Maryann Feldman

Maryann P. Feldman is the Heninger Distinguished Professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina, where she also holds appointments in the Department of City and Regional Planning and the Strategy and Entrepreneurship group at the Kenan-Flagler Business School. She has also taught at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Toronto and the University of Georgia. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Carnegie-Mellon University.

Feldman is the author of more than 70 academic articles, 2 books, and 5 edited volumes, Maryann Feldman's work focuses on the spatial distribution of economic activity and understanding the factors that make certain places vibrant. Her dissertation, which was subsequently published as a book, was entitled the Geography of Innovation. The work examined the spatial distribution of industrial innovation and provided an empirical model of the factors and resources that affected the production of new product innovation and was published in the American Economic Review, the Review of Economics and Statistics and the Annuals of the Association of American Geographers. This work is noted to be the first time that the term geography was used to describe spatial phenomenon and is now an accepted lexicon. Currently, the geography of innovation is a subject area under the strategy division of the academy of management. Her most recent work is exploring emerging industries, entrepreneurship and the process of regional transformation.

Feldman is currently Principal Investigator on a National Science Foundation Project that examines state economic development policies. This work aims to understand what policies are most appropriate in different ecosystems and under different economic conditions.