Rick Baker

Rick Baker

Vice President and Senior Scientist

The environmental issues we face today are complex and multi-faceted. Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, ozone precursors, particulates, and other pollutants involves careful application of a variety of skill sets. Working at ERG allows me to collaborate with a wide range of national experts in environmental science, engineering, statistics, economic and policy analysis, IT, and communications to develop integrative solutions to these problems. The work challenges me to continually expand my abilities and my perspective.


Rick Baker, a senior scientist at ERG, has 31 years’ experience analyzing the cost and effectiveness of pollution control technologies for on-road and nonroad mobile sources. He has helped states implement Clean Air Act provisions, has developed innovative emission inventory methodologies, and has led several projects to evaluate a wide range of strategies for reducing criteria and greenhouse gas emissions. He is also an expert in characterizing activity and emissions for hard-to-quantify nonroad sources such as diesel construction and agricultural equipment, and provides technical support for multiple school bus and other heavy vehicle electrification projects.

Rick currently manages ERG’s technical support for the SmartWay Transport Partnership, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Natural Resources Canada. He works closely with both agencies to develop state-of-the-art tools for estimating carbon footprints for the full range of freight transportation modes in both countries. 

Rick has a B.A. in physics from Rice University and an M.E.M. in resource economics and policy from Duke University.