Lori Snyder Bennear
Juli Plant Grainger Associate Professor
My research focuses on evaluating environmental policies and improving methods and techniques for conducting these evaluations. While the field of policy evaluation is a broad one, my specific niche is in bringing rigorous quantitative methods to evaluate environmental policy innovations along four dimensions. (1) Evaluating the effectiveness of environmental policies and programs.
This line of research uses statistical analysis to estimate the extent to which environmental policies such as information disclosure and management-based regulations actually improve corporate environmental performance, change household behavior, or improve individual environmental health indicators. (2) Evaluating strategic behavioral responses to non-traditional regulatory regimes.
Environmental policies create incentives and in responding to these incentives, regulated entities sometimes behave strategically in ways that undermine program effectiveness. This line of research seeks to illuminate these strategic behavioral responses and quantify the magnitude of their impact. (3) Assessing the distributional impacts of these new regulatory regimes.
My research in this area evaluates whether innovations in regulatory policy result in uneven distribution of environmental impacts on lower income or minority communities. (4) Evaluating the role of program evaluation in environmental policy.
My research identifies the barriers to and facilitators of increased use of evaluation in environmental policy.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
- Juli Plant Grainger Associate Professor, Environmental Sciences and Policy, Nicholas School of the Environment 2018 - 2025
- Associate Professor of Environmental Economics and Policy, Environmental Sciences and Policy, Nicholas School of the Environment 2013
- Executive Vice Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University 2022
- Associate Professor in the Department of Economics, Economics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2013
- Associate Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University 2013
- Faculty Network Member of The Energy Initiative, Nicholas Institute-Energy Initiative, Initiatives 2012
- Associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, Duke Science & Society, Initiatives 2017
Contact Information
- Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708
- Grainger Hall 5118, 9 Circuit Drive, Durham, NC 27708
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lori.bennear@duke.edu
(919) 613-8083
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Bennear Research Group
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Rethinking Regulation Working Group
- Background
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Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., Harvard University 2002
- M.A., Yale University 1996
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Previous Appointments & Affiliations
- Associate Director for Educational Programs in The Energy Initiative, Nicholas Institute-Energy Initiative, Initiatives 2018 - 2019
- Assistant Professor, Environmental Sciences and Policy, Nicholas School of the Environment 2004 - 2013
- Assistant Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University 2008 - 2013
- Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics, Economics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2010 - 2013
- Recognition
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In the News
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MAY 5, 2023 Duke Today -
SEP 22, 2021 -
DEC 18, 2017 Bass Connections -
JUN 2, 2017 Nicholas School of the Environment -
FEB 1, 2017
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Awards & Honors
- Expertise
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Subject Headings
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Global Scholarship
- Research
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Selected Grants
- Measuring the Effects of Hypoxia on the Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Fishery awarded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2009 - 2014
- Collaborative Research: The Impacts of the "Right to Know": Information Disclosure and Drinking Water Quality awarded by National Science Foundation 2007 - 2010
- An Integrative Investigation of the Sources and Effects of Groundwater Contamination for Local Communities awarded by Department of Agriculture 2006 - 2009
- Corporate Responses to Information Disclosure awarded by Environmental Protection Agency 2006 - 2009
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Fellowships, Supported Research, & Other Grants
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External Relationships
- Resources for the Future (RFF)
- Publications & Artistic Works
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Selected Publications
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Books
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Balleisen, E. J., J. Wiener, K. Krawiec, and L. Bennear, eds. Policy Shock: Recalibrating Risk and Regulation after Oil Spills, Nuclear Accidents, and Financial Crises. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316492635.Full Text
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Balleisen, E. J., J. Wiener, K. Krawiec, and L. Bennear, eds. Policy Shock: Recalibrating Risk and Regulation after Oil Spills, Nuclear Accidents, and Financial Crises. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316492635.Full Text
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Academic Articles
