Scott Spak

Scott Spak is an Assistant Professor holding joint appointments with Urban and Regional Planning, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the Environmental Policy Program at the Public Policy Center. He teaches courses on U.S. and international environmental policy, dynamic systems modeling, and urban growth. Spak develops and applies numerical models to study the intersection between human activities and environmental change. His research informs decision-making by:

1. identifying tipping points in linked Earth systems, including atmospheric aerosols, chemical pollution, and regional climate

2. understanding the roles of technology, policy, and societal change in projecting future human impacts on the environment

3. developing new ways to embed Earth System modeling in environmental policies and urban planning