RFF welcomes two new fellows to its research staff this fall: Marc Hafstead and Ariel Ortiz-Bobea. Hafstead joins RFF from his post-doctoral position at Stanford University’s Institute for Economic Policy Research, where he has been working on topics in both macroeconomics and environmental economics. Recent research includes an examination of how a federal cap-and-trade program would affect industry profits and GDP and a comparison of the costs of reducing carbon emissions through either a clean energy standard or a cap-and- trade program. Hafstead has a PhD in economics from Stanford University.
Ortiz-Bobea joins RFF from the University of Maryland’s Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, where he has been working on climate change impacts and adaptation, agricultural economics, and applied and spatial econometrics. He also has a master’s degree in public administration focused on international and development administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Ortiz-Bobea served previously as the special assistant to the minister of the environment and natural resources in the Dominican Republic.
RFF Senior Fellow Timothy Brennan received the Distinguished Service award from the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida, honoring his contributions to the understanding of regulatory economics and finance.
RFF Visiting Scholar and Co-Director of RFF’s Center for the Management of Ecological Wealth Lynn Scarlett was appointed to the National Parks Conservation Association’s board of trustees.
RFF Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow Molly Macauley was selected for membership in the Women's Forum of Washington, DC, which is dedicated to enhancing opportunities for engaging women in leadership roles around the world.
RFF Board Member Trudy Ann Cameron, Raymond F. Mikesell Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics at the University of Oregon, was named a 2011 Fellow by the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists at its 2012 summer conference.
RFF Welcomes a New Board Member
RFF is pleased to announce the appointment of Rick Holley, president
and CEO of Plum Creek Timber Company, to its board of directors. He brings a wealth of experience and leadership in a variety of fields to help RFF improve its research and outreach in the coming years.
Holley was elected president, CEO, and a member of the board of directors of Plum Creek in 1994. Prior to assuming this role, he served as vice president and chief financial officer since 1985.
Holley began his career at General Electric Company in 1974, where he served in a variety of financial management positions. In 1983, he joined Burlington Northern, Inc., where he worked as assistant vice president of corporate audit. He held that position until joining Plum Creek.
He received a bachelor of science in accounting and business administration from San Jose State University. He also completed an advanced education program at Northwestern University.
In addition to serving on Plum Creek's board, Holley serves on several private and nonprofit boards, including those of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Inc.; National Alliance of Forest Owners; National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts; Avista Corporation; the Seattle Times; and the Blethen Corporation. He also serves on the Economic Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
RFF Launches the Consortium for Energy Economics and Policy in China
RFF’s Center for Energy Economics and Policy (CEEP) has partnered with institutions in China to create a new organization dedicated to improving energy policy in China: the Consortium for Energy Economics and Policy in China (CEEPIC). The consortium is led by Director Zhongmin Wang, an RFF fellow, along with CEEP Director and RFF Senior Fellow Alan Krupnick and Jintao Xu, director of the Energy Economics Institute in the School of Economic Development at Peking University.
CEEPIC conducts long-term, integrated economic studies; policy analyses and outreach; and student–researcher exchanges that contribute to the sustainable development of China’s energy resources. The creation of such a network will allow for coordinated research and engagement with policymakers, as well as capacity building.
Funded by the World Bank, the first project under way is a major study on the social costs of unconventional fuels, in response to a series of presentations on the subject at the International Forum on Shale Gas Development and Utilization in Beijing in November 2012. Learn more at www.rff.org/ceepic.
