Her research focuses on resource and environmental management in firms operating in diverse national and industry contexts, with an emphasis on emerging markets and the role of policy. Karplus is an expert on China’s energy system, including technology trends, energy system governance, and the sustainability impact of business decisions. She is currently leading the China Energy and Climate Project at MIT, a collaborative team of researchers from the U.S. and China focused on China's role in global energy markets and climate change mitigation. She currently teaches the spring-term course Global Strategy and Organization targeted at MBAs and other MIT graduate students.

Karplus has previously worked in the development policy section of the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, Germany, as a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow, and in the biotechnology industry in Beijing, China, as a Luce Scholar.

She holds a BS in biochemistry and political science from Yale University and a PhD in engineering systems from MIT.

Business Professor, Environment, Sustainability, Environmental Policy, Environmental Activism, Environmentalist Professors, Energy,