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Bennear, L. S. “Energy Justice, Decarbonization, and the Clean Energy Transformation.” Annual Review of Resource Economics 14 (January 1, 2022): 647–68. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-111920-022328.Full Text
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Bennear, L. S., and J. B. Wiener. “Institutional Roles and Goals for Retrospective Regulatory Analysis.” Journal of Benefit Cost Analysis 12, no. 3 (January 1, 2021): 466–93. https://doi.org/10.1017/bca.2021.10.Full Text
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Smith, Martin D., Atle Oglend, A Justin Kirkpatrick, Frank Asche, Lori S. Bennear, J Kevin Craig, and James M. Nance. “Seafood prices reveal impacts of a major ecological disturbance.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 114, no. 7 (February 2017): 1512–17. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1617948114.Full Text Open Access Copy
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Purcell, Kevin M., J Kevin Craig, James M. Nance, Martin D. Smith, and Lori S. Bennear. “Fleet behavior is responsive to a large-scale environmental disturbance: Hypoxia effects on the spatial dynamics of the northern Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery.” Plos One 12, no. 8 (January 2017): e0183032. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183032.Full Text
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Golden, Jay S., John Virdin, Douglas Nowacek, Patrick Halpin, Lori Bennear, and Pawan G. Patil. “Making sure the blue economy is green.” Nature Ecology & Evolution 1, no. 2 (January 2017): 17. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-016-0017.Full Text
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Cunningham, S., L. S. Bennear, and M. D. Smith. “Spillovers in regional fisheries management: Do catch shares cause leakage?” Land Economics 92, no. 2 (May 1, 2016): 344–62. https://doi.org/10.3368/le.92.2.344.Full Text Open Access Copy
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Bennear, L. S. “Offshore oil and gas drilling: A review of regulatory regimes in the United States, United Kingdom, and Norway.” Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 9, no. 1 (January 1, 2015): 2–22. https://doi.org/10.1093/reep/reu013.Full Text
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Balasubramanya, Soumya, Alexander Pfaff, Lori Bennear, Alessandro Tarozzi, Kazi Matin Ahmed, Amy Schoenfeld, and Alexander van Geen. “Evolution of households' responses to the groundwater arsenic crisis in Bangladesh: information on environmental health risks can have increasing behavioral impact over time.” Environment and Development Economics 19, no. 5 (October 2014): 631–47. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1355770x13000612.Full Text
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Kirkpatrick, A. J., and L. S. Bennear. “Promoting clean energy investment: An empirical analysis of property assessed clean energy.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 68, no. 2 (September 1, 2014): 357–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2014.05.001.Full Text
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Smith, M. D., F. Asche, L. S. Bennear, and A. Oglend. “Spatial-dynamics of hypoxia and fisheries: The case of Gulf of Mexico brown shrimp.” Marine Resource Economics 29, no. 2 (May 2, 2014): 111–31. https://doi.org/10.1086/676826.Full Text Open Access Copy
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Smith, Martin D., Frank Asche, Lori S. Bennear, Elizabeth Havice, Andrew J. Read, and Dale Squires. “Will a catch share for whales improve social welfare?” Ecological Applications : A Publication of the Ecological Society of America 24, no. 1 (January 2014): 15–23. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-0085.1.Full Text Open Access Copy
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Bennear, L. S., J. M. Lee, and L. O. Taylor. “Municipal rebate programs for environmental retrofits: An evaluation of additionality and cost-effectiveness.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 32, no. 2 (March 1, 2013): 350–72. https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.21692.Full Text
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Asche, F., L. S. Bennear, A. Oglend, and M. D. Smith. “U.S. Shrimp Market Integration (Accepted).” Marine Resource Economics, 2012.Open Access Copy
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Bennear, L., A. Tarozzi, A. Pfaff, S. Balasubramanya, K. M. Ahmed, and A. V. Geen. “Impact of a randomized controlled trial in arsenic risk communication on household water-source choices in Bangladesh.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2012.07.006.Full Text
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Bennear, Lori Snyder, Laura Taylor, and Jonathan Lee. “Participation Incentives, Rebound Effects and the Cost-Effectiveness of Rebates for Water-Efficient Appliances.” Duke Environmental Economics Working Paper, no. 11 (November 22, 2011).
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Tarozzi, Alessandro, Lori Snyder Bennear, Alexander Pfaff, H. B. Soumya, Kazi Matin Ahmed, and Alexander van Geen. “Bright Lines, Risk Beliefs, and Risk Avoidance: Evidence from a Randomized Intervention in Bangladesh.” Economic Research Initiatives at Duke Working Paper, no. 77 (July 1, 2011).
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Bennear, Lori Snyder, Alessandro Tarozzi, Alexander Pfaff, H. B. Soumya, Kazi Matin Ahmed, and Alexander van Geen. “Bright Lines, Risk Beliefs, and Risk Avoidance: Evidence from a Randomized Intervention in Bangladesh,” October 1, 2010.
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Bennear, L. S., and S. M. Olmstead. “Information Disclosure and Drinking Water Quality.” Resources Magazine, October 2009.
