Zana Cranmer

Zana Cranmer

  • Associate Professor, Natural and Applied Sciences
  • Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, University of Massachusetts
  • MEPP in Engineering and Public Policy, University of Maryland
  • BS in Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University

Teaching Interests

Renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy systems, energy policy, energy economics, energy and climate justice

Research Interests

Energy and climate justice, offshore wind energy, solar energy, integrated assessment modeling, energy economics, energy policy, ecosystem impacts of energy infrastructure, public acceptance of energy infrastructure

Consulting/Practice Interests

Renewable energy economics and policy, integrated assessment modeling

Bio

Cranmer's research focuses on barriers to deployment of renewable energy technologies with a growing focus on energy and climate justice. She uses a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches to address challenges in renewable energy and look for ways to improve outcomes. Cranmer completed a doctorate in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and holds a Master's degree in Engineering and Public Policy from the University of Maryland. She has a Bachelor's degree in Material Science and Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa.

Professional Memberships

  • Institute for Operations Research and Management Science 2013-01-01 - Present

    • Awards and Honors

  • Teaching Innovation Award, Teaching and Scholarly Activities Committee

    • Scholarly Contributions and Creative Productions

    Journal Articles

  • Stoner, E. W., Salina, S. C., Johnson, E. M., Whitman, E. R., Archer, S. K., McPherson, B. S., Cranmer, A. (2025). Use of Virtual Reality to Engage Undergraduate Students in Environmental Field Experiences. Future in Education Research, (3) 3 409-434.
  • Nock, D., Cranmer, A., Pottmeyer, L. (2024). Investigating how social justice framing for assessments impacts technical learning. INFORMS Transactions on Education, (25) 2
  • Grymes, J., Newman, A., Cranmer, Z., Nock, D. (2024). Optimizing microgrid deployment for community resilience. Optimization and Engineering, (25) 3 (Link)
  • Cranmer, A., Broughel, A., Ericson, J. D., Goldberg, M., Dharni, K. (2023). Getting to 30 GW by 2030: Visual preferences of coastal residents for offshore wind farms on the US East Coast. Energy Policy, (173) 113366. (Link)
  • Cranmer, Z., Steinfield, L., Miranda, J., Stohler, T. (2023). Energy distributive injustices: Assessing the demographics of communities surrounding renewable and fossil fuel power plants in the United States. Energy Research and Social Science, (100) Issue (Link)
  • Cranmer, A., Ericson, J. D., Broughel, A., Dharni, K. (2022). Immersion matters: The medium is the message for wind energy. Journal of Cleaner Production, (378) 134498. (Link)
  • Cranmer, A., Ericson, J. D., Ebers Broughel, A., Bernard, B., Robicheaux, E., Podolski, M. (2020). Worth a thousand words: Presenting wind turbines in virtual reality reveals new opportunities for social acceptance and visualization research. Energy Research & Social Science, (67) 101507. (Link)
  • Cranmer, A., Baker, E. (2020). The global climate value of offshore wind energy. Environmental Research Letters, (15) 5 054003. (Link)
  • Cranmer, A., Baker, E., Liesiö, J., Salo, A. (2018). A portfolio model for siting offshore wind farms with economic and environmental objectives. European Journal of Operational Research, (267) 1 304-314. (Link)
  • Cranmer, A., Smetzer, J. R., Welch, L., Baker, E. (2017). A Markov model for planning and permitting offshore wind energy: A case study of radio-tracked terns in the Gulf of Maine, USA. Journal of Environmental Management, (193) 400-409. (Link)

    • Book Chapters

  • Cranmer, A., Baker, E. (2025). Modeling Innovation Handbook of Energy Innovation. Edward Elgar (Forthcoming)
  • Cranmer, A. (2025). Renewable energy as a social innovation The Elgar Companion to Social Innovation and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Edward Elgar (Forthcoming)

    • Other Scholarly Work

  • Stohler, T. (2022). Where Have All the Power Plants Gone? Assessing the Distributive (In)Justice of Energy Market Systems. AMA Marketing and Public Policy Conference, (AMA Marketing and Public Policy Conference) .

