My recent research has focused on two areas. The first area of my work is developed upon multi-scale modeling that integrates biophysical and economic systems to study the interaction of environment, natural resources, and human behaviors. Applications include policies related to water scarcity, water pollution, land use change, and bio-energy. One of my recent projects couples an agro-ecosystem model Agro-IBIS with a fine-resolution applied partial equilibrium economic model SIMPLE-G to study the policies to abate nitrogen loss exported to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi river basin. Towards this approach, I explore various ways of integrating climate, biophysical and economic systems. In another project funded by the Program on Coupled Human and Earth Systems (PCHES) project, I translate DNDC emulators to the elasticity of substitution, a key parameter in the CES multi-level (nested) production function.
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The second area of my work applies econometric and spatial econometric tools to the economic analysis of natural resource and environmental issues. I have used high-resolution geophysical, biophysical and socio-economic data to estimate the grid-cell level elasticity of cropland supply for the Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa and China; consolidate data from census and ensembles of climate models to estimate the attribution of flooding damages to natural disaster hazard, economic exposure and social vulnerability.
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Current research in progress:
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Translate DNDC deficit irrigation emulators to the elasticity of substitution between land and water, and study the role of this parameter in determining the spatial heterogeneity of economic response to water scarcity in the WECC region.
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Explore alternative policies to mitigate Nitrate leaching in the Mississippi river basin. We compare the effectiveness and cost of four mitigation measures: Rate reduction, 4R nutrient management practices, Controlled drainage and Wetlands restoration.
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My current research is funded by the NSF and USDA-AFRI:
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NSF, 2018-2022 (Co-PI), Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS: U.S.-China): A multi-scale integrated modeling approach to managing the transition to sustainability, $499,341
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USDA-AFRI, 2019-2021 (Co-PI), Empirical Foundations for Assessing the Long Run Sustainability of US Agriculture, $500,000
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NSF, 2019-2023 (Senior Personnel), INFEWS/T2: Identifying Sustainability Solutions through Global-Local-Global Analysis of a Coupled Water-Agriculture-Bioenergy System, $2,500,000
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My recent past research was funded by USDA-NIFA and DOE.
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