Georgia Tech H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering Anderson-Interface Chair of Natural Systems and Professor Valerie Thomas, was awarded the 2026 Sustainable Development Division Teaching Award, at the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers’ Annual Conference & Expo in Arlington, Texas.

“The IISE Sustainable Development Teaching Award confirms sustainable development as a strength of industrial engineering,” said Professor Thomas, who also has a joint appointment in Georgia Tech’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy. “Receiving this award brings ISyE’s sustainable development offerings to the attention of the wider industrial engineering community.”  

The award was developed by IISE’s Sustainable Development Division to recognize the contribution of an individual advancing the knowledge and practice of sustainability in the field of industrial engineering. 

Thomas has an extensive history of high-quality teaching and leadership in developing interdisciplinary, sustainability focused courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level. The quality and effectiveness of her sustainability-focused teaching efforts have consistently yielded high evaluations in student feedback. 

The IISE award committee also highlighted Thomas’ teaching impact beyond courses and classrooms, through global learning experiences in Rwanda focused on sustainable development, and her scholarly contributions in sustainability education. 

Thomas has created three sustainability-focused courses at Georgia Tech, one at the undergraduate level and two at the graduate level, and a study abroad program. 

Thomas’ undergraduate course, Energy, Efficiency and Sustainability (ISYE 4501), is offered annually. This course focuses on technology cost analysis and environmental modelling. Students learn how to assess efficiency and impacts of industrial systems such as power generation, transportation, manufacturing, and building operation. 

At the graduate level, Thomas collaborated with Georgia Tech Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School of Public Policy Professor Marilyn Brown to develop an interdisciplinary course, Energy Technology and Policy (ISYE/PUBP 6701), that draws graduate students from ISyE, Public Policy, College of Engineering, and from throughout Georgia Tech, with both an in-person section and a distance-learning section. The distance-learning section draws students from online master’s programs in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and more. To support this course, Brown and Thomas co-wrote a textbook, “Energy Technology and Policy Innovation.”

“I’ve had the privilege of teaching Energy Technology and Policy with Valerie once a year for 20 years. We used to do major marketing with flyers and videos, but soon the course caught on, moved to larger classrooms, and doubled in numbers with an on-line section. Our course focuses on core scientific principles and practical tools to support fact-based energy system decision-making. We never could find a textbook with all the material we wanted students to master. So we created a book from our lecture notes - all 610 pages and 44 chapters - that was just published by Springer-Nature,” said Professor Brown, Regents' and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems. “Teaching beside Valerie for twenty years has been both a joy and an education in itself.” 

Also at the graduate level, Thomas created a new course on life cycle assessment (LCA); this course draws graduate students from across Georgia Tech. Students gain hands-on experience with a comprehensive set of LCA methods and tools, including the life cycle process-based method, energy and greenhouse gas calculations, cost analysis, allocation and system expansion, economic input–output LCA, hybrid LCA, the life cycle process matrix method, consequential LCA, and life cycle impact assessment. The course culminates in a substantial, project-based life cycle assessment, providing students with conceptual understanding and practical expertise.

In addition to academic courses, Professor Thomas has developed a Rwanda Study Abroad program that powerfully complements classroom learning. In this program, students work on sustainable development projects during the spring semester at Georgia Tech and then travel to Rwanda during spring break.