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I am an Assistant Professor in Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. I also work closely with the Natural Capital Project at the University of Minnesota and Stanford University. My research focuses on how the economy affects the environment, and vice versa, on global to local scales. Specifically, I connect models of ecosystem services (how natural capital provides valuable services to humans) with general equilibrium economic models. To do this, I write open-source software (Python, R and C/C++) that uses big data (mostly from satellites) with economic modeling and machine-learning/AI techniques. See my research page for details.

I now focus mostly on the GTAP-InVEST model, which links the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) out of Purdue University with the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model from the Natural Capital Project, based at Stanford University and the University of Minnesota. The project team, which includes the founder of GTAP, Thomas Hertel, and the co-founder of the Natural Capital Project, Stephen Polasky, aims to build strong quantitative evidence on how changes in ecosystem services affect economic performance at the macroeconomic level.

In addition to ecosystem services, I also research food security, climate change, agent-based modeling, AI/machine-learning and agricultural management in developing countries. In my spare time, I am a mountain biker, rock climber and board game designer.