Marilyn A. Brown

Regents' Professor

Member Of:
  • School of Public Policy
  • Climate and Energy Policy Laboratory
  • ADVANCE IAC
  • Technology Policy and Assessment Center
Fax Number:
404-385-0504
Office Location:
DM Smith 312

Overview

Marilyn Brown is a Regents' and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems in the School of Public Policy. She joined Georgia Tech in 2006 after a distinguished career at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where she led several national climate change mitigation studies and became a leader in the analysis and interpretation of energy futures in the United States. 

Her research focuses on the design and impact of policies aimed at accelerating the development and deployment of sustainable energy technologies, with an emphasis on the electric utility industry, the integration of energy efficiency, demand response, and solar resources, and ways of improving resiliency to disruptions. Her books include Fact and Fiction in Global Energy Policy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016), Green Savings: How Policies and Markets Drive Energy Efficiency (Praeger, 2015), and Climate Change and Global Energy Security (MIT Press, 2011). She has authored more than 250 publications. Her work has had significant visibility in the policy arena as evidenced by her numerous briefings and testimonies before state legislative bodies and Committees of both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

Dr. Brown co-founded the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance and chaired its Board of Directors for several years. She has served on the Boards of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and the Alliance to Save Energy, and was a commissioner with the Bipartisan Policy Center. She has served on eight National Academies committees and is an Editor of Energy Policy and an Editorial Board member of Energy Efficiency and Energy Research and Social Science. She served two terms (2010-2017) as a Presidential appointee and regulator on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public power provider. From 2014-2018 she served on DOE’s Electricity Advisory Committee, where she led the Smart Grid Subcommittee.

Education:
  • Ph.D., Ohio State University, Geography
  • M.R.P., University of Massachusetts, Regional Planning
  • B.A., Rutgers University, Political Science
Awards and
Distinctions:
  • 2020, Elected Member, National Academy of Engineering
  • 2020, Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences
  • 2017, Regents Professor
  • Brook Byers Chaired Professor, Institute of Sustainable Systems, 2014-2018.
  • 2016 Alliance to Save Energy "Star of Energy Efficiency"
  • DOE Electricity Advisory Board, 2014-2018
  • 2013, “Who’s Who in Sustainability”, Atlanta Business Chronicle.
  • DOE Ambassador for Clean Energy Education and Empowerment, 2013-2017
  • 2012 Southface Energy Institute Award of Excellence
  • Presidential Appointment: Board of Directors, TVA, 2010-2017.
Areas of
Expertise:
  • Economic Development And Smart Cities
  • Energy, Climate, And Environmental Policy
  • Environmental And Energy Economics
  • Utility Economics And Regulation

Interests

Research Fields:
  • Clean Energy
  • Climate Change Adaptation
  • Climate Change Mitigation
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Energy Markets
  • Energy, Climate and Environmental Policy
  • Financing and Subsidies
  • Information Programs
  • Innovation and Diffusion
  • Institutional Analysis
  • Market-based Incentives
  • Regulations and Standards
  • Smart Grid
  • Transportation
  • Voluntary Programs
Geographic
Focuses:
  • Europe
  • United States
  • United States - Georgia
  • United States - Southeast
Issues:
  • Energy
  • Environment

Courses

  • PUBP-3350: Energy Policy
  • PUBP-6001: Intro to Public Policy
  • PUBP-6201: Public Policy Analysis
  • PUBP-6352: Utility Reg & Policy
  • PUBP-6701: Energy Technol & Policy
  • PUBP-8833: Special Topics