After graduating as a valedictorian from Wendell Willkie High School in 1960, he attended DePauw University in 1961.

He then transferred and graduated cum laude from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1964.

He was a member of the National Research Council Committee on Effectiveness and Impact of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards, which issued its major report in 2001.

He also chaired the Secretary of Energy's Electric Systems Reliability Task Force, which issued its major report in 1998.

[4] Sharp went on to serve as director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.