Public Policy Faculty Takes Home Major APPAM Award for Second Time in Three Years

Posted September 28, 2023

For the second time in three years, a Georgia Tech School of Public Policy faculty member has won the prestigious World Citizen Prize in Environmental Performance. 

The Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) recently revealed Professor Daniel Matisoff as one of its 2023 honorees, along with his collaborator Douglas Noonan, formerly a professor in the School and now at Indiana University — Purdue University Indianapolis. APPAM also honored Lucy Qiu of the University of Maryland. 

The Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) gives the annual award in recognition of research that “assesses pathways to achieve measurable but as-yet-unrealized gains in overall environmental performance.” 

“It’s quite an honor to receive this award with Doug for the work that we’ve done to understand what we call the ‘green market transformation,’” Matisoff said. “It’s also gratifying to see continued recognition of the excellent work being done across the School.” 

Matisoff and Noonan won for their book Ecolabels, Innovation, and Green Market Transformation. 

In announcing the win, APPAM said Ecolabels “provides a new perspective on leveraging markets to transform industry” through its analysis of eco-labeling — the voluntary practice among some companies of acquiring independent certification that their goods or services are more environmentally friendly. 

The book focuses on the building industry and certifications such as the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, or LEED, program. In the volume, Matisoff and Noonan show that early adopters of such programs help spur adoption across the industry. 

“The theory for the work was inspired by the mission of the Kendeda Building at Georgia Tech, which was designed to transform how building and construction are done in the Southeast,” Matisoff said. “We showed that tools that leverage interactions between the public and private sector, such as eco-labeling and pilot and demonstration projects, can help build supply chains, reduce costs, demonstrate the performance of risky technologies, and accelerate uptake of innovative energy and environmental technologies.” 

Matisoff will accept the award at the APPAM meeting scheduled to be in Atlanta this November. 

Marilyn A. Brown, Regents’ Professor and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems in the School of Public Policy, received the award in 2021 for her work leading the research team behind the Drawdown Georgia climate initiative. Matisoff is also a member of that team. 

In all, three of the seven recipients of the award since its inception in 2019 have been current or former faculty members of Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy. That track record demonstrates the School’s tradition of leadership and creativity in the energy and environmental policy space, Matisoff said. 

“It speaks to the caliber of our faculty and our energy and environmental policy program here at the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy,” said Matisoff, who is also the director of the innovative Master of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Management program. 

The School of Public Policy is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.