Marilyn A. Brown joined Georgia Tech in 2006 from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where she held various leadership positions. While at ORNL, Brown led several energy technology and policy scenario studies, becoming a national leader in the analysis and interpretation of energy futures in the United States. At Georgia Tech, her research has included an assessment of the U.S. Climate Change Technology Program, development of a national climate change technology deployment strategy, and an evaluation of the supply- and demand-side electricity resources available in the Southeast.

At Georgia Tech, Brown teaches a cross-listed graduate level course on energy policy and technology, as well as a policy analysis capstone course for master’s students. She has authored more than 200 publications and two books including Climate Change and Global Energy Security (MIT Press, 2011), which argues that we have all of the technologies need to live sustainably. Her work has had significant visibility in the policy arena as evidenced by her numerous briefings and testimonies before committees of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and state agencies. Recent presentations have included meetings of the International Energy Agency, National Council of State Governments, National League of Cities, and the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development.

Brown served for thirteen years on the board of directors of the Alliance to Save Energy, and in that capacity she helped to found the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance. She is on the editorial board of the Energy Efficiency Journal and the Journal of Technology Transfer and has been a member of the National Commission on Energy Policy and the board of directors of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Among her honors and awards, she is a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, for co-authorship of the report on Mitigation of Climate Change. Brown has served on four committees of the National Academies of Sciences, including the Committee on America’s Climate Choices and the Board of Energy and Environmental Systems. She serves on advisory committees to universities and foundations across the country. In 2010, she was sworn onto the board of directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public power provider, following her nomination by President Barack Obama.

At Georgia Tech, Brown established the Climate and Energy Policy Laboratory, which analyzes climate change and energy policies using software tools including the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS),MARKAL models,hybrid NEMS-Input/Output approaches,and Monte Carlo methods to characterize uncertainties.

These models are used to evaluate the speed and market penetration of new and improved energy technologies and the ability of possible future policies to accelerate technology adoption. NEMS, in particular, characterizes thousands of supply- and demand-side energy technologies. Georgia Tech is among a few institutions that can adapt and deploy these models to help inform the opportunities and constraints surrounding technology and policy innovations.  At Georgia Tech, Brown collaborates with the Strategic Energy Institute, the Sloan Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies, and the Enterprise Innovation Institute’s Science and Technology Innovation Program as director of sustainability. She is also a distinguished visiting scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a certified energy manager.

Recent Courses Taught by Marilyn Brown

Energy Policy and Technology (PUBP 4803 and 8803 )

This course examines the policies and technologies affecting the production and use of energy, focusing in particular on innovative and sustainable energy options (e.g., for example, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, ethanol, and other alternative transportation fuels; smart buildings and advanced lighting; industrial ecology approaches; solar and wind systems; and clean coal as well as the next generation of nuclear energy). The course provides a fundamental understanding of energy systems, including historical trends of supply and demand, resources and technologies, and related economic, global climate change, and security issues. Policies will be examined at the national and international scale, as well as at the state and local level where novel approaches are often first launched.

The history of energy policy illustrates the close coupling of policy formulations with characteristics of markets and technologies. As a result, this course will examine the unique constellations of policies associated with different energy systems. Principles of policy analysis and theory will be introduced and illustrated throughout the course, including stakeholder assessment, market failure and externalities, benefit/cost analysis, and methods of program evaluation. In addition, students will receive an introduction to the engineering underpinnings of alternative technologies, and will become familiar with energy units and metrics.

Public Policy Analysis (PUBP 6201 )

This course focuses on the professional policy analyst's roles, institutional contexts, skill sets, politics, professional norms, ethics and, in general, the nature of the profession, in all its variety. The course involves considerable "hands on" work with cases, exercises and applied problem solving. Students are expected to come to the course with the tools developed in research design, statistics, cost-benefit analysis, program evaluation, policy and political process, and substantive policy courses.

In the first part of the semester, students write a five-page policy brief related to a piece of legislation that is actively being pursued at the city, county, state, or federal level. In the second part of the semester, groups of students develop policy research papers on some contemporary policy topic. The papers are data-based (either qualitative or quantitative data), and the results are summarized in class presentations.

