Dana-Marie Thomas is a researcher in the Strategic Energy Security Group within the NREL Resilient Infrastructure and Security Center. Thomas develops tools and research to enhance stakeholder participation, support resilient infrastructure deployment and address community vulnerabilities in an evolving threat landscape. She is a member of NREL’s InSPIRE (Innovative Solar Practices Integrated with Rural Economies and Ecosystems) team, where she assists communities in accelerating agrivoltaics adoption through targeted technical assistance and decision-making support. In addition, Thomas focuses on conducting energy security and resilience assessments that help partners improve energy system reliability and performance at their facilities, considering supply chain disruptions, natural hazards, security risks, and other factors. Thomas also studies cybersecurity best practices to inform policy, implementation, resilience, and good governance for securing critical infrastructure.

Energy and food security

Energy resilience

Energy technologies

Technical assistance for community decision-making

Stakeholder and community engagement

Nexus of energy, water, and food systems

Artificial intelligence applications for energy systems and natural disaster resilience

Critical materials supply chain 

Cybersecurity in manufacturing

Human dimensions of cyber resilience

Agrivoltaics

Thomas's myriad of professional expertise includes a policy background in cyber and energy security, including cybersecurity for critical infrastructure, regulatory compliance, behavioral science, and public health. She is interested in the intersection of energy, resilience, the built environment, and health; infrastructure resilience, particularly in the U.S. food and agricultural sector; biosecurity risks and cybersecurity threats linked to food-energy infrastructure interdependencies; human dimensions of energy systems; as well as metrics and return on investment for all of these topics.