One of the industry's most enduring optimists, Lynch spent 20 years working on energy policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for International Studies, his alma mater.

FORBES: Really, Really Cheap Oil

Michael Eisenstadt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Andrew Bacevich of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies collaborated in a separate study of the role the U.S. can play in supporting a Syrian-Israeli peace agreement sponsored by the Washington Institute.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: A US force for the Golan Heights? A roundtable discussion