Advanced Environmental Policy (PUBP 8540 )

The course is designed as an integrative, multi-disciplinary look at the state of the art in environmental management and policy today, including analysis of policy options and priorities. Special attention will be paid to the historical and philosophical underpinnings of adaptive management, to emerging possibilities for improved environmental 2 evaluation of policy impacts in the management of whole systems, and to the role of biodiversity and global climate change as major challenges to trends toward localism and systemic management

Recent Publications by Marilyn Brown

• Brown, Marilyn A., Frank Southworth, and Andrea Sarzynski. 2009. "Policy Influences on the Carbon Footprints of metropolitan Areas,"forthcoming in Policy and Society .
• Brown, Marilyn A., Frank Southworth, and Andrea Sarzynski. 2009. "Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America" forthcoming  in The Metropolitan Blueprint (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution).
• B. K. Sovacool and M. A. Brown. 2009. "Addressing Climate Change: Global or Local?" forthcoming in Fereidoon Sioshansi (ed.) Carbon Constrained: Future of Electricity (Elsevier Press).
• Sovacool, Benjamin K. and Marilyn A. Brown. 2009. "Caling the Policy Response to Climate Change,"Forthcoming in Policy and Society .
• Brown, Marilyn A. and Sharon (Jess) Chandler, 2008. "Governing Confusion: How Statutes, Fiscal Policy, and Regulations Impede Clean Energy Technologies," Stanford Law and Policy Review, (19) 3: 472-509, http://slpr.stanford.edu/previous/Volume19.html#Issue3 .
• Brown, Marilyn A. and Frank Southworth, 2008. "Mitigating Climate Change through Green Buildings and Smart Growth," Environment and Planning A (40): 653-675.
• Brown, Marilyn A. and Benjamin K. Sovacool, 2008. "Promoting a Level Playing Field for Energy Options: Electricity Alternatives and the Case of the Indian Point Energy Center," Energy Efficiency , 1: 35-48.
• Brown, Marilyn A. and Benjamin K. Sovacool, 2007. "Developing an 'Energy Sustainability Index' to Evaluate Energy Policy," Interdisciplinary Science Review, 32 (4): 335-349.
• Brown, Marilyn A.; Dan York; Martin Kushler, 2007. “Reduced Emissions and Lower Costs: Combining Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency into a Sustainable Energy Portfolio Standard,? The Electricity Journal, 20 (4): 62-72.
• Brown, Marilyn A., Benjamin K. Sovacool, Richard F. Hirsh, 2006. "Assessing U.S. Energy Policy,"in Daedalus, Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , Summer, pp. 5-11.
• B. K. Sovacool and M. A. Brown. 2007. "The Compelling Tangle of Energy and American Society,"in Energy and American Society: Thirteen Myths , in B. K. Sovacool and M. A. Brown (eds.) (Springer Press), pp. 1-22.
• Brown, Marilyn A. 2007. "Energy Myth One: Today's Energy Crisis is 'Hype',"in B. K. Sovacool and M. A. Brown (eds.) (Springer Press), pp. 23-50.
• B. K. Sovacool and M. A. Brown. 2007. "Replacing Myths with Maxims: Rethinking the Relationship Between Energy and American Society,"in B. K. Sovacool and M. A. Brown (eds.) (Springer Press), pp. 351-367.

A Sampling of Other Publications

• Brown, Marilyn A.; Mark D. Levine; Walter Short; Jonathan G. Koomey, 2001. "Scenarios for a Clean Energy Future," Energy Policy, 2001, 29 (14): 1179-1196.
• Brown, Marilyn A. 2001. "Market Failures and Barriers as a Basis for Clean Energy Policies,"in Energy Policy , 29 (14): 1197-1207.
• Brown, Marilyn A.; Mark D. Levine; Joseph P. Romm; A.H. Rosenfeld; J.G. Koomey, 1998. "Engineering-Economic Studies of Energy Technologies to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Opportunities and Challenges," Annual Review of Energy and Environment, 23: 287-385.
• Brown, Marilyn A.; Walter Short. 2002. "The Impact of Clean Energy Policies on Renewable Energy Technologies," Renewable Energy: Trends and Prospects, S.K. Majumdar, E. S. Miller and A. I. Panah (eds.), (Pennsylvania State University Press), pp. 426-450.
• J. Romm; M.A. Brown; M.D. Levine; E. Petersen, "A Road Map for U.S. Carbon Reductions," Science, 275: 669-670, 1998.  

Selected Presentations and Media Interactions by Marilyn Brown

Recent Media Interactions

• Interview with Cleanskies.tv News, September 25, 2008, on the Obama and McCane energy platforms.
• BBC-Asia, August 12, 2008, on climate change conflicts between developing and developed countries.
• Weather Channel, November 2008, Interview about energy and climate change issues.
• Marilyn A. Brown and Benjamin K. Sovacool. 2009. “A Source of Energy Hiding in Plain Site” YaleGlobal Online, February 18. http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=11978
• A short talk on Energy Efficiency, Conservation and Climate Change , at the Energy Independence for North America conference, July 5, 2007
• A short podcast on green buildings
• A recent Congressional briefing on renewable portfolio standards
• A Debate at the Closing Session of the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) Energy Conference, Washington, D.C., January 27, 2006.

