Supraja Sudharsan is an expert in strategic planning for organizational development, growth, and impact with experience spanning management of global, multi-stakeholder projects, building business tools, impact evaluation, strategic communication, and design and delivery of work products that appeal to diverse stakeholders.  

In her current role as associate director of policy and strategy at the Global Building Network, a UNECE-Penn State University initiative, she is leading educational strategy for student success and expanding opportunities for non-traditional learners, with a particular focus in India. 

Supraja is a social scientist by training with expertise in building networks that can promote transformational change across cities and communities for a sustainable and resilient built environment. Her research interests include network effectiveness, transnational climate governance, sustainable energy transitions, city policies and planning for climate change, data in the energy industry, and  regional economic development. 

See related publications here and here, and book chapter here. 

Supraja's other interests include incorporating sustainability into learning practices on-campus. She has served as a member of Georgia Tech's sustainability student advisory committee and supported drafting of a quality enhancement plan for the period 2015-2020; Served as a trainer in the office of Serve-Learn-Sustain at Georgia Tech; And mentored students both on- and off-campus.

Supraja is a doctoral student at Georgia Institute of Technology where she studies how cities can be effective in translating global goals to local climate policies. She has a masters degree majoring in financial engineering from Columbia University, and has previously worked with oil and gas, and renewable energy firms in her capacity as an investment banking analyst.   

She is an alumnus of climate corps program of the Environmental Defense Fund, and the science technology and innovation policy program at Georgia Tech.