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Bennear, Lori S., Katrina K. Jessoe, and Sheila M. Olmstead. “Sampling out: regulatory avoidance and the Total Coliform Rule.” Environmental Science & Technology 43, no. 14 (July 2009): 5176–82. https://doi.org/10.1021/es803115k.Full Text
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Bennear, Lori S. “What do we really know? The effect of reporting thresholds on inferences using environmental right-to-know data.” Regulation &Amp; Governance 2, no. 3 (September 2008): 293–315. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5991.2008.00042.x.Full Text
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Bennear, L. S., and S. M. Olmstead. “The impacts of the "right to know": Information disclosure and the violation of drinking water standards.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 56, no. 2 (January 1, 2008): 117–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2008.03.002.Full Text
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Bennear, L. S., and R. N. Stavins. “Second-best theory and the use of multiple policy instruments.” Environmental and Resource Economics 37, no. 1 (May 1, 2007): 111–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-007-9110-y.Full Text
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Bennear, L. S. “Are management-based regulations effective? evidence from state pollution prevention programs.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 26, no. 2 (March 1, 2007): 327–48. https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.20250.Full Text
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Bennear, L. S. “Are Management-Based Regulations Effective?” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 26, no. 2 (2007): 327–48.
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Bennear, L. S., R. N. Stavins, and A. F. Wagner. “Using revealed preferences to infer environmental benefits: Evidence from recreational fishing licenses.” Journal of Regulatory Economics 28, no. 2 (September 1, 2005): 157–79. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11149-005-3107-7.Full Text
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Bennear, Lori Snyder. “Strategic Response to Regulatory Thresholds: Evidence from the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Act,” June 27, 2005.
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Bennear, L. S., and C. Coglianese. “Measuring progress: Program evaluaton of environmental policies.” Environment 47, no. 2 (March 1, 2005): 22–39. https://doi.org/10.3200/ENVT.47.2.22-39.Full Text
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Bennear, L. S., R. N. Stavins, and A. Wagner. “Private Options to Use Public Goods: Using Revealed Preferences to Estimate Environmental Benefits.” Journal of Regulatory Economics 28, no. 2 (2005): 157–80.
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Snyder, L. D., N. H. Miller, and R. N. Stavins. “The effects of environmental regulation on technology diffusion: The case of chlorine manufacturing.” American Economic Review 93, no. 2 (May 1, 2003): 431–35. https://doi.org/10.1257/000282803321947470.Full Text
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Sadd, J. L., M. Pastor, J. T. Boer, and L. D. Snyder. “"Every breath you take ... ": The demographics of toxic air releases in Southern California.” Economic Development Quarterly 13, no. 2 (January 1, 1999): 107–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/089124249901300201.Full Text
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Boer, J. T., M. Pastor, J. L. Sadd, and L. D. Snyder. “Is there environmental racism? The demographics of hazardous waste in Los Angeles County.” Social Science Quarterly 78, no. 4 (December 1, 1997).
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Boer, LS Bennear with Tom, James Sadd, and Manuel Pastor. “Is There Environmental Racism: An Empirical Analysis of the Geographical Distribution of Hazardous Waste Facilities in Los Angeles County.” Social Science Quarterly, December 1997.
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Book Sections
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Balleisen, E. J., L. S. Bennear, K. D. Krawiec, and J. B. Wiener. “Recalibrating risk: Crises, learning, and regulatory change.” In Policy Shock: Recalibrating Risk and Regulation after Oil Spills, Nuclear Accidents and Financial Crises, 540–61, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316492635.018.Full Text
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Balleisen, E. J., L. S. Bennear, K. D. Krawiec, and J. B. Wiener. “Introduction.” In Policy Shock: Recalibrating Risk and Regulation after Oil Spills, Nuclear Accidents and Financial Crises, 1–40, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316492635.001.Full Text
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Bennear, L. S. “Economic analysis, risk regulation, and the dynamics of policy regret.” In Policy Shock: Recalibrating Risk and Regulation after Oil Spills, Nuclear Accidents and Financial Crises, 43–57, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316492635.002.Full Text
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Bennear, L. S., and C. Coglianese. “Flexible Environmental Regulation.” In The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Environmental Policy, edited by Sheldon Kamieniecki and Michael Kraft, 582–604. Oxford University Press, 2012.
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Bennear, L. S. “Beyond Belts and Suspenders: Promoting Private Risk Management in Offshore Drilling.” In Regulatory Breakdown? The Crisis of Confidence in U.S. Regulation, edited by C. Coglianese. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012.
