02/14/17

AMES, Iowa — Travis Franck, the program director of the nonprofit Climate Interactive, will present a lecture on “Understanding Climate Change through Interactive Simulations” at Iowa State University.

Sponsored by the graduate program in sustainable environments, Franck’s presentation will begin at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 20, in Kocimski Auditorium, room 101 College of Design.

An expert on international climate and energy issues, Franck helps decision makers tackle complex issues including community resiliency, climate mitigation and adaptation and energy system transformation. He builds international partnerships that include stakeholders from the United Nations, international NGOs, academic institutions, businesses and nonprofit organizations. He currently leads Climate Interactive’s efforts to apply interactive decision-support tools to understand how climate change and natural disasters affect people’s livelihoods.

Franck’s research interests include the dynamics of climate policy and the implications of delaying action; important environmental and economic feedback in climate adaptation; building more climate-robust communities; and uncertainty analysis of carbon-permit pricing. He has published on the impact of hurricanes and sea-level rise on coastal community development (climate adaptation), the economics of climate stabilization and the long-term prospects of international climate cooperation. He previously worked at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris

Franck holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science and environmental science from Iowa State University, a Master of Science in technology policy and civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a PhD in engineering systems, also from MIT. He holds positions at MIT’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change and Sloan School of Management.

Contacts:
Marwan Ghandour, Sustainable Environments, (515) 294-3543, marwang@iastate.edu
Heather Sauer, Design Communications, (515) 294-9289, hsauer@iastate.edu

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