Faculty Fellow 2021-2022
About
Sarah Mills earned her PhD in Urban and Regional Planning (actually focusing on farmland preservation) from the University of Michigan, but her previous degrees were in engineering: a master's in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge, a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Villanova University. She is on staff at the Graham Sustainability Institute and is a lecturer in SEAS, but previously lectured in PitE and at the Ford School. Most of Sarah's research is highly applied. She manages UM's partnership with the Michigan Energy Office, helping communities across the state consider energy in their land use planning, zoning, and other policymaking. Sarah also conducts research at the intersection of energy policy and land use planning--especially in rural communities. Her current work focuses on how renewable energy development impacts rural communities (positively and negatively), the disparate reactions of rural landowners to wind and solar projects, and how state and local policies facilitate or hinder renewable energy deployment.
Prior to joining Graham, Sarah was at the Ford School's Center for State, Local, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP), where, among other projects, she served as the project manager for both a nationwide survey on attitudes about climate and energy policy, but also a state-wide survey of Michigan local government officials on all sorts of issues: from road funding to attitudes about the Great Lakes. Prior to coming back to grad school, Sarah's jobs included distributing food for the Lutheran World Federation in South Sudan, directing sustainability programs for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and working on the marketing team for the ENERGY STAR Change a Light, Change the World campaign.
She lives in downtown Ann Arbor, and so you may see her at the Farmers Market or bicycling around town with her two kids. But never on Tuesday nights, since she's typically busy every Tuesday chairing the City of Ann Arbor Planning Commission meeting.