Seminar and Conference Presentations

• University seminars and colloquia: National University of Singapore, Imperial College of London, Stanford University, Duke University, the University of Alabama, Northern Illinois University, the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of Illinois, Indiana University, the Ohio State University, the University of Iowa, the University of Tennessee, Arizona State University, Pennsylvania State University, Michigan State University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Kentucky.

A sampling of other seminars:

• “Policies to Energize a Sustainable Future,” IEEE Conference on Global Sustainable Energy Infrastructure, Atlanta, GA, November 17, 2008.
• “The role of Energy Efficiency in a Federal Renewable Energy Standard,” EUCI RPS Symposium, Washington, DC, March 27, 2008.
• “Including Efficiency: A National Sustainable Energy Portfolio,” Congressional RPS briefing sponsored by EESI, July 11, 2007. http://www.eesi.org/071107_RPS
• “Feasible Efficiency Improvements, Real World Constraints, and Carbon Emission Implications,” U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce's Workshop on Energy Efficiency. March 2, 2007.
• “Energy Efficiency: Progress and Opportunities,” at the Global Climate and Energy Project Symposium at Stanford University, October 1, 2007.
• http://gcep.stanford.edu/pdfs/kUXNHroC3cAssx6wJoz_Mg/Brown-20071001-GCEP...
• National Press Club speech on “Towards a Climate-Friendly Built Environment” June 2005.
• “Nano-Bio-Info Pathways to Extreme Efficiency,” in Special Session of the 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, February 2005.
• Participant in the Alliance to Save Energy's “Great Energy Efficiency Debate” http://www.ase.org/content/article/detail/1504.

A Sampling of Conference Presentations:

• Brown, Marilyn A.; Therese K. Stovall; Patrick Hughes, “Tackling Climate Change in the United States: The Potential for Greenhouse Gas Reductions in the Buildings Sector,” by in Tackling Climate Change in the U.S.: Potential Carbon Emissions Reductions from Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy by 2030, Charles F. Kutscher (ed.) (Washington, DC: American Solar Energy Society) January, 2007, pp. 51-68. www.ases.org/climatechange.
• J. A. (Skip) Laitner and Marilyn A. Brown. “Emerging Industrial Innovations to Create New Energy Efficient Technologies,” 2005. Proceedings of the Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Industry, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
• Brown, Marilyn A., K. Dempsey and M. MacDonald. “Building to LEED at a Federal Facility – Case Study of a Research Office Building,” in Proceedings of the 2004 World Energy Engineering Congress, 2004, Chapter 80.
• “Summary of Panel 9: Environment and Policy”, with J. Briskin, ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, 2002, Volume 9, pp. 2-5.
• "Improving the Methods used to Evaluate Voluntary Energy-Efficiency Programs," with M. Schweitzer, Proceedings of the 2001 International Energy Program Evaluation Conference, August, pp. 5-16, 2001, http://www.ornl.gov/~webworks/cppr/y2001/pres/111104.pdf.
  "Residential, Commercial, and Institutional Buildings Sector," with J. Millhone, et al., Methodological and Technological Issues in Technology Transfer, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, pp. 183-199, 2000.
• “Scenarios of U.S. Carbon Reductions by 2010,” with E. Petersen, J. Romm, and M. Levine, Proceedings of the 17th annual meeting of the World Energy Congress, Houston, TX, September 14-18, 1998, Session 3.4.
• Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America
• U.S. National Laboratory Perspective on Energy Technology Innovation and Performance Assessment
• Energy Efficiency and Conservation
• Energy Efficiency: The Fifth Fuel for North America
• Carbon Lock-In: Barriers and Enablers of a Climate-Friendly Future
• The National Commission on Energy Policy: Ending the Energy Stalemate

