Valerie Thomas is the Anderson Interface Chair at the Georgia Institute of Technology, with appointments in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and in the School of Public Policy.
Thomas’ research interests include energy, environmental impacts, technology development and technology policy.
Thomas has a PhD in high energy physics from Cornell University and a BA in physics from Swarthmore College. Her Ph.D. thesis work was on the catalysis of proton decay in grand unified theories, and her post-doctoral research was on the verification of nuclear arms control treaties. She has more than 80 technical publications spanning energy, environment, optimization, physics, and nuclear arms control.
At Georgia Tech, Thomas teaches graduate courses in Energy Technology and Policy, Life Cycle Assessment, and undergraduate courses in Energy Efficiency and Sustainability, Engineering Economics, and Senior Design.