College Park, MD 20740
ABSTRACT: Model-based support of climate policy is scientifically challenging because climate change involves linked physical and social systems that operate on multiple levels: local, national, and international. As a result, models must employ some strongly simplifying assumptions to be tractable, which typically include assuming hyper-rational and homogenous human behavior. In this talk, I will (i) introduce a multi-level model framework, called ENGAGE, that is designed to explore the policy ramifications of relaxing many of these assumptions; (ii) present some preliminary simulations; and (iii) discuss how such a model might be used to complement the insights gained from extant integrated assessment models and scenario analyses.
BIOGRAPHY: Michael Gerst is a Research Assistant Professor at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College and a Fellow at the Tellus Institute. He received his PhD in 2008 in environmental engineering from Yale University. He is interested in problems that emerge at the nexus of technology, society, and the environment. His work focuses on developing methods to provide decision and policy support for the subset of these problems that involve long time frames and deep uncertainty.
