Talk Title: Data, Global Challenges, and Planetary Management
Speaker: Sol Hsiang, Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley
Bio: Hsiang earned a BS in Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science, and a BS in Urban Studies and Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he received a PhD in Sustainable Development from Columbia University. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Applied Econometrics at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy at Princeton University. Hsiang is currently the Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, a Director of the Climate Impact Lab, a Research Associate at the NBER, and a National Geographic Explorer.
Abstract: Solomon Hsiang directs the Global Policy Laboratory at UC Berkeley, where researchers are integrating econometrics, spatial data science, and machine learning to answer questions that are central to managing planetary resources. He will discuss their work and its impact on policy-making, including the economics of climate change, UN treaties that govern ecosystems, applying machine learning to global satellite imagery, and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hsiang will explain why the future of effective and fair global policy will be driven by data science.