Dave and Kayleigh in the igloo
 they built

David Courard-Hauri

Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Policy

Drake University

132 Olin Hall
2507 University Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50311

voice: 515.271.3812
fax: 515.271.3702

e-mail: david.courard-hauri@drake.edu

Courses

First Year Seminar: Building Sustainable Community

ENV 22: Meteorology: The Science of Weather

ENV 35: Introduction to Environmental Science

ENV 36: One Earth Laboratory

ENV 135: Global Change: Science & Policy of Climate Change

ENV 154: Environmental Decisionmaking


Research Interests

My interests are in issues at the interface of environmental science and policy. How do we make use of computer models of complex chemical, biological, and physical systems in the face of uncertainty about the parameters and the models themselves? Can we use this information when we ask questions about the costs and benefits of expected policies? How do nonlinearities and feedbacks affect both the uncertainties and the optimal policy choices predicted by models incorporating them?


Current Projects and Research

Ecological Economics
  • Using Monte Carlo and other numerical methods to incorporate behavioral information into more realistic economic models.
  • Exploring biases in mainstream economic modeling and their effect on valuation of environmental systems and services.

Butterfly Movment
  • Along with Keith Summerville, modeling butterfly movement in iowa grasslands, and exploring the implications for conservation planning.


Dave's CV


Biographical Information

Raised in New Hampshire, I received my BS in Chemistry/Government from Georgetown University in 1991. I then went to Stanford to study Chemical Dynamics with John Ross (this year's recipient of the National Medal of Science). Afraid of too fast a transition out of the sheltered life of the student, I followed this PhD in Physical Chemistry with a Masters in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and then with stint as a Dreyfus Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Chess, running, and gardening are some of my hobbies, though more in theory than practice since my daughters Kayleigh and Julianna were born.


Links

Climate Links

Useful Web Reference Material