Evaluating Energy Infrastructure
Evaluating Energy Infrastructure
![Nikki Luke](https://geography.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Nikki-Luke.webp)
Nikki Luke joins us this year as an assistant professor. Luke is an urban geographer with a concentration in energy and labor politics. Her research investigates urban energy policy and governance and the effects of changes in energy infrastructure on workers and communities in the American South. She has published in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Antipode, Social and Cultural Geography, and Southeastern Geographer.
Luke has also contributed to interdisciplinary policy research, including with the University of California, Berkeley Labor Center. This work examined how climate policy can support the creation of high-quality jobs and studied effective job training pathways to bring women and workers from historically marginalized groups into the clean energy sector. She has received support for her research from the National Science Foundation and the Fulbright Program.
Luke completed her PhD at the University of Georgia in 2020. Originally from southwest Virginia, she is overjoyed to be back in Appalachia and joining the UT geography faculty.