Honors and Awards: Marilyn Brown

• Southface Award of Excellence “In recognition of exemplary leadership and a lifetime of advocacy for energy efficiency.”
• Ivan-Allen College Endowed Professorship, 2008.
• Co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, 2007, for co-authorship of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group III Assessment Report on Mitigation of Climate Change. Also a co-author of the 2001 report.
• Member, National Academies' Committee on America's Climate Choices, 2008-2011 (selected from among 1,000 nominations). Co-chair of the “Limiting the Magnitude” Panel.
• Member, Advisory Committee, DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Industrial Technologies Program, 2008-2009.
• Member, National Academies' Panel on America's Energy Choices: Energy Efficiency, 2007-2009.
• Member, National Academies' Board of Energy and Environmental Systems, 2006-2012.
• Member, National Academies' Committee on Alternatives to the Indian Point Nuclear Plant, 2004-2007).
• Elected to the Policy Council, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, 2006-2009.
• Appointed, National Commission on Energy Policy, 2002-2009, http://www.energycommission.org
• Anderson Medal of Applied Geography, Association of American Geographers, 2003, and 2008 Anderson Medal distinguished lecture, http://agsg.binghamton.edu/aag2008brown1.pdf
• U. S. Department of Energy Awards: (1) DOE Research Partnership Award, presented to the Superconductivity Program for Electric Systems, 3M Coated Conductor Development Project, 2001; and (2) Letter of commendation from Energy Secretary Hazel R. O'Leary for publication of “Weatherization Works,” December 1993.
• “Champion of Energy Efficiency,” American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, 1998.
• Special Government Employee and Member, Board of Scientific Counselors, Office of Research and Development, Environmental Protection Agency, 1996-2000. Also participated as a number of EPA Review Panels and Subcommittees, 1995-2001.
• Awards from Oak Ridge National Laboratory: (1) co-leading the five-laboratory study titled “Scenarios of U.S. Carbon Reductions,” November 1997, (2) leading the “National Evaluation of DOE's Weatherization Assistance Program,” July 1993; (3) ORNL Citation for Research Excellence in 1989; (4) Significant Event Award in 1997 for the study “Technology Opportunities to Reduce U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” (http://www.ornl.gov/~webworks/cppr/y2003/rpt/110512.pdf), and (5) Small Business Program Advocate Award 2002.
• Corporate Honoree, YWCA Tribute to Women, 1994.
• Award for Distinguished Contribution to “Science Management and Policy Implementation," American Women in Science, May 1992.
• Elected National Councilor of the Association of American Geographers, a 9,000-member organization, 1988-91 (www.aag.org).
• Gold Medal Award issued by the Technology Transfer Society for the best paper published in the 1989-1990 Journal of Technology Transfer. Best Paper Award, The 12th Annual Meeting & International Symposium of the Technology Transfer Society, 1987.
• National Science Foundation: (1) Review Panel Member, Geography and Regional Science Division, 1984-86, and (2) received two grants for research on energy innovation.
• C. C. Huntington Memorial Award, 1976, an award made periodically by The Ohio State University, Department of Geography to "outstanding graduate students."
• University Fellow, The Ohio State University, 1973-77.

Recent Service to Federal Agencies by Marilyn Brown

• 2008 Member, Advisory Committee, DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Industrial Technologies Program.
• 2008 Member, National Academies' Committee on America's Climate Choices.
• 2007 Member, National Academies' Panel on America's Energy Choices: Energy Efficiency.
• 2006 Member, National Academies' Board of Energy and Environmental Systems.
• 2004 Member, National Academies' Committee on Alternatives to the Indian Point Nuclear Plant.
• 1996 Member, Board of Scientific Counselors, EPA Office of Research and Development.
  

Recent Testimonies and Congressional Briefings by Marilyn Brown

Congressional Testimony

• Expert Witness on Climate Change Technologies . Testimony before the Energy Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Science. Hearing on November 6, 2003.
• Expert Witness , Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Hearing on "Global Climate Change and Issues Related to Reducing Net Greenhouse Gas Emissions."May 2001

Congressional Briefings

• Congressional briefing hosted by the American Chemical Society's Science and Congress Project and was co-hosted by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), December 15, 2008
• Congressional briefing in a Hearing on “Can a National Renewable Portfolio Standard Increase Energy Security, Reduce Emissions, and Lower Costs,” Sponsored by the Environment and Energy Study Institute, July 11, 2007, http://www.eesi.org/071107_RPS
• Energy Efficiency Workshop for staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Committee, July 2007
• Testimony to North Carolina Legislative Commission on Global Climate change, “Discussion of the technology options related to global climate change by sector,” April 25, 2006.
• Expert Witness on Climate Change Technologies. Testimony before the Energy Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Science. Hearing on November 6, 2003. http://www.house.gov/science/hearings/energy03/nov06/brown.pdf
• Expert Witness, Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Hearing on “Global Climate Change and Issues Related to Reducing Net Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” May 2001, http://epw.senate.gov/107th/bro_0502.pdf

State Legislative Briefings

Testimony to North Carolina Legislative Commission on Global Climate change, ?Discussion of the technology options related to global climate change by sector,?April 25, 2006. Testimony to Tennessee State Legislature, 2003. Testimony to Georgia Legislative Committee, 2007.

Recent Advisory Committee Activities

Recent/Current Advisory Committees:

• U.S. Department of Energy Peer Review Committee for the Industrial Technologies Program, 2008-2009;
• Natural Resources Defense Council's Project on Climate Mitigation Modeling, 2008-2009;
• Pew Center on States' Committee on “Green Scorecards”, 2008-2009;
• Harvard University's Energy Research Committee, 2008-2009.