I combine data with mathematical models to understand how society and the environment influence one another. In particular, I focuses on how policy can encourage economic development while managing global climate change, how natural disasters impact societies and the effectiveness of associated policy responses, and how environmental conditions influence social instability and violence.  

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 and is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. He will be joining the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley in the Fall of 2013.  He is also a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and a contributing editor of EARTH magazine.

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