Rate My Professor Elizabeth Wilson

Elizabeth J. Wilson is a Professor of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College, a position she has held since 2017. She served as the founding Director of the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society from 2017 to 2022. Wilson received her Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004, an M.S. in Human Ecology from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 1997 (magna cum laude), and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1991. Before joining Dartmouth, she was Professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota (2015-2017), Associate Professor (2010-2015), and Assistant Professor (2005-2010). Earlier in her career, she worked as an Environmental Scientist in the Office of Research and Development at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1999-2005), Researcher at Centre Enterprise-Environment, Catholic University of Louvain (1996-1999), and held positions including Program Coordinator at San Francisco Clean City Coalition and Environmental Educator with the U.S. Peace Corps in Burundi.

Wilson's research investigates how energy systems innovate and evolve amid new technologies, societal pressures, and risks. Current projects focus on offshore wind, analyzing gaps between policy goals and practice in the U.S. and internationally, institutional evolution supporting offshore wind development, battery storage technologies across Regional Transmission Organizations, and generative AI for reproducible research. Previous studies addressed Regional Transmission Organizations, carbon capture and sequestration, smart grids, onshore wind power, and renewables policy. Her books include Energy Law and Policy, Fourth Edition (West Academic Publishing, 2026, with Davies, Klass, Outka, Tomain, and Osofsky); Energy Law and Policy, Third Edition (2022); Smart Grid (R)evolution: Electric Power Struggles (Cambridge University Press, 2015, with Stephens and Peterson); and Carbon Capture and Sequestration: Removing the Legal and Regulatory Barriers (RFF Press and Routledge, 2012, with Morgan et al.). Prominent articles feature 'The enduring role of contracts for difference in risk management and market creation for renewables' (Nature Energy, 2024, with Beiter et al.) and 'Five grand challenges of offshore wind financing in the United States' (Energy Research & Social Science, 2024, with Hansen et al.). Wilson has received the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship (inaugural class, 2015), Leopold Leadership Fellowship (2011), McKnight Land Grant Professorship (2008-2010), and served on boards including the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Energy and Environment Program Advisory Committee (2020-present) and National Research Council Board on Earth Sciences and Resources (2018-2024). She teaches ENVS 12: Energy and the Environment and ENVS 50: Environmental Problem Analysis: Offshore Wind Power.