Hamm Institute for American Energy names Mills a Distinguished Fellow and Advisory Board Member

Hamm Institute for American Energy names Mills a Distinguished Fellow and Advisory Board Member

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Media Contact: Dara McBee | Director of External Affairs, Hamm Institute | 580-350-7248 | [email protected]

The Hamm Institute for American Energy at Oklahoma State University announced Wednesday that energy and technology analyst Mark P. Mills has been appointed Distinguished Fellow and will join the institute's Advisory Board, where he will contribute research for the American Energy + AI Initiative on the real-world power required to support AI and data center growth.

Mills is executive director of the National Center for Energy Analytics and a contributing editor at City Journal. He also serves as a faculty fellow at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering and a distinguished senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Over the course of his career, Mills has testified before Congress numerous times and briefed state public-service commissions and legislators. Most recently, he testified about AI and data centers before the House Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs in April 2025.

His first project for the Hamm Institute, a new joint study titled "The Rise of AI: A Reality Check on Energy and Economic Impacts," provides one of the most detailed looks to date at how surging AI deployment will shape electricity demand, fuel use and the broader economy.

"AI will be one of the most power-hungry technologies in history, and Mark's work gives utilities, policymakers and investors a clear forecast of what that means in practice," said Dr. Ann Bluntzer Pullin, executive director of the Hamm Institute. "His analysis grounds the American Energy + AI Initiative in facts about generation, infrastructure and timing, not slogans. We are honored to have him as both a distinguished scholar and advisor as we map out a path to reliable, affordable power for the AI era."

Mills' report, released at the institute's recent American Energy + AI Summit in Washington, D.C., quantifies the scale and pace of new generation and infrastructure needed if the United States wants to meet AI-driven demand without sacrificing reliability or economic competitiveness.

"Artificial intelligence is driving the most significant structural shift in the U.S. economy in decades. Spending on data center construction now outpaces the spending in the entire commercial office building sector," Mills said. "And, with power demands for individual data centers reaching city-scale levels, the nation faces an urgent need for far more energy, and supplying it quickly and reliably.

"If AI delivers on the key promise of boosting productivity, over the coming decade the nation will see GDP expand by some $10 trillion more than current, anemic, forecasts - but only if we allow the building of the power infrastructure required. Enabling AI's promises means expanding, not constraining, our energy systems."

As a Distinguished Fellow and Advisory Board member, Mills will:

• Provide the energy demand and power capacity portfolio of the American Energy + AI Initiative, including follow-on studies and briefings for utilities, regulators and investors.
• Advise the Hamm Institute on research priorities and metrics that reflect real-world power system constraints.
• Support the institute's workforce efforts by turning demand forecasts into clear guidance for universities, training programs and employers on the skills and roles needed to build and operate AI-era power systems.

The American Energy + AI Initiative, led by the Hamm Institute, is focused on near-term solutions to deliver the power required for AI-scale data centers and advanced manufacturing, while strengthening U.S. and allied energy security. Mills' research will serve as the initiative's baseline forecast of AI-driven electricity demand and the generation, fuel and infrastructure needed to meet it.

The full study, produced in partnership with the National Center for Energy Analytics, "The Rise of AI: A Reality Check on Energy and Economic Impacts," is available on the Hamm Institute's website.