Rate My Professor Charles Sims

Charles Sims is the TVA Distinguished Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy and an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the Haslam College of Business, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He serves as Director of the Center for Energy, Transportation, and Environmental Policy at the Howard H. Baker Jr. School of Public Policy and Public Affairs. Sims received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wyoming in 2009, M.S. in Forestry from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2004, and B.S. in Forest Resource Management from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2001. His research specializes in environmental and energy economics, encompassing topics such as policy uncertainty, invasive species management, climate change adaptation, coal-fired power plant retirements, ecosystem services, and renewable energy adoption. Sims has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles in prominent journals including Environmental & Resource Economics, Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Land Economics, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, and Ecological Economics.

Key publications include 'Coal-fired power plant retirements in the United States' (2022), 'When is a “wait and see” approach to invasive species justified?' (2013), 'A dynamic bioeconomic analysis of mountain pine beetle epidemics' (2010), 'Will Ecosystem Services Attract Investors?' (2024, Land Economics), 'Environmental Policy Uncertainty' (2024, Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists), and 'Irreversible Adaptation and Knightian Climate Uncertainty' (2025, Environmental & Resource Economics). Sims has obtained major grants, such as a $1.5 million U.S. Department of Energy award to the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation for innovative uses of South Appalachian coal resources, along with funding from the National Energy Technology Laboratory and National Science Foundation. He contributed to a team receiving the University of Tennessee's Excellence in Research award. His scholarship impacts discussions on energy policy transitions, conservation strategies, and environmental risk management. Sims holds affiliations with the Institute for Energy and Environment and Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment at UTK and engages in public policy seminars and committee service.