Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, Scott M. Moore is Managing Director of Global Initiatives, Research, and Strategy, Practice Professor of political science, director of the Penn Global Climate Security and Geopolitics Project, and faculty fellow of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, all at the University of Pennsylvania. His primary research interests center on China, climate change, and emerging technologies, especially China’s role in the global biotechnology sector.
Moore’s first book, “Subnational Hydropolitics: Conflict, Cooperation, and Institution-Building in Shared River Basins” (Oxford University Press, 2018), examines how climate change and other pressures affect the likelihood of conflict over water within countries. His latest, “China’s Next Act: How Sustainability and Technology are Reshaping China’s Rise and the World’s Future” (Oxford University Press, 2022), explores China’s role in global public goods provision against the backdrop of geopolitical rivalry and competition and what it means for action on climate change and other shared global challenges.
Prior to joining Penn, Moore was a young professional and water resources management specialist at the World Bank Group, and environment, science, technology, and health officer for China at the U.S. Department of State, where he worked extensively on the Paris Agreement on climate change. He has also served as an advisor on China and strategic competition at the U.S. Department of Defense. Before entering public service, Moore was Giorgio Ruffolo Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.
Moore’s research and commentary on a wide range of environmental and international affairs issues has appeared in a range of leading scholarly journals and media outlets, including Nature, The China Quarterly, Foreign Affairs, and The New York Times.
Moore holds doctoral and master’s degrees from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and an undergraduate degree from Princeton.
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Current Positions
- Managing Director of Global Initiatives, Research, and Strategy, University of Pennsylvania
- Practice Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
- Faculty Fellow, Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, University of Pennsylvania
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Past Positions
- Climate Security Advisor, U.S. Department of Defense
- Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Officer, U.S. Department of State
- Young Professional and Water Resources Management Specialist, World Bank Group
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Education
- D.Phil., University of Oxford
- M.Sc., University of Oxford
- B.A., Princeton University
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Languages
- Mandarin Chinese