Di (Deborah) Zhao is a Master of Public Policy candidate at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, focusing on energy and environmental policy and economics. Her interests lie at the intersection of energy systems, climate risk, and finance, with a particular interest in how infrastructure, institutions, and investment shape resilient energy transitions. Before graduate school, she worked as a catastrophe risk analyst serving the global insurance industry, assessing physical risks to energy infrastructure and other assets exposed to extreme weather. At UC San Diego, she has evaluated carbon-finance opportunities for an international NGO and currently supports research on climate migration and urban resilience. She hopes to build a career in energy consulting and analytics, connecting rigorous risk analysis with practical energy and infrastructure decisions.
