EEPHU -- Pre-doc fellows

Pre-Doctoral Fellows

Find Individual Pre-doctoral Fellow Biography

Hunt Allcott Ph.D. student in Public Policy - Hunt's environmental research interests include technological change in the energy industry, tradable allowance markets, and automotive fuel economy. In development economics, he focuses on poverty alleviation and the energy industry in Latin America. He came to Harvard from the consultancy Cambridge Energy Research Associates, where he advised energy companies on climate change, emissions markets, and renewable energy. He is a recipient of the Joseph Crump Fellowship. Hunt holds a B.S. and M.S. in engineering from Stanford University. His research at Stanford, in the Goldman Honors Program in Environmental Science, Technology, and Policy, focused on the economics of the California Zero Emission Vehicle Program. Hunt's website
Jonathan Borck Ph.D. student in Public Policy - Jonathan earned his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, summa cum laude, from Rice University in 2000. His work at Harvard merges his experience in environmental science and engineering with his interest in environmental economics and policy. His research interests include biodiversity, the role of science in agricultural and climate-related decision making systems, the chemistry, politics, and economics of urban air pollution, the use of market-based incentives for environmental protection, and water policy. As a Fellow of the Thomas J. Watson Foundation, Jonathan investigated a very different topic, theater in the United Kingdom. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. He also won the Kennedy School of Government Dean's Award for Excellence in Student Teaching (2004-2005).
Jing Cao Ph.D. student in Public Policy - Jing Cao is interested in environmental economics and policy. Her work so far has focused on estimating the ancillary benefit of GHGs mitigation in China and related policy analysis, which is supported by Economy and Environment Program in Southeast Asia (EEPSEA). Jing received her bachelor degree in economics and geology, and a master's degree in environmental economics at Peking University. Jing is currently a recipient of a Pre-Doctoral Fellowship from the Kennedy School of Government. In the summer of 2002, she received a Roy Family Internship, which allowed her to work with the State Development Planning Commission in China. While at Peking University, Jing also received AnTai Scholarship, Scholarship for Economic Research in China and EEPSEA regional training in environmental economics.
Kelsey Jack Ph.D. student in Public Policy - Brooke "Kelsey" Jack is interested in individual level decision-making related to natural resources in developing countries. Kelsey spent two years as a program officer with IUCN -- The World Conservation Union in Lao PDR, where she worked on issues of conservation and rural livelihoods. She has also done research for the World Resources Institute, for the Dean of New York University Law School, and for the Princeton Environmental Institute. She is a recipient of the Vicki Norberg-Bohm Fellowship and a Center for International Development Doctoral Research Grant. Kelsey received her undergraduate degree in public and international affairs from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School.
Carolyn Kousky Ph.D. student in Public Policy - Carolyn Kousky is interested in environmental economics and policy design. Her current research analyzes contracting for the provision of ecosystem services. Carolyn is a recipient of the Joseph Crump Fellowship. She received a B.S. with honors and distinction in Earth Systems from Stanford University in 2002. She has previously published work on municipal motivations for reducing greenhouse gases, analyzing the possible cost-savings and co-benefits from such policies.
Robyn Meeks Ph.D. student in Public Policy - Robyn's research interests include water resource management; rural water supply and sanitation; and, more broadly, environmental and development economics. After obtaining her bachelor's degree in political science from Brown University, Robyn taught environmental studies as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan. She then received an M.E.M. in water resources management from Yale University, where she was awarded the Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship for study of the Russian language. After obtaining her master's degree, Robyn consulted for the Energy and Environment Group at the United Nations Development Programme. Most recently, as a Fulbright recipient, she researched tariff collection in rural water supply systems in the Kyrgyz Republic.
Matthew Ranson Ph.D student in Public Policy - Matthew is interested in a combination of environmental and behavioral economics--for example, in methods of adapting environmental valuation models to account for sub-rational consumer behaviors. Matthew graduated from Harvard University in 2002 with an A.B. in Environmental Science and Public Policy and Economics, magna cum laude with high honors in field. From 2002 to 2006 he worked as a research assistant, associate analyst, and analyst at Abt Associates Inc., where he conducted cost-benefit analysis for a variety of proposed U.S. EPA regulations. During his tenure at Abt, Matthew co-authored several journal articles analyzing how researcher methodological choices affect the results of revealed and stated preference valuation models. http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~ransonm/
