Policy Topics

Energy and environment

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Emeritus faculty

Carl P. Simon

Professor Emeritus of Public Policy, Mathematics, and Complex Systems
Simon was the founding director of the U-M Center for the Study of Complex Systems. His research centers on the dynamics of covid-19, of crime, of teenage smoking, and of Great Lakes salmon. He was named the 2007 LSA Distinguished Senior Lecturer.
Visiting faculty

Julian Brave NoiseCat

Visiting Fellow, Center for Racial Justice
Julian Brave NoiseCat is a member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq’escen and a descendant of the Lil’Wat Nation of Mount Currie. he is a writer and filmmaker currently based in the Pacific Northwest. He is the author of We Survived the Night and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and more.
Faculty by courtesy

Arun Agrawal

Samuel Trask Dana Professor of Governance and Sustainability
Arun Agrawal, PhD, is the Samuel Trask Dana Professor of Governance and Sustainability at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability, with a courtesy appointment at the Ford School. Agrawal emphasizes the politics of international development,…
Faculty by courtesy

Pamela Jagger

Professor of Environment and Sustainability; Professor of Public Policy (by courtesy)
Pam Jagger is a professor at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability, with a courtesy appointment at the Ford School. She is an applied political economist whose research focuses on the dynamics of poverty and environment interactions in…
Adjunct faculty

Daniel Raimi

Lecturer in Public Policy
Daniel Raimi is a fellow at Resources for the Future and a lecturer at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. He works on a range of energy policy issues with a focus on tools to enable an equitable energy…
Core faculty

Catherine Hausman

Associate Professor of Public Policy
Hausman is an environmental and energy economist, and some of her recent areas of research include electricity markets and climate change; inequality in pollution exposure; and the natural gas sector's role in methane leaks. She is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research.
Core faculty

Barry Rabe

J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy
Rabe examines the political feasibility and durability of environmental and energy policy, with a particular emphasis on efforts to address climate change in the U.S. and other federal systems. His most recent books examine the politics of carbon pricing and the limitations of unilateral executive branch policy actions. Current research explores the politics of intensive but short-lived greenhouse gases, such as methane and HFCs. Recent policy engagement includes work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Interior, the Department of Commerce, and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.
Core faculty

Kaitlin T. Raimi

Associate Professor of Public Policy
Raimi is a social psychologist focused on climate change beliefs and policy support. She studies how people compare themselves to others, how adopting one pro-environmental behavior affects later action, and how communication affects understanding and support for climate policy and technology.
PhD Students

Theodor Kulczycki

Theo is getting his PhD in Public Policy & Economics. His research interests include the economic impacts of climate change, labor and health aspects of migration, and development economics. He has previously worked for the Climate Impact Lab and the…

Faculty expertise

Poverty and inequality. Trade and economic development. Health and human security. Energy and the environment.  Alongside their critical work as teachers and mentors, Ford School faculty members are nationally and internationally recognized experts...
News

Meet our new faculty: Devin Judge-Lord

Sep 14, 2023
Political scientist Devin Judge-Lord focuses on how public pressure campaigns affect agency rulemaking, especially those concerning climate and environmental justice issues. He also researches legislator behavior and capacity, the role of money in...
News

Green examines water data as part of UMSI theme year

Sep 13, 2023
“Water conservation and access” brings a slew of images to mind: wastewater flowing through main lines to a city treatment plant, a fisherman yanking invasive mussels off the hull of a trawler, the installation of filters in communities that lack...
News

Will courts limit the use of climate-combatting technologies?

Aug 30, 2023
Ford School professor Barry Rabe is concerned about how a set of recent court decisions mean for new climate technologies.  In a commentary piece for Brookings, Rabe notes that while the U.S. has been a world leader in accelerating the transition...
News

Meet new postdoctoral fellow Catherine Owsik

Aug 24, 2023
Catherine Owsik is a postdoctoral fellow with the Ford School’s Leadership Initiative and the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the Ross School. She is an organizational psychologist who is passionate about assisting leaders and...
News

Ford School welcomes Devin Judge-Lord as faculty

Aug 16, 2023
Devin Judge-Lord joins the Ford School as an assistant professor. He is a political scientist who studies interactions among interest groups, legislators, and bureaucracies. His current work focuses on how public pressure campaigns affect agency...
In the Media

Michigan attitude on climate action changing - Rabe

Jul 10, 2023 The New York Times
Barry Rabe, The New York Times: Barry Rabe, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, said public opinion in the state about the need for climate action is shifting. “We have begun to see a kind of pivot and change in my...
News

Rabe: Carbon pricing increasingly linked to energy transition

Jul 1, 2023
Ford School professor Barry Rabe has been a leading voice on climate change and its causes, including methane and other greenhouse gasses. His expertise was recently tapped at a conference at the Wilson Center, A Transatlantic Dialogue: Carbon...
In the Media

Rabe on EPA's powers

Jun 22, 2023 The Washington Post
Barry Rabe, The Washington Post: Barry Rabe, a professor of environmental policy at the University of Michigan, said that while the ruling might seem technical, it has major implications both for the fight against HFCs and for administrative...
In the Media

Rabe: US playing catch-up on fighting fossil fuels

Jun 10, 2023 The Guardian
Barry Rabe, The Guardian: Barry Rabe, an expert in environmental policy at the University of Michigan, said that with no plan set forward by Congress to shift away from gas or build new networks of power lines to transport clean electricity, fights...
News

Exploring Carbon Pricing and Carbon Border Adjustments

Jun 8, 2023
Barry Rabe, PhD, joins this episode of Michigan Minds to talk about his recent paper, “Carbon Pricing Enters Middle Age,” and discusses how carbon border adjustments can link future carbon pricing to international trade. Rabe is the J. Ira and Nicki...
In the Media

Nuclear energy future unclear - Rabe

May 27, 2023 Energy Monitor
Barry Rabe, Energy Monitor: “There has been no major resurgence in new nuclear plants so far,” agrees Barry Rabe, professor at the Gerald R Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. “Beyond Georgia, I could not tell you where the...
In the Media

Electoral risk in Biden fossil fuel policies - Rabe

May 26, 2023 E&E EnergyWire
Barry Rabe, E&E EnergyWire:  “I think there’s always a risk of, probably not seeing voters shift from say a Biden to a Trump, but possibly not participating,” said Barry Rabe, an author and environmental professor at the University of...
In the Media

Rabe says Alaska taking a "leap of faith" with carbon credits

May 23, 2023 Associated Press
Barry Rabe, Associated Press: Lawmakers cast the bill as allowing Alaska to have the best of both worlds — continuing to permit oil drilling, mining and timber activities while also stepping into the potentially lucrative market for sequestering...
State & Hill

Quantum leap

May 3, 2023
City of Flint and CLOSUP work toward transparency in municipal financial reporting By Daniel Rivkin When City of Flint CFO Rob Widigan looks at his required annual financial reporting to the state of Michigan, he sighs. His department needs to...
State & Hill

Forensic anthropology in Guatemala

May 3, 2023
Lessons in restorative justice By Miriam Wasserman In spring 2019, Aprisal Malale (MPP '20) found himself at the side of an unmarked grave in Guatemala.  Malale, along with Towsley Policymaker in Residence Hardy Vieux (MPP/JD '97), and...