Edwin Schmitt

Eddie joined the Commission in 2022 as an analyst in the Commission’s Safety Policy Division, where he reviewed risk assessments related to hydropower safety, wildfire and public safety power shutoffs, introduced environmental and social justice approaches into risk assessment and refined the Commission’s regulatory framework that large electric and gas utilities use to assess risk. Before joining the Commission, Eddie worked as a researcher and lecturer in the United States, Norway and Hong Kong, where his academic interests included heritage studies, ethnic minority culture, rural development, history of electricity production, and diverse interpretations of environmentalism. Eddie holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, a MA in Applied Anthropology from Oregon State University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Languages and Literature and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Washington.