Sarah J. Ryker, Ph.D.

This includes resources’ full life cycles from occurrence to supply, demand, extraction, and trade; economic and environmental effects of resource extraction and disposal; and mine waste and energy waste as a resource. She oversees development of the whole-of-government List of Critical Minerals, co-chairs the National Science and Technology Council's Critical Minerals Subcommittee coordinating body, is a member of the USE IT Act-directed Carbon Capture, Utilization and Sequestration Permitting Task Force, and oversees Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act activities related to critical minerals and energy supply chains. Under her leadership the USGS has launched the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative, expanded supply chain analysis and forecasting, and identified new opportunities to use energy waste and mine waste as sources of critical minerals.

Dr. Ryker first joined the USGS in 1989 at the Washington State Water Science Center, focusing on regional groundwater issues. She later held national leadership roles in science for water, climate, and Earth observations, including creating a future vision for the Landsat satellites and co-chairing the Advisory Committee on Climate Change and Natural Resource Science. She served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science in the DOI, bringing USGS science to bear on resource management issues. Her additional professional experience includes the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Council on Environmental Quality, and an assignment at the U.S. Agency for International Development as Director for North Africa and Arabian Affairs.  

Dr. Ryker is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, where her Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. She earned her Bachelor degree at the University of Washington.