President Obama on December 10th announced his intention to nominate Marilyn A. Brown to the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Brown, a professor of energy policy in the School of Public Policy, is a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Brown's nomination must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The TVA is the nation's largest public utility serving nearly nine million customers in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Its programs span environmental protection, river management, and economic development. Current initiatives include the construction of the TVA's seventh nuclear power unit, extensive modernization of 29 hydro plants, programs to reduce power demand through energy-efficiency, and a clean-air program.

With Georgia Tech since 2006, Brown focuses on energy policy and technology to ensure a sustainable future. Previously, she worked with the U.S. Department of Energy's prestigious Oak Ridge National Laboratory where she co-led the "Scenarios for a Clean Energy Future," a report which was described by the White House as a "cornerstone of engineering-economic analysis of low-carbon energy options for the U.S."

The author of more than 200 publications, Brown has provided testimonies and briefings to Committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, as well as numerous state agencies. She is a commissioner on the National Commission on Energy Policy, has participated on Department of Energy review committees and the National Academies' Board on Energy and Environmental Systems. In 2008 she was appointed to the National Academies' Committee on America's Climate Choices.

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 the Director of Sustainability. She authors Georgia Tech's quarterly energy sustainability index, EnergyBuzz.