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Alexander Pfaff

Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy
Sanford School of Public Policy
Box 90312, Durham, NC 27708
284 Rubenstein Hall, Box 90312, Durham, NC 27708

Outreach & Engaged Scholarship


Bass Connections Team Leader - Field Testing a Mercury Capture System for Artisanal Gold Mining · 2021 - 2022 Projects & Field Work flag Peru Energy & Environment located in Peru & Colombia
Bass Connections Faculty Team Member - DECIPHER: Case Studies in Drinking Water Quality · 2018 - 2019 Projects & Field Work

Primary Theme: Energy & Environment

The technologies, processes and products we develop have impacts on the environment and our health. Some impacts are intended, and some are not. The policies adopted to regulate the risks of such developments may themselves pose unintended consequences. We can point to examples of product and policy advances intended to deliver benefits by minimizing one target risk, only to uncover later that unanticipated consequences created new risks. These complexities pose challenges for both private innovation and public oversight. They also present opportunities to improve understanding and decision-making. An important step in enabling such improvements is to understand the interconnected physical, economic, legal and cultural factors along the lifecycle of a set of decisions related to characterizing and managing risks.

Bass Connections Faculty Team Member - Environmental Epidemiology in Latin America: Research and Policy Development to Reduce Chemical Exposures · August 2016 - May 2017 Projects & Field Work flag Peru