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Public Policy Strengthens Sustainability Focus

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Three leading climate scholars joined the School of Public Policy this year. These new faculty further strengthen the College's research and teaching in sustainability - a key research area for Georgia Tech.

The enhanced focus on sustainability, energy, and environmental policy fulfills strategic direction from the University System of Georgia Board of Board of Regents. School of Public Policy Chair Diana Hicks said, "It is especially gratifying that we have been able to move forward that vision during this tough economic climate. This expands opportunities, not only within the school and college, but for synergies with units across Georgia Tech. "

Assistant Professors Paul Baer and Janelle Knox-Hayes joined the faculty in Fall 2009. Paul Baer is an internationally recognized expert on issues of equity and climate change, with interdisciplinary training including ecological economics, ethics, philosophy of science, risk analysis, and simulation modeling. Janelle Knox-Hayes focuses on the institutional development of carbon emissions markets in the United States and Europe, with particular emphasis on the economic and policy drivers that develop these markets as well as their impact on social and economic systems.

Baer and Knox-Hayes attended the COP15 UN Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen in December. Visit the Climate Policy Blog to see their insightful commentary begun during the COP15.

Daniel Matisoff, assistant professor, arrived in January 2010. He has studied with the Nobel prize winning economist Elinor Ostrum (sustainable management of common resources). Matisoff evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of climate change policy at the state, national and international levels.

These new faculty members join climate policy professors Marilyn Brown and Bryan Norton and associate professors Douglas Noonan and Robert Kirkman. Brown is nationally recognized for her work on the development and deployment of sustainable energy technologies, the design of policy options to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and the evaluation of energy programs and policies. Norton writes on inter-generational equity, sustainability theory, bio-diversity policy, and on valuation methods. His specialty is the integration of spatio-temporal scaling considerations into sustainability criteria. Noonan's research is at the intersection of environmental, urban, and cultural economics, emphasizing the provision of and adaptation to urban amenities. Kirkman's research extends environmental philosophy to the built environment, especially to the process of suburbanization and metropolitan growth.

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  • Workflow Status:Published
  • Created By:Rebecca Keane
  • Created:02/11/2010
  • Modified By:ifrazer3
  • Modified:12/07/2020