Why RFF?

Starting an academic career at RFF provides a distinct advantage for those interested in both high-quality academic research and having an impact on public policy. Our researchers work at the intersection of academics and policy in a way that affects both areas, and offers them the flexibility to chart their own course. Follow these representative fellows on their distinct career paths—all of whom started out at RFF shortly after receiving their doctorates.

Dallas Burtraw After receiving his PhD in economics from the University of Michigan, Dallas joined RFF in 1989 and is now the Darius Gaskins Senior Fellow. Dallas is one of the nation’s foremost experts on environmental regulation in the electricity sector. For two decades he has worked on promoting efficient and cost-effective methods for controlling air pollution. He is particularly interested in incentive-based approaches to environmental regulation and is known for his research on tradable permit schemes. He has served on advisory boards to the National Academy of Sciences, U.S. EPA, NOAA, the States of California and New York, and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. His work has been published in such academic journals as Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Journal of Public Policy Analysis and Management, Journal of the European Economics Association, Journal of Environmental Management, Land Economics, The RAND Journal, Environmental and Resource Economics, The Energy Journal, The Electricity Journal, and others. He has also contributed to The Annual Review of Environment and Resources, and International Yearbook of Environmental and Resource Economics. For more information on Dallas’s work, please click here. For more information on Dallas's work, please click here.				Carolyn Fischer Carolyn has been at RFF since 1997, after earning her PhD in economics from the University of Michigan. Today she is Associate Director of the Center for Climate and Electricity Policy. A main focus of her current research is the interaction between international trade and climate policy, options for avoiding carbon leakage, and the implications for energy-intensive, trade-exposed sectors. She has served on the board of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, and on the editorial board of Resource and Energy Economics. Her research has appeared in a variety of journals, including The Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, The Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics, The Energy Journal, The National Tax Journal, Environmental and Resource Economics, Energy Economics, Resource & Energy Economics, Ecological Economics, International Review of Energy and Resource Economics, Canadian Journal of Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, and American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings. In the areas of climate change and energy policy, Carolyn has published articles on designing cap-and-trade programs, fuel economy standards, renewable portfolio standards, energy efficiency programs, technology policies, the Clean Development Mechanism, and the evaluation of international climate policy commitments. Her natural resources management research addresses issues of wildlife conservation, invasive species, and biotechnology. For more information on Carolyn’s work, please click here.				Richard Newell Richard began at RFF in 1997, where he focused on economic