Dr. Eva Szalkai Csaky
Executive Director of the Hunter and Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity
214-768-3351
ecsaky@lyle.smu.edu
In this position, Dr. Csaky is developing projects and initiatives in collaboration with academia, the private sector and not-for-profit organizations that benefit disadvantaged communities, both locally and around the world.
Before joining SMU, Csaky worked for the World Bank Group for 15 years with a focus on market-based solutions for environmental and societal problems. She led the design and implementation of projects in 24 different countries and led initiatives in areas including energy efficiency, renewable energy, energy and clean water access.
Csaky’s award-winning efforts include a $250 million public-private energy efficiency partnership and a $120 million energy efficiency retrofit for low-income households. She worked extensively in the area of sustainable value chains in collaboration with major global companies, focusing on agri-food and garment networks of production and trade. Her research has focused on leveraging value chain dynamics for poverty alleviation and on collective action among small producers to enable their effective participation in world trade. Csaky was recently the recipient of the first-ever World Bank Innovation Award.
Csaky earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting from Budapest Business School, Hungary, and a Master of Science in Finance from The George Washington University, Washington, DC. She was also awarded a Master of Arts in Public Policy and a Ph.D. in Public Policy with a concentration in Globalization and Development from Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.