Dr. Madeline Brown (She/Her)

Lead Project Manager for the San Joaquin Valley Regional Office
Merced County, CA/PST (GMT-8)

Work History

Dr. Madeline Brown has a unique combination of 15 years of experience in geospatial and utility spaces and formal education. Her education culminated in a Doctorate degree, where her dissertation focused on transportation hazardscapes—where technology, geography, policy, climate, and additional factors intersect to create a “landscape of hazards.” She has published research on topics including air quality impacts on public land attendance, wildfire-driven visitor displacement, and adaptive management of critical transportation corridors.

Before joining CALSTART, Dr. Brown led international teams across the U.S., Australia, and Canada, conducting LiDAR mapping of high-risk transmission corridors to mitigate risks from environmental and human hazards. Then, before she returned to school for her doctorate, she worked at a local electric utility as their resident GIS Specialist, improving data accessibility for field-based teammates, solving geospatial challenges such as substation siting, and spearheading asset management software implementation.

Currently, Madeline manages multi-agency projects from local, state, and federal agencies, including CalTrans and the FTA. She develops workforce strategies for zero-emission vehicle adoption, engaging diverse community-based organizations, educational institutions, and public and private partners.

Madeline also recently designed and led an equity-based utility engagement project, collaborating with San Joaquin Valley publicly owned utilities to identify electrification challenges and collaboration opportunities, inform policy development and advocacy, and advise funding program design.

Education & Certifications

• BA in Geography from University of California – Santa Barbara
• MSc in Geographic Information Science and Technology from University of Southern California
• PhD in Adaptation Planning from University of California – Merced
• Dissertation on Transportation Hazardscapes

Work Approach

Dr. Madeline Brown is guided by the belief that ” Life is about contribution, not accumulation.” She recognizes the immense value of mentorship and strives to create an environment where others can learn, grow, and make meaningful contributions through collaborative learning and peer-to-peer mentoring, within and across agencies and stakeholder groups.