Georgia Institute of Technology

Faculty Member, School of Public Policy

Associate Professor

Ivan Allen College

About

Jennifer Clark is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology where she teaches courses in urban and regional economic development policy, theory and analysis as well as research design and methods. 

Her first book, Remaking Regional Economies: Power, Labor, and Firm Strategies in the Knowledge Economy (with Susan Christopherson) won the Best Book Award from the Regional Studies Association in 2009.  Her second book, Basic Methods of Policy Analysis and Planning (with Carl Patton and David Sawicki) was just released in March 2012.

Dr. Clark’s research focuses on regional economic development policy and specifically the actors and processes that shape agglomeration economies (industrial districts) and territorial innovation systems. She publishes research on the development and diffusion of regional policies (including cooperative research centers) and their effect on cities and their economic competitiveness.  Since the mid-1990s, she has studied the spatial and organizational dynamics of the optics, imaging, and photonics industry both in the US and internationally. She writes, consults, and speaks on the subject of national and regional development policies related to innovation, intellectual property, and manufacturing.

Her current research includes two book projects: Working Regions: Reconnecting Innovation and Production in the Knowledge Economy and The Handbook of Manufacturing Industries in the World Economy (with John Bryson and Vida Vanchan).

She earned a doctorate in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University and a master’s degree in economic development and planning from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. She holds a BA from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT.

At Georgia Tech, Dr. Clark is affiliated with a number of research centers and programs including: The Georgia Tech Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE), the Ivan Allen College’s NSF Advance Program, the Technology Policy and Assessment Center (TPAC), the Science, Technology, and Innovation Program (STIP), the Faculty in the Study of Human Resources (HRST), and the Center for Innovation in Local Government (CACP).

Dr. Clark is an active member of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP), serving as the co-chair of the Regional Planning Track from 2009-2011. She is also a member of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) and the Economic Geography and Urban Geography Specialty Groups of the AAG. She is an alumna of the 2006 Summer Institute in Economic Geography (SIEG). She is a member of SPIE and will serve on the organization’s 2012 Engineering, Science, Technology Policy (ESTeP) Committee.

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