Kaihui Song

Background & Experience 

Kaihui Song is an assistant research professor in the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. She studies how supply chains and infrastructure shape the transition to clean energy, and how its benefits and costs are distributed across places and communities.

Song’s research examines the often-unseen infrastructure behind two systems people use every day: energy and the internet. Her work spans coal retirement, clean-energy investment and manufacturing, climate-risk disparities, data centers and subsea cables. A central theme is understanding the energy use and emissions embedded in commodities and digital services, as well as how globalization shifts these impacts far from their consumers. She uses spatial analysis, econometrics, life-cycle assessment, and data science to make these connections visible. Song earned a PhD in geographical sciences from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree from the University of Michigan. At IonE, she will explore how clean-energy manufacturing and digital infrastructure are reshaping energy demand, employment, supply chains, and communities across Minnesota, the Midwest and beyond.