Brown is an Associate Professor of Systems Engineering specializing in humanitarian engineering and sustainable community development. His work focuses on sustainable engineering, particularly in appropriate technologies and systems methodology, with a strong emphasis on humanitarian solutions. 

He explores solutions within underserved communities and examines the social dimensions of technology, energy systems and resilient design. Brown has presented his work at various conferences and published on topics related to sustainable development and community resilience.  

Brown earned his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and his Ph.D. focused on engineering for developing communities from the University of Colorado Boulder. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from California State University at Chico.