Jennifer Clark is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech where she teaches courses in urban and regional economic development theory, analysis, and practice as well as research design and methods. Since 2007 she has directed the MSPP+MCRP dual degree program in the Schools of Public Policy and City and Regional Planning.
Dr. Clark’s research focuses on regional economic development policy and specifically the actors and processes that shape agglomeration economies (industrial districts) and territorial innovation systems. Since the mid-1990s, she has studied the spatial and organizational dynamics of the optics, imaging, and photonics industry both in the US and internationally. She writes, consults, and speaks on the subject of national and regional development policies related to innovation, intellectual property, and manufacturing.
Dr. Clark publishes research on the development and diffusion of regional policies (including cooperative research centers) and their effect on cities and their economic competitiveness. Her first book, Remaking Regional Economies: Power, Labor, and Firm Strategies in the Knowledge Economy (with Susan Christopherson) won the Best Book Award from the Regional Studies Association in 2009.
Her current research includes three book projects: Working Regions: Reconnecting Innovation and Production in the Knowledge Economy, The Handbook of Manufacturing Industries in the World Economy (with John Bryson and Vida Vanchan), and Basic Methods of Policy Analysis and Planning (with Carl Patton and David Sawicki).
She earned a doctorate in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University and a master’s degree in economic development and planning from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. She holds a BA from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT.
In addition to book chapters in Whither Regional Studies (winner of the Regional Studies Association Best Book Award in 2010) and The Handbook of Local and Regional Development, Dr. Clark’s work appears in Regional Studies, the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economies, and Society, Local Economy, the Journal of Planning Education and Research (JPER), the Journal of Technology Transfer, Geoforum, Economic Geography, The Encyclopedia of Geography, the Review of Regional Studies, and the Korea Labor Institute’s International Labor Review. Her most recent work is available through the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy Working Paper series and the Industry Studies Association Working Papers series.
At Georgia Tech, Dr. Clark is affiliated with a number of research centers and programs including: The Georgia Tech Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE), the Ivan Allen College’s NSF Advance Program, the Technology Policy and Assessment Center (TPAC), the Science, Technology, and Innovation Program (STIP), the Faculty in the Study of Human Resources (HRST), and the Center for Innovation in Local Government (CACP). Dr. Clark’s work has attracted funding and recognition from both US and international sources including the Sloan Foundation’s Industry Studies Program, the Canadian government, the National Academies, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Dr. Clark is an active member of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP), serving as the co-chair of the Regional Planning Track from 2009-2011. She is also a member of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) and the Economic Geography and Urban Geography Specialty Groups of the AAG. She is an alumna of the 2006 Summer Institute in Economic Geography (SIEG). She is also a founding member of the Industry Studies Association (ISA). Dr. Clark is a member of SPIE (the International Society for Optics and Photonics) and will serve on the organization’s 2012 Engineering, Science, Technology Policy (ESTeP) Committee.