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Bennear, L. S., and S. M. Olmstead. “Information Disclosure and Drinking Water Quality.” In Issues of the Day: 100 Commentaries on Climate, Energy, the Environment, Transportation, and Public Health Policy, 122–23. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future Press, 2010.
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Bennear, L. S. “Evaluating Management-Based Regulation: A Valuable Tool in the Regulatory Tool Box?” In Leveraging the Private Sector: Management-Based Strategies for Improving Environmental Performance, edited by C. Coglianese and J. Nash. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future Press, 2006.
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Bennear, L. S., and C. Coglianese. “Program Evaluation of Environmental Policies: Toward Evidence-Based Decision Making.” In Decision Making for the Environment: Social and Behavioral Science Research Priorities, edited by G. D. Brewer and P. C. Stern. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2005.
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Balleisen, E. J., L. Bennear, D. Cheang, J. Free, M. Hayes, E. Pechar, and A. C. Preston. “Institutional Mechanisms for Investigating the Regulatory Implications of a Major Crisis: The Commission of Inquiry and the Safety Board (In preparation).” In Policy Shock: Regulatory Responses to Nuclear Accidents, Offshore Oil Spill, and Financial Crises. Cambridge University Press, n.d.
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Other Articles
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Bennear, L. S., and L. S. Smith, MD. “Success or Selection: An Economic Perspective on Fisheries Co-Management.” Working Papers on the Web, n.d.
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Scholarly Editions
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Bennear, Lori Snyder, and Cary Coglianese. “Evaluating Environmental Policies,” November 1, 2004.
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Conference Papers
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Bennear, L. S., and K. L. Dickenson. “Incorporating Evaluation in the Regulatory Process”,” 2011.
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- Teaching & Mentoring
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Recent Courses
- ECON 530: Resource & Environmental Economics I 2023
- ENERGY 635: Energy Economics and Policy 2023
- ENVIRON 391: Independent Study 2023
- ENVIRON 520: Resource & Environmental Economics I 2023
- ENVIRON 635: Energy Economics and Policy 2023
- ECON 530: Resource & Environmental Economics I 2022
- ENERGY 635: Energy Economics and Policy 2022
- ENVIRON 520: Resource & Environmental Economics I 2022
- ENVIRON 635: Energy Economics and Policy 2022
- ENVIRON 640: Climate Change Economics and Policy 2022
- ENVIRON 640K: Climate Change Economics and Policy 2022
- PUBPOL 585: Climate Change Economics and Policy 2022
- PUBPOL 585K: Climate Change Economics and Policy 2022
- ENERGY 520D: Resource & Environmental Economics I 2021
- ENERGY 635: Energy Economics and Policy 2021
- ENVIRON 635: Energy Economics and Policy 2021
- ENVIRON 891: Topics in Environmental Regulation 2021
- Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
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Presentations & Appearances
- Behavioral Responses to Environmental Information: Evidence From a Household Survey in Bangladesh. September 16, 2008 2008
- Cleaner or Smarter?: Strategic Compliance with Federal Drinking Water Regulations. July 1, 2008 2008
- Cleaner or Smarter?: Strategic Compliance with Federal Drinking Water Regulations. April 30, 2008 2008
- Cleaner or Smarter?: Strategic Compliance with Federal Drinking Water Regulations. April 10, 2008 2008
- The Effectiveness of Information Disclosure: An Examination of the TRI. January 15, 2008 2008
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Outreach & Engaged Scholarship
- Bass Connections Team Leader. Coal and America: Coal Communities in Transition. 2019 - 2020 2019 - 2020
- Bass Connections Faculty Team Leader. Coal in America: Chronicling and Analyzing Its Economic and Social History. 2018 - 2019 2018 - 2019
- Bass Connections Faculty Team Member. DECIPHER: Case Studies in Drinking Water Quality. 2018 - 2019 2018 - 2019
- Bass Connections Faculty Team Member . Ocean Energy: Products and Pollutants . August 2017 - May 2018 2017 - 2018
- Bass Connections Faculty Team Member. Governance and Adaptive Regulation of Transformational Technologies in Transportation. August 2017 - May 2018 2017 - 2018
- Bass Connections Faculty Team Member. History and Future of Ocean Energy. August 2015 - May 2016 2015 - 2016
- Bass Connections Faculty Team Member. Reviewing Retrospective Regulatory Review. August 2015 - May 2016 2015 - 2016
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Service to Duke
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