    • Presentations

  • Cranmer, Z. (2026). “Clean Energy Data for Massachusetts” Presented at the BU IGS CELT Data Day Boston University
  • Cranmer, Z. (2025). “Climate Goals Tracker & GHG Inventory Tool” Presented at the MassEnergize MassEnergize Community of Practice Virtual
  • Cranmer, A. (2024). “Solar adoption in MA across sectors” Presented at the INFORMS Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) Annual Meeting 2024 Seattle, WA
  • Stoner, E., Cranmer, A. (2024). “Immersive and Inclusive Pedagogy: Examining VR’s Effectiveness in Student Learning” Presented at the Bentley University Alumni Conference
  • Cranmer, A. (2023). “Municipal Climate Action Planning” Presented at the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) 2023 Annual Meeting Phoenix, AZ
  • Cranmer, A. (2023). “Decision support tool for local climate action” Presented at the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) Conference Orlando, FL
  • Cranmer, A. (2023). “Decision support tool for local climate action” Presented at the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Annual Conference New Orleans, LA
  • Cranmer, A. (2022). “Energy, Climate Change and Data” Presented at the New England Statistical Society NextGen Data Science Day Virtual
  • Cranmer, A., Broughel, A., Ericson, J. D. (2022). “Getting to 30 GW by 2030: Visual preferences of coastal residents for offshore wind farms” Presented at the Institute for Economy and the Environment (IW√ñ-HSG) 12th St. Gallen Forum for Management of Renewable Energies (REMforum) St. Gallen, Switzerland
  • Steinfield, L., Cranmer, A., Miranda Gonzalez, J., Stohler, T. (2022). “Where Have All the Power Plants Gone? Assessing the Distributive (In)Justice of Energy Market Systems” Presented at the AMA Marketing & Public Policy Austin, Texas
  • Ericson, J. D., Cranmer, A., Broughel, A. (2021). “Using virtual reality and visual discrete choice tasks to examine public attitudes toward offshore wind energy projects” Presented at the Behavior, Energy & Climate Change (BECC) Online
  • Cranmer, A. (2021). “What does the future hold for power purchase agreements?” Presented at the IISE Annual Conference Virtual
  • Cranmer, A. (2020). “Worth a Thousand Words: New Opportunities with Virtual Reality and Wind Energy” Presented at the Behavior, Energy & Climate Change Conference Virtual
  • Cranmer, A. (2020). “Investigating Public Acceptance of Wind Energy Using Traditional and Immersive Media” Presented at the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management 42nd Annual Fall Research Conference Virtual
  • Cranmer, A. (2020). “Virtual reality is worth a thousand words in describing wind projects” Presented at the Electric Power Research Institute Fall Advisory Meeting Virtual
  • Cranmer, A. (2019). “Use Less and Green the Rest: Lowering Barriers to Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy” Presented at the University of Texas at Dallas Laboratory for Behavioral Operations and Economics Dallas, TX
  • Cranmer, A. (2019). “Using Virtual Reality to Understand Renewable Energy Preferences” Presented at the INFORMS 2019 Annual Meeting Seattle, WA
  • Cranmer, A. (2019). “A Portfolio Model for Energy Efficiency Projects” Presented at the INFORMS 2019 Annual Meeting Seattle, WA
  • Cranmer, A. (2019). “Equity Impacts of New Low Carbon Technologies” Presented at the International Energy Agency International Energy Workshop (IEW) 2019 Paris, France
  • Cranmer, A. (2019). “Valuing renewable energy: The power of models?” Presented at the Bentley University Bentley Research Colloquium on Social In/Justice Waltham, MA
  • Cranmer, A. (2018). “The Climate Value of Offshore Wind Energy in the US” Presented at the INFORMS 2018 Annual Meeting Phoenix, AZ
  • Cranmer, A. (2018). “The Global Value of Offshore Wind Energy” Presented at the Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO) 29th European Conference on Operational Research Valencia, Spain
  • Cranmer, A., Baker, E. (2017). “Valuing Offshore Wind Energy” Presented at the INFORMS 2017 Annual Meeting Houston, TX
  • Cranmer, A., Baker, E. (2017). “Valuing Offshore Wind Energy” Presented at the IEW 2017 College Park, MD
  • Cranmer, A., Baker, E. (2016). “Valuing Offshore Wind Energy” Presented at the INFORMS 2016 Annual Meeting Nashville, TN
  • Cranmer, A., Smetzer, J. R., Welch, L., Baker, E. (2016). “Automated Avian Telemetry and Markov Model for Oshore Wind Planning: A Case Study for the Gulf of Maine, USA” Presented at the Northeast Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies 72nd Northeast Fish and Wildlife Conference Annapolis, MD
  • Cranmer, A., Baker, E. (2015). “Modeling Economic and Environmental Tradeoffs in Offshore Wind Development” Presented at the INFORMS 2015 Annual Meeting Philadelphia, PA
  • Cranmer, A., Baker, E. (2014). “Siting Offshore Wind Farms as a Robust Portfolio Model” Presented at the INFORMS 2014 Annual Meeting San Francisco, CA
  • Cranmer, A., Baker, E. (2014). “Siting Offshore Wind Farms as a Robust Portfolio Model” Presented at the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) Barcelona, Spain

    • Service

    Service: Department

  • Committee Member for Curriculum Review Committee 1/1/17 - Present
  • Committee Member for Personnel & Staffing Committee 1/1/17 - Present
  • Committee Member for Scholarship Committee 1/1/17 - Present

    • Service: Professional

  • Conference/Workshop Session Chair for Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers - 5/31/23
  • Conference/Workshop Session Chair for INFORMS - 10/31/22
  • Conference/Workshop Session Chair for INFORMS - 11/30/20
  • Conference/Workshop Session Chair for INFORMS - 10/31/19
  • Conference/Workshop Session Chair for INFORMS - 11/5/18
  • Conference/Workshop Session Chair for INFORMS - 11/4/18
  • Conference/Workshop Track Chair for Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) Energy, Natural Resources and the Environment (ENRE) Section 1/1/18 - 12/31/20
  • Conference/Workshop Session Chair for INFORMS - 10/25/17
  • Conference/Workshop Session Chair for INFORMS - 11/13/16
  • Conference/Workshop Session Chair for INFORMS - 11/2/15

    • Service: University

  • Committee Member for Building a Data-Driven Student Success Ecosystem 1/1/25 - Present
  • Committee Member for Faculty IT Advisory Group - Present
  • Committee Member for Faculty Evaluation Procedures Committee 1/1/21 - Present
  • Committee Member for Sustainability Strategic Planning Committee 1/1/21 - 12/31/22
  • Committee Member for Green Revolving Fund Committee 1/1/20 - Present
  • Committee Member for Library Digital Commons Committee 1/1/17 - 12/31/19