Jennifer Sklarew
- Assistant Professor
- Energy and Sustainability Policy, Environmental Policy, Social Science
Contact Info

- Name
- Dr. Jennifer F. Sklarew
- Job Title
- Assistant ProfessorEnergy and Sustainability Policy, Environmental Policy, Social Science
- Phone Number
- Office Number
- David King Hall, Room 3019, MSN 5F2
Affiliations
Departments
- Environmental Science & Policy Department (Instructional Faculty)
Research Areas
- Environmental Science and Policy
- Food-Energy-Water-Climate Nexus
- Energy Policymaking, Politics and Process
Education
- PhD, Public Policy, George Mason University (2015)
- MA, International Economics and Japan Studies, Johns Hopkins University/SAIS (1997)
- BA, English, University of Pennsylvania (1992)
About
Dr. Jennifer Sklarew brings 25 years of energy and environmental policymaking and analysis to her research and teaching. Dr. Sklarew coordinates the department's MS Concentration in Energy and Sustainability Policy and Science, which she developed. She also teaches graduate and undergraduate energy policy and food-energy-water nexus courses she developed for ESP. Her published and funded work examines how institutional relationships and catastrophic events drive energy and environmental policymaking and change. Specific focal areas for her qualitative research include sustainability and resilience challenges in the energy-water nexus, solutions that leverage food-energy-water interdependencies, and energy system transitions in Japan, India, and China. NPR has quoted Dr. Sklarew as an expert on Japanese energy policymaking change.
Dr. Sklarew currently leads two research projects. The first is to design, build and deploy hydropower micro-turbines on Mason’s Fairfax campus and analyze technological, ecological, geographical, socio-economic and institutional challenges. Her faculty-student team will use this data to develop potential solutions and lessons learned, to which they will add as they conduct additional pilots in overseas communities facing severe energy and water insecurity. The second project, a collaboration with faculty in food/nutrition and engineering, involves research on food, energy, water and climate challenges facing low income, rural communities. Through needs assessments, the project enables collaboration with communities to determine their food, energy and water needs and develop potential solutions.
Dr. Sklarew’s prior professional experience spans the public and private sectors. She has served as the sector expert for a FEMA-funded project on protection of U.S. electricity infrastructure, and she represented Mason on Arlington County’s Community Energy Plan Implementation Review Committee. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Sklarew served in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Japan, where she led her office’s work on Japanese electricity and gas deregulation, as well as the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. She also served as a Mike Mansfield Fellow in various Japanese government agencies. Prior to entering the government, Dr. Sklarew worked as a DC-based energy policy consultant to Japanese utility companies, and as a policy analyst for the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute.
A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and former rapporteur for the Council’s Energy Security Group, Dr. Sklarew received her Ph.D. in public policy from George Mason University, her MA from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and her BA from the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Sklarew’s published work includes “Flint and the Impact of Institutional Relationships on Policy Change during Focusing Events,” published in Managing Challenges for the Flint Water Crisis by Westphalia Press. She also co-authored “Accelerating Sustainable Land Use Practices in the U.S.,” in the Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s (SDSN) America's Zero Carbon Action Plan: Roadmap to Achieving Net Zero Emissions by 2050. Dr. Sklarew’s articles have appeared in Energy Research & Social Science, Foresight and STI Governance, Renewable Energy Law and Policy Review, The CIP Report, and The Washington Post. Forthcoming publications include Building Resilient Energy Systems: Lessons from Japan, a book to be published by Routledge.
Current Research
Dr. Sklarew's published and funded work examines how institutional relationships and catastrophic events drive energy and environmental policymaking and change. Specific areas of focus for her qualitative research include sustainability and resilience challenges in the energy-water nexus, solutions that leverage energy-water interdependencies, and energy system transitions in Japan, India, and China.
Dr. Sklarew currently leads two projects at Mason. The first is to design, build and deploy hydropower micro-turbines on the GMU Fairfax campus and analyze technological, ecological, geographical, socio-economic and institutional challenges. Her faculty-student team will use this data to develop potential solutions and lessons learned, to which they will add as they conduct additional pilots in overseas communities facing severe energy and water insecurity.
The second project, a collaboration with faculty and students in environmental science, food/nutrition, engineering, and sustainability studies, involves research on food, energy, water and climate challenges facing low income, rural communities.
Teaching Focus
Dr. Sklarew teaches graduate and undergraduate energy policy and food-energy-water nexus courses she developed for ESP.
Selected Publications
- Sklarew, Jennifer. 2021. “The Influence of Institutional Relationships on Policy Change during Focusing Events," in Managing Challenges for the Flint Water Crisis. Tonya Neaves, Drew Williams, and Katie Simon, eds. Westphalia Press.
- McCord, Gordon, David Kanter, Jennifer Sklarew, Grace Wu, and Michael Jacobson. 2020. “Accelerating Sustainable Land Use Practices in the U.S.," in America's Zero Carbon Action Plan: Roadmap to Achieving Net Zero Emissions by 2050, 262-281. New York: SDSN.
- Sklarew D. and J. Sklarew. 2018. Integrated water-energy policy for sustainable development. Foresight and STI Governance 12(4): 10-19. doi: 10.17323/2500-2597.2018.4.10.19
- Sklarew, Jennifer. 2018. “Power Fluctuations: How Japan’s Nuclear Infrastructure Priorities Influence Electric Utilities’ Clout.” Energy Research and Social Science, Volume 41. July: 158-167.
- Sklarew, Jennifer F. 2011. “Can China and India Serve as Models for Developing Nations Striving to Build Absorption Capacity for Renewable Energy Technologies?” Renewable Energy Law and Policy Journal. Berlin: Lexxion, March: 181-194.
Awards
- 2019: Adjunct Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, George Mason University.
- 2015: Dissertation Completion Grant ($8,000), George Mason University, Office of the Provost
- 2012-13 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) award
- 1996-7 Department of Education Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship (Japanese)
Dr. Jennifer Sklarew appears on Emerald Planet TV
On May 14, 2017, Dr. Jennifer Sklarew appeared on the Emerald Planet TV program to discuss the hydro-power micro-turbine project she is leading at Mason. When placed in pipes for drinking water or storm water runoff, these turbines can promote potable water and storm water management, while concurrently bolstering local electricity supply. Dr. Sklarew, who teaches energy policy courses in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy (ESP), explained how the project contributes to innovations for a smart energy future.
Contact Info

- Name
- Dr. Jennifer F. Sklarew
- Job Title
- Assistant ProfessorEnergy and Sustainability Policy, Environmental Policy, Social Science
- Phone Number
- Office Number
- David King Hall, Room 3019, MSN 5F2