About

Dave Zelinka, PhD

Founder of Civitas Systems

Civil systems engineer (PhD) and climate data scientist, 16 published works, and author of a published method for turning literature into source-traceable causal models.

New here? How I work covers the mechanics of an engagement; the glossary defines the terms of art.

PhD

Civil systems engineering

Published works

Practice domains

15+

Years across the field

Civitas Systems is the consulting practice of Dave Zelinka, PhD — a civil systems engineer and climate data scientist with 15+ years across consulting, research, and government. The practice exists for the kind of problem that doesn't fit a single discipline: climate that's also a governance problem, network analysis that's also a peace engineering question, GHG accounting that's also a policy-modeling exercise. Most engagements draw on three or more disciplines at once — systems science, data engineering, AI/ML, network analysis, geospatial — by design.

The clients are researchers, NGOs, foundations, governments, and mission-driven organizations working on climate, sustainability, peace, governance, anti-corruption, and international development. Oil and gas extraction, defense and weapons systems, and surveillance are out — unless the engagement is specifically about reducing their harm. The refusal list is part of the offer.

The work is research-grade by default. I've SourceThe works themselves, listed on ResearchGate. Google Scholar profile URL to be confirmed. across the domains. I default to open-source tools so clients can keep using what I build. I document methodology in enough detail that another competent practitioner could reproduce it. Where uncertainty is real, I show it. Where assumptions matter, I name them.

Career

Where the work has been

Consulting, government, enterprise, research, academic, and certification milestones — plus the degrees behind them — one row per role on a shared 2008–2026 time axis, so the overlaps show. Each row’s full name is on the left; its bar sits on the axis. Category is shown by color and a leading icon. Switch views, click a bar for the detail, or click a legend entry to filter a category.

Click or focus a role bar to see its employer, title, location, dates, and a one-line description.

Career and education, full list with dates

State of Colorado — Emissions Inventory Data Analysis Specialist, Denver, CO (Dec 2025–present). Category: Government. Building a multi-engine document-extraction pipeline (Python, OCR, LLMs) for the state's regulatory emissions archives.
MIT — Professional Certificate, Applied Data Science (2025). Category: Certifications. Continuing education in applied data science and AI for decision-making.
Optera — Climate Data Solutions Lead, Boulder, CO (Oct 2022–Mar 2025). Category: Enterprise. Led climate and GHG-accounting data work: reference-data infrastructure and emission-factor classification for corporate disclosure.
Optera — Consultant, Corporate Climate Action, Boulder, CO (Mar 2022–Aug 2024). Category: Enterprise. Corporate climate-accounting and GHG-inventory consulting.
Santa Fe Institute — Computational Modeler for Peacebuilding, Santa Fe, NM (Feb 2022–Dec 2022). Category: Research & academia. Complex-systems and computational modeling for peacebuilding.
Optera — Data Analyst, Boulder, CO (Sep 2021–Mar 2022). Category: Enterprise. Climate and GHG-accounting data analysis. (Optera was formerly Point380, Inc.)
United States Institute of Peace — Research Data Scientist, Network Analysis, Contract, Bosnia/Balkans (Jan 2021–Mar 2025). Category: Research & academia. Graph data science mapping political-corruption networks in Bosnia — shared directorships, financial flows, and appointments; findings presented to the European Council on Foreign Relations.
United States Institute of Peace — Systems Thinking Expert, Burkina Faso (Aug 2019–May 2021). Category: Research & academia. Systems-thinking and causal-loop work on judicial reform, co-designed with judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and civil society; featured in a USIP Sahel publication.
RASEI, University of Colorado — Postdoctoral Researcher, Boulder, CO (Apr 2019–Aug 2021). Category: Research & academia. NSF-funded power-plant emissions research — the analysis behind the Environmental Research Letters paper on hyper-polluting plants.
Metropolitan State University of Denver — Affiliate Professor, Sustainable Systems Engineering, Denver, CO (Aug 2018–May 2019). Category: Research & academia. Teaching and curriculum development in the Sustainable Systems Engineering program.
Arava Institute for Environmental Studies — Research Intern & Teaching Assistant, Ketura, Israel (Feb 2018–Jun 2018). Category: Research & academia. Transboundary water-management research and teaching.
Civitas Systems — Founder, Colorado (2018–present; start approximate). Category: Venture. My independent, research-grade consulting practice and data/AI venture — provenance-first methods across climate, governance, and development.
Mortenson Center for Global Engineering, CU Boulder — Graduate Researcher & Teaching Assistant, Boulder, CO (Feb 2016–May 2019). Category: Research & academia. Systems and sustainability research and teaching in global/humanitarian engineering.
University of Colorado Boulder — PhD, Civil Systems Engineering (2016–2019). Category: Education. Dissertation: systems approaches to transdisciplinary sustainable development.
University of Colorado Boulder — MS, Global Engineering (2016–2019). Category: Education. Completed concurrently with the PhD.
University of Colorado Boulder — Graduate Certificate, Engineering for Developing Communities (2016–2018). Category: Certifications. Graduate certificate in engineering for developing communities.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory — Renewable Energy Market Transformation Graduate Intern, Golden, CO (Jul 2014–Jun 2015). Category: Research & academia. Renewable-energy market-transformation research.
NCEES — FE (Fundamentals of Engineering), Environmental (2013). Category: Certifications. Passed the NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering (Environmental) exam — the EIT-qualifying step.
University of Colorado Denver — MS, Environmental & Sustainability Engineering (2013–2016). Category: Education. Master's thesis: environmental impact assessment of hydraulic-fracturing chemicals.
Purdue University — Minor, Economics (2010–2013). Category: Education. Economics minor, completed alongside the BS.
Purdue University — BS, Environmental & Ecological Engineering (2008–2013). Category: Education. Part of Purdue's first Environmental & Ecological Engineering graduating class.

Publications

The published record

16 published works in systems science, sustainability, peacebuilding, and political corruption. The five featured papers, with full citations, are on the publications page; the complete list lives on ResearchGate.

Full list on ResearchGate ↗

Google Scholar — the profile exists but its public URL is not confirmed yet. Add the direct profile link here; do not link the Scholar homepage.

Three operating commitments

The methodology will hold up to peer review even if nobody asks it to.
The code runs after I'm gone — clients receive runnable artifacts they own outright.
The work only goes to organizations whose mission I'd defend in public.

Currently: Emissions Inventory Data Analysis Specialist at the State of Colorado, building a multi-engine document extraction pipeline (Python, OCR, LLMs) for the state's regulatory archives — while continuing Civitas Systems consulting on a selective basis.

I live at the eastern edge of the Rockies in Arvada, Colorado. Off-hours: brewing beer, slowly turning my apartment into a cat jungle, using my systems engineering training to over-optimize grand strategy games, and reading more cyberpunk and Lovecraftian fiction than is probably advisable.