Professor Tran’s research focuses on regulatory structures that promote innovation and sustainable development. She has received several accolades for her scholarship, and her articles have appeared on multiple top 10 SSRN downloads. Professor Tran has recently published or plans to publish articles in the George Washington Law Review, William & Mary Law Review, U.C. Davis Law Review, Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, Harvard Environmental Law Review, and Wisconsin International Law Journal (symposium contribution). She is currently co-organizing a collection of articles on “Intellectual Property, Innovation, and the Environment” and co-authoring an introduction to the collection with Peter Menell for Edward Elgar Publishing. She was a regular contributor to the Written Description Blog, which reviews recent scholarship on intellectual property law issues, in 2011 and 2012. During the 2012-2013 academic year, she is serving as a Fellow in the SMU Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute.

Before law school, Professor Tran worked as a civil and environmental engineer in private practice in California and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guinea, West Africa. She later worked for the Energy Group of Jones Day, Washington, D.C., while studying for her law degree as an evening student at Georgetown University Law Center. While at Georgetown, Professor Tran was a founding member and executive articles editor of the Georgetown Global Critical Race Perspectives Journal. Professor Tran also served as a Senior Writing Fellow, as a Global Law Fellow, as a legal extern at Resources for the Future, and as a legal intern in the Environmental Division of the Institute for Public Representation Clinic at Georgetown. She graduated magna cum laude and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.

After graduating from law school, Professor Tran worked again for Jones Day and was selected to be a Georgetown Law Scholar, which is a fellowship awarded annually to a few top graduates with an interest in pursuing a career in academia. She then began serving as a clerk to the Honorable Timothy Belcher Dyk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Primary Articles

Cyber-Capture and the New Political Order (work-in-progress).

Cyber-Republicanism, 55 WILLIAM & MARY LAW REVIEW (forthcoming 2013) (lead article).

Policy Tailors and the Patent Office, 46 U.C. DAVIS LAW REVIEW 487 (Winter 2012; published Feb. 2013).

Administrative Law, Patents, and Distorted Rules, 80 GEORGE WASHINGTON LAW REVIEW 831 (2012).

Patent Powers, 25 HARVARD JOURNAL OF LAW AND TECHNOLOGY 595 (2012).

• Featured on PatentlyO, the leading intellectual property blog.
• Selected for republication in the Int'l Prop. L. Rev. (Thomson West Group 2013) as one of the best intellectual property law review articles published in 2012 (scheduled lead article).

Expediting Innovation, 36 HARVARD ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REVIEW 123 (2012).

• Featured on four blogs: (1) Written Description: Reviewing Recent Scholarship on Patent Law, IP Theory, and Innovation; (2) Sustainable Marks: A Law Blog about Trademarks, Patents, and Advertising-from a Green Perspective; (3) Green Patent Blog: Covering Intellectual Property Issues in Clean Technology; and (4) CleanTechies: A Leading Online Cleantech Destination, Green Career Site & Environmental Business Network on Clean Technology.

Prioritizing Innovation, 30 WISCONSIN INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL 101 (2013) (symposium issue) (adapted from Expediting Innovation, 36 Harv. Env. L. Rev. 123 (2012)).

Why Have Developers Been Powerless to Develop Ocean Power?, 4 TEXAS JOURNAL OF OIL, GAS, AND ENERGY LAW 195 (2009) (Work published when author not on law faculty).
              
Rebuilding Our Power Without Procedural Safeguards: A Federal Response to the 2005 Hurricanes that Outlasted the 'Emergency', 32 HARVARD ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REVIEW 217 (2008) (Work published when author not on law faculty).

• Selected for Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Writing, Law School Category.

Updated Hurricane Models: A New Opportunity to Insure Against Climate Change, 14 BOSTON UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LAW 73 (2008). (Work published when author not on law faculty).      
 
Experienced Intellectual Property Mediators: Increasingly Attractive in Times of Patent Unpredictability, Note, 13 HARVARD NEGOTIATION LAW REVIEW 313. (Work published when author not on law faculty).

• Featured on the IP ADR blog on June 30, 2008.