Olga Rostapshova PhD student in Public Policy - Olga's research interests include climate change, environmental policy in transition economies and firm decision-making under uncertainty. She had previously completed research projects modeling: non-point source pollution; fishery management strategies; energy portfolio optimization; and the effects of uncertainty and irreversibility on the design and timing of environmental policy. Before coming to Harvard she worked as a senior consultant for the Quantitative Economics and Statistics group at Ernst & Young LLP, where she focused on econometric modeling, economic impact and taxation analysis, biotechnology industry strategy, and risk mitigation and consumer regulation compliance for large financial services firms. Olga completed her undergraduate work at Swarthmore College and holds a B.S. in Engineering and B.A. in Economics, with Environmental Studies and Public Policy concentrations. She is the recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, Morris K. Udall scholarship for the environment, U.S. Army Excellence in Science and Engineering award, National Institutes of Health biomedical fellowship, Sam Hayes III grant for business economics, and the Scheur grant for the environment. In addition, she has served as the U.S. representative to the United Nations Environmental Youth Conference and is a Sigma Xi Research Honor Society associate member.
Kate Emans Sims Ph.D. student in Political Economy and Government - Kate Emans Sims is interested in the ways that institutions--formal and informal--affect the economic choices of users of common property natural resources including water and forests. Kate has previously worked as a researcher for non-profit organizations, including the Water and Development Group of the Stockholm Environment Institute-Boston, and Verite, an organization that monitors labor rights and working conditions in emerging markets. In addition, she taught science and geography for a year in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and worked in business as a researcher for the Piper Jaffray Social Equity Investment Group. Kate is a recipient of the James and Cathleen Stone Fellowship in Environmental Economics (2002) and a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship (2004). She holds a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University.
Laurence Tai Ph.D. student in Public Policy - Laurence's research interests include energy economics in the context of global climate change and environmental and development economics more broadly. He earned his bachelor's degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy, magna cum laude, from Harvard College in 2006. Laurence plans to pursue a J.D. degree at Harvard Law School to further his research in this area.
Gergely Ujhelyi PhD student in economics - Gergely is interested in environmental agreements and tradable permit systems. His work has focused on applying cooperative game theory to the question of initial allocation of permits, and examined how various characteristics of the permit market influenced the stability of environmental agreements. Gergely received an MSc in Economics from the Budapest University of Economic Sciences in 2001 and an MA in Economics from Central European University in 2002. In 2000-2001 he worked in the European project "SIADCERO" which set up a game theoretic model to analyse the EU's participation in climate change negotiations. In 2001, Gergely received the European Union's Archimedes Prize for academic achievements. Gergely's website
Gernot Wagner Ph.D. student in Political Economy and Government - Gernot is interested in environmental and natural resource economics, energy, and domestic trade policy. He was awarded a Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for his undergraduate thesis on theoretical and empirical aspects of accounting for forests in the U.S. national income accounts. He received his joint A.B. magna cum laude with highest honors in Environmental Science and Public Policy, and Economics from Harvard College in 2002 and his M.A. in Economics from Stanford in 2003. He has been awarded Graduate Fellowships at both Stanford and Harvard Universities as well as from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Institute for Humane Studies. In 2005-2006, he was a Repsol YPF-Harvard Kennedy School Fellow in energy policy and recipient of a Harvard University Presidential Scholars Grant. He also won a Kennedy School of Government Dean's Award for Excellence in Student Teaching and two two Certificates of Distinction in Teaching at Harvard College. Gernot's website
Fei Yu Ph.D. student in Public Policy - Fei is interested in the economics of environmental regulations and institutions. Fei Yu received her MPA from Princeton University (2000), her Master of Science in geography from University of London (1999), and her B.A in English from Dalian University of Technology in China (1993). Fei Yu worked with the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for four years on development and environmental protection issues, including water pollution and regulations, integrated river-basin management, regional cooperation in environmental protection, and public expenditure analysis for developing countries. Fei Yu received several scholarships in previous years, including the UNDP/World Bank IW:LEARN scholarship (1998-1999) to conduct full-time master's degree studies at University of London; Karl E. Prickett Fellowship (2000-2002) from Princeton University; a Ph.D. Fellowship and a GSAS Dissertation Completion Fellowship from Harvard University.
Fan Zhang Ph.D. student in Public Policy - Fan is interested in environmental, energy and natural resource economics and policy. Her current research analyzes the theory and empirical behavior of intertemporal emission permits trading under uncertainty. She has also researched and published on the impact of electricity market restructuring on the production efficiency of the U.S. nuclear energy industry, and the economic impact of China�s land conversion policy. She received a M.S. in Environmental Economics and Management from Peking University and a B.S. in Environmental Science and Computer Science from Zhongshan University, both with the highest honors. She has worked with the World Bank, OECD, International Energy Agency, Resources for the Future, and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) on a broad range of international and domestic policy issues. She is a recipient of a Dissertation Completion Fellowship from Harvard University, a research grant from Heinz Family Foundation, a Repsol YPF-Harvard Kennedy School Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, and a National Award for Outstanding Overseas Students from the Chinese government.