Argonne National Laboratory is the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s multidisciplinary research center and a leader in developing and analyzing climate-related data. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. Join our guests from Argonne, Mark Petri, Director of the Electric Power Grid Program and Thomas Wall, Program Lead for Engineering & Applied Resilience as they discuss their efforts at combating climate change through their Advance Grid Modeling Program.

Mark C. Petri is the Director of the Electric Power Grid Program. He is responsible for coordinating the laboratory’s large and multidisciplinary activities to improve the reliability, resiliency, security, and efficiency of the nation’s electric power grids.

Prior to rejoining Argonne, Petri was Director of the Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute, a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence that conducts research and education to enhance the resilience of the nation’s critical infrastructures. He was also Director of the Iowa Energy Center, which supports economic development, environmental sustainability, and social well-being in Iowa through energy innovation, education, and entrepreneurship.

Petri was formerly the Technology Development Director within Argonne National Laboratory’s Energy Engineering and Systems Analysis Directorate, where he developed and coordinated multidisciplinary applied and basic research programs aimed at sustainable energy production, transmission, and efficiency. The work included research on a wide range of alternative energy sources and power grid modeling and simulation. Petri received his Ph.D. from Purdue University through the School of Materials Science and Engineering. From 2007 to 2008 Petri served as Science and Technology Advisor to Illinois Senator Richard J. Durbin in Washington, D.C., where he focused on energy and environmental issues.


Dr. Thomas Wall is the Program Lead for Engineering & Applied Resilience in Argonne National Laboratory’s Decision and Infrastructure Sciences Division. He has extensive experience in the area of critical infrastructure analysis and protection, and has supported infrastructure analysis projects for the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and state and local governments. Notably, he leads projects in DHS’ Regional Resiliency Assessment Program (RRAP), which engages directly with communities and regional stakeholders to identify infrastructure risks and dependencies, and then develops collaborative strategies that enhance the resilience of those systems. He is also a program lead in Argonne’s Center for Climate Resilience and Decision Science (CCRDS), which is a collaboration with Argonne’s Environmental Sciences Division that aims to leverage Argonne’s deep capabilities in climate science and modeling, advanced computing, infrastructure risk analysis, and decision science to provide actionable climate impact information to industry, the engineering and planning communities, and to state and local governments. Tom received an Honors B.S. in Civil Engineering from Oregon State University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.