Books

Intellectual Property, Innovation, and the Environment (Edward Elgar, forthcoming 2013) (co-author of introduction and co-organizer, Peter Menell, Professor of Law & Faculty Director, U.C. Berkeley Center for Law & Technology).

Speeches/Presentations

Cyber-Republicanism,” Futures for Humanistic Learning Research Cluster, SMU Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute (October 2012)

“Cyber-Republicanism,” Interdisciplinary Concepts of “Agency,” Fellows Speaker Series, SMU Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute (September 2012)

“Intellectual Property Careers,” Panelist, SMU Dedman School of Law (September 2012)
 
“Administrative Law and the Patent System,” Southeastern Association of Law Schools, “Special Relationships: Specialized Agencies and the Courts” (July 2012)
 
“The Patent System’s Role in Promoting Renewable Energy Development,” Southeastern Association of Law Schools, “Adapting to Climate Change” (July 2012)

“Policy Tailors and the Rookie Regulator,” Boston College School of Law, Pat Con II (May 2012)
 
"Overview of the America Invents Act," Moderator, SMU Dedman School of Law, Symposium on Emerging Intellectual Property Series (April 2012)
 
“The Patent System’s Role in Promoting Renewable Energy Development,” Georgetown University Law Center, Georgetown International Environmental Law Review, Renewable Energy Symposium (April 2012)
 
“Policy Tailors and the Rookie Regulator," University of Wisconsin Law School, Global Law Faculty Speaker Series (March 2012)
 
“The Patent System’s Role in Promoting Renewable Energy Development,” University of Wisconsin Law School, Wisconsin International Law Review, Renewable Energy Symposium (March 2012)
 
“Administrative Law and the Patent System after Patent Reform,” University of Texas School of Law, Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal, Patent Law Symposium (February 2012)
 
“Administrative and Institutional Concerns in Patent Law,” Commentator, University of San Diego Patent Law Conference (January 2012)

“Analyzing the Intersection between Administrative Law and Patent Law,” George Mason School of Law (November 2011)

“Patent Powers,” SMU Science & Technology Junior Faculty Forum, SMU Dedman School of Law (November 2011)

“Patent Powers,” SMU Junior Faculty Forum, SMU Dedman School of Law (November 2011)
  
“America Invents Act: Should You Forget Everything You Knew About Patent Law?,” Panelist, SMU Law School (September 2011)

“Expediting Innovation” and “The Role of the Patent Office,” Vermont Law School Colloquium on Environmental Scholarship (September 2011)

“Trends in Intellectual Property Law,” Panelist, SMU Law School (September 2011)

“Changing Times: Changing Demands,” SMU Law School (September 2011) (introductory remarks preceding lecture by the Honorable Judge Richard Linn of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit)

“Prioritizing Innovation,” Southeastern Association of Law Schools “The Law of Disaster: A Panel Discussion Focused on Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice” (July 2011)

“U.S. Environmental Regulation on the Seas,” Presentation to Vietnamese Ministry of Justice Officials, SMU Dedman School of Law (March 2011)

“Overview of U.S. Maritime Energy Regulation,” Presentation to Vietnamese Ministry of Justice Officials, SMU Dedman School of Law (March 2011)

“Expediting Innovation: The Quest for a New Sputnik Moment,” SMU Junior Faculty Forum, SMU Dedman School of Law (February 2011)

Media

---

• The National Law Journal: "SMU Law Professor Teaches from Hospital Bed while Battling Leukemia"
• SMU Daily Campus: Law professor teaches from hospital bed
• Pegasus News: SMU Law Professor Teaches from Hospital Bed While Battling Leukemia
• Texas Lawyer: Teaching Courage, SMU Law Professor Battling Leukemia Teaches from Hospital Bed
• Softpedia: Professor with Leukemia Uses Skype to Teach from Hospital
• Sport: Professor with Leukemia Uses Skype to Teach from Hospital
• Above the Law
• National Public Radio/KERA: Supreme Court Wades Into Texas-Oklahoma Water War Today

Other

• Special Event Nov. 9. 2011