Valerie Thomas
Most academics specialize in either public policy or engineering. Georgia Tech Associate Professor Valerie Thomas explores the nexus between the two. Thomas, who holds a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy and the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering, sees public policy and sustainable technology as complementary fields. "They're yin and yang," she says. "I see them both as important."
"Dealing with the future energy problems of the world is difficult and the problems are fundamental engineering problems," explains Thomas, who held postdoctoral appointments in nuclear arms control at Carnegie Mellon and Princeton and spent last year working with Congress on key environmental issues as an American Physical Society Congressional Science Fellow. To work on the world's energy problems, she researches a variety of engineering technologies, from making recycling and waste management more efficient using information technology to reduced fossil fuel use and air transportation.
She also attends weekly Environmentally Conscience Design and Manufacturing Program meetings to discuss research on environmentally benign products. "We're working together and building links," she says of the professors and students who attend the meetings. "There's a lot of expertise at Georgia Tech that doesn't exist elsewhere."
Thomas, who joined Georgia Tech in August 2005, says it was important to her that she contribute to sustainable technology and policy at an engineering school. "There is more need for scientists and engineers at universities to develop new technologies and policy approaches," she says. "I came to Georgia Tech because of their really unusual commitment to sustainability. They really do intend to be a leader in this subject."
"What I'd like to do is find ways to develop collaborations to draw upon expertise that's already here at Tech," she says. "Georgia Tech can make a real difference through its long-term commitment."
Links
Valerie Thomas' Web page at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering