronger Power: Improving Power Sector Resilience to Natural Hazards.” (2019). DOI: 10.1596/31910

Peer-Reviewed Conference Papers

  1. Schweikert, A., & Chinowsky, P. (2012). National infrastructure planning: A holistic approach to policy development in developing countries. In , Engineering Project Organizations Conf., The Engineering Project Organization Society.
  2. Schweikert, A., & Chinowsky, P. (2013). “Re-Defining “Project Impact”: Incorporating Social Considerations Into The Rural Road Prioritization Process.” In , Engineering Project Organization Conf., Winter Park, CO. The Engineering Project Organization Society.
  3. Schweikert, A., Chinowsky, P., & Espinet, X. (2014). “Targeted adaptation strategy: Reducing climate change impacts by integrating social vulnerability analyses and climate-resilient infrastructure adaptation.” In , Engineering Project Organization Conf., Winter Park, CO. The Engineering Project Organization Society.
  4. Schweikert, A., Chinowsky, P., & Espinet, X. (2016). “The Triple Bottom Line: Bringing a Sustainability Framework to Prioritize Climate Change Investments for Infrastructure Planning.” In Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting (No. 16-4232).
  5. Espinet, X., Schweikert, A., & Chinowsky, P. (2016). “Expanding Benefit-Cost Analysis with a Regret Costing Method for Long-Term Transportation Planning under Uncertainty of Climate Change.” In Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting (No. 16-1885).
  6. Schweikert, A., Osborne, A., Deinert, M. (2019). “Global Potential for Small and Micro Reactor Systems to Provide Electricity Access”. Global TopFuel 2019. American Nuclear Society. 22-26 September 2019.
  7. Schweikert, A., Nield, L., Deinert, M. (2019) “Beyond LCOE: Quantifying Co-Benefits and the Value of Resilience in Power Systems”. International Conference on Climate Change and the Role of Nuclear Power. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 7-11 October 2019.
  8. Schweikert, A., Nield, L., Deinert, M. (2019) “Scale Matters: Ending global electricity poverty provides new opportunities for SMR and MMR technologies”. International Conference on Climate Change and the Role of Nuclear Power. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 7-11 October 2019.

Other Publications

  1. Chinowsky, P., Schweikert, A., Strzepek, N., Manahan, K., Strzepek, K., and Schlosser, C.A. (2011). “Adaptation Advantage to Climate Change Impacts on Road Infra-structure in Africa through 2100,” Working Paper 25, UNU-WIDER Working Paper Series.
  2. Chinowsky, P., Schweikert, A., and Strzepek, N. (2011). “Costing And Impact Methodology Development Under Climate Change Research Project,” UNU-WIDER Working Paper Series
  3. Chinowsky, P. S., Schweikert, A. E., Strzepek, N. L., Strzepek, K. R., & Kwiatkowski, K. P. (2012). Infrastructure and Climate Change: Impacts and Adaptations for South Africa (No. UNU-WIDER Research Paper WP2012/105).
  4. Chinowsky, P., Schweikert, A., Hayles, C. S., Strzepek, N., & Strzepek, K. (2012). Buildings & Climate Change: Methodology and Areas for Further Research: UNU-WIDER White Paper.
  5. Strzepek, K., Strzepek, N., Schweikert, A. E., & Chinowsky, P. S. (2012). Road Infrastructure and Climate Change in Vietnam (No. UNU-WIDER Research Paper WP2012/080). World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
  6. Chinowsky, P. S., Schweikert, A. E., Strzepek, N. L., & Strzepek, K. (2013). Infrastructure and climate change: Impacts and adaptations for the Zambezi River Valley. UNU-WIDER, WIDER Working Paper, 41.
  7. Westphal, Michael, Hughes, Gordon, Brommelhorster, Jorn (eds). Economics of Climate Change in East Asia. Asian Development Bank. ISBN: 978-92-9254-289-4
  8. Schweikert, A. E. (2013). The Social Impact Score: A framework for including social benefits in rural road prioritization investments and decision making (Masters Thesis, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER).
  9. Chinowsky, P. S., Schweikert, A. E., & Strzepek, N. L. (2014). Cost and impact analysis of sea level rise on coastal Vietnam (No. UNU-WIDER Research Paper WP2014/148).
  10. Schweikert, A., Jones, J., Wein, A., Ballanti, L.. Exposure of Lifeline Infrastructure to the HayWired Scenario. Chapter X of Wein, A.M. and Detweiler, S.T., eds. The HayWired earthquake scenario—Societal Consequences. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2017–5013–Y–Z, zzz p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20175013v3. Forthcoming
  11. Schweikert, A.E, Nield, L., Otto, E.A., Klemun, M., Ojanpera, S., Deinert, M.R. “Vulnerabilities of Networked Energy Infrastructure: A Primer”. 2019. The World Bank
  12. Schweikert, A.E, Nield, L., Otto, E.A., Deinert, M.R. “Resilience and Critical Power System Infrastructure: Lessons Learned from Natural Disasters and Future Research Needs”. 2019. The World Bank