Rate My Professor Erin Mayfield

Erin Mayfield is the Hodgson Family Assistant Professor of Engineering in the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. She earned a BS in Environmental Science from Rutgers University, an MS in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University. Mayfield joined Dartmouth in September 2021 after completing a postdoctoral research position at Princeton University, where she focused on multi-objective sustainable systems modeling and distributional impacts of complex engineered systems. Her career includes service as a strategic advisor in the Office of Policy at the US Department of Energy and assistant director for NetZero Pathways in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Biden-Harris administration. She has held positions at the US Environmental Protection Agency, US Congress, and the Environmental Law Institute. Prior to academia, Mayfield worked as an environmental engineer, negotiating natural resource damages related to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, modeling ecosystem services for infrastructure projects, managing groundwater remediation, and conducting fieldwork in environmental justice communities.

Mayfield's research addresses sustainable systems engineering and public policy through three core themes: energy and industrial systems planning, climate change mitigation, and multi-attribute decision-making. She integrates quantitative modeling, data science, operations research, and policy analysis to develop computational tools that facilitate multi-stakeholder decision-making for real-world problems, including national security, social equity, health, air quality, and environmental policy. A lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Seventh Assessment Report, she also contributed to the Fifth National Climate Assessment and participated in major collaborations such as the Net-Zero America Project and the REPEAT Project. Key publications include 'Emissions and energy system impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act' (Science, 2023), 'Labor pathways to achieve net zero emissions in the United States by mid-century' (Energy Policy, 2023), 'Mission net-zero America: The nation-building path to a prosperous, net-zero emissions economy' (Joule, 2021), 'Net-Zero America: Potential pathways, infrastructure, and impacts' (Princeton University, 2020), and 'Cumulative environmental and employment impacts of the shale gas boom' (Nature Sustainability, 2019). Her honors encompass the Princeton University's Rob Socolow Carbon Mitigation Initiative Best Paper Award (2021), Carnegie Mellon University's Herbert L. Toor Best Doctoral Research Award (2016), American Chemical Society's Editors' Choice Award (2017), and several competition wins including the United States Association of Energy Economics Case Competition (2015). Mayfield's scholarship shapes global climate policy and garners coverage in outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Economist, The Washington Post, Forbes, Rolling Stone, and National Public Radio.