About Me

Short Background Summary

Doug Barnes is an extensively published infrastructure sociologist with a strong background in economics who specializes in energy and environmental issues. I have been involved in rural energy, household energy, and international development issues for the last 35 years. I have worked for 25 years at the World Bank and 4 years at Resources for the Future both of which are located in Washington DC. During my 25-year career at the World Bank, I completed books on energy in developing countries with publishers such as Oxford University and Routledge Press. 

In 2012 I received a LAS Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Illinois. In 2020 I was awarded the Sociology Department Distinguished Alumni Award. Both awards were for my 25-year career at the World Bank which involved my work for improving the lives of over 2 billion people without electricity or clean methods of cooking. Some of these issues are highlighted on my website Energy for Development nd Poverty Reduction. These activities are now central to the mission of the energy group at the World Bank in Washington, DC. The United Nations also has adopted household energy access as a priority for its sustainable development program. 

Recently I have turned my writing experience to exploring my lifetime passion for bicycling.  I also previously volunteered at the Bicycle Loan Program at Great Falls Tavern in the C & O Canal National Historic Park.  I am working on a manuscript with the title The Happiness Machine: A Lifetime Bicycle Adventure. Some passages from the work can be found on this site.

Education: 

BA: Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, 1969;
MA: St. John's University, New York, 1973; 
Ph.D.: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1979.

Awards and Accomplishments

2020 University Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Sociology Department Distinguished Alumni Award

2012 University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Alumni Achievement Award

2008 World Bank 20 Years of Service, Washington DC

2006 World Bank Operations Evaluation Department Good Practice Award for Bangladesh Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy II Project

2001 World Bank Operations Evaluation Department Good Practice Award for Bangladesh Rural Electrification I Project

1985 National Science Foundation Grant (co-award with Reeve Vanneman, University of Maryland)

1984 National Science Foundation and International Association of Energy Economists India Travel Award.

1979 American Institute of India Studies Post-Doctoral Award.

1975-78 National Defense Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship.

Contact Information and Websites

Contact Information: E-Mail: barnesdf@gmail.com; Twitter: @DouglasFBarnes

Website-Amazon Author: For my author page on Amazon go to:amazon.com/author/dougbarnes.

Website-Energy and Development: For my website on household energy and rural electrification issues, see Energy for Development. 

Website-DC United Stadium Advocacy: For my website on the advocacy campaign for a new soccer stadium in Washington, DC and other soccer-related issues, see DC United Stadium at Buzzard Point. This site also has a whimsical series of articles with the title Tales from Buzzard Point done in collaboration with David Rusk.

ResearchGate: My profile and publications on Research Gate can be accessed at Douglas F. Barnes on ResearchGate.

Banner Photo: Doug Barnes. The image is taken at Widewater on the C & O Canal National Historical Park. The location is near Old Anglers Inn, Potomac Maryland.

Birthplace: Doug Barnes grew up in Uniontown, PA, and he attended South Union High School.