Semida Silveira is a Professor of Practice in the Systems Engineering Program and a member of the CEET Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition. Her goal is to contribute to science-based societal transformation, a global low-carbon circular economy, and sustainable development through transdisciplinary research, education, and actions with impact. She has three decades of experience working with sustainability, particularly energy and climate policy in the European and developing countries' context.

Before coming to Cornell University, she was a Full Professor in energy systems planning at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, where she established and led the Energy and Climate Division of the Energy Technology Department for twelve years. Previously, she worked as a sustainability and climate expert at the Swedish Energy Agency, and program manager for energy and climate at the Stockholm Environment Institute. She did research at MIT, IIASA (International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (Austria), the University of Tübingen (Germany), and the University of Stockholm.

Silveira has acted on various company boards of directors, and advisory committees including the Swedish Royal Academy of Science, Swedish Research Council, and Finnish Academy of Sciences, among others. She is also the author of various journal articles and books covering multiple dimensions of the energy transition.