Senior Project Manager, Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) of Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Sarah Mills is a Senior Project Manager in the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. In that role, she manages the Center’s Energy and Environmental Policy Initiative. Her own research focuses on the impact of energy development on rural communities. Much of her past research has considered the impact that wind energy projects have on owners of farmland and farming communities more generally, and she is working to extend that research to consider utility-scale solar facilities. Her policy research also considers how renewable energy is treated within state farmland preservation programs. Much of Sarah’s applied work is helping local communities in Michigan determine whether and how renewable energy fits with their land use planning goals. Sarah received her doctorate in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan in 2015, with a focus on rural land use planning and farmland preservation.
