Mentor Areas
Decision theory
Decision making
Agent-based modeling and other forms of simulation modeling
Operations research and management science modeling (e.g., for energy systems modeling)
Public deliberation. The Lab collaborates with the Climate and Sustainability Policies Deliberation (CPD) project, joint with Prof. Rand Quinn of the School of Education. See https://environment.upenn.edu/research/communities/public-deliberation
Description:
The Climate Decisions Lab, as the name suggests, focuses on decision making with regard to the climate emergency, particularly with regard to evaluating programs and policies. That said, the Lab has a broad writ and many different kinds of projects have been completed, depending on student interests, ranging from technical
Resampling Methods that Generate Time Series Data to Enable Sensitivity and Model Analysis in Energy Modeling, by Kelly Wang, Steven O. Kimbrough (https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2502.0810)
to very business-y
Bina, Rachel and Kimbrough, Steven O., Ramifications of Widespread Adoption of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) (May 12, 2025). The Wharton School Research Paper , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5250627 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5250627
to quite general
Bina, Rachel and Luong, Kha and Mehta, Shrey and Pang, Daphne and Xie, Kristen and Chou, Christine and Kimbrough, Steven O., On Large Language Models as Data Sources for Policy Deliberation on Climate Change and Sustainability (February 02, 2025). The Wharton School Research Paper , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5123359 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5123359
Interested students should contact Prof. Kimbrough (sok@upenn.edu, kimbrough@wharton.upenn.edu) to discuss mutual interests.
Preferred Qualifications
The lab is open to Penn undergrads and Masters students. The most important qualification is that you are sincerely interested in the climate crisis and sustainability and want to do research in that broad area. Specific projects are developed to fit the needs, interests, and capabilities of the students.
Details:
Preferred Student Year
First-year, Second-Year, Junior, Senior
Academic Term
Fall, Spring, Summer
I prefer to have students start during the above term(s).Volunteer
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to volunteers.Paid
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to paying students they engage in their research, regardless of their work-study eligibility.Work Study
Yes
Yes indicates that faculty are open to hiring work-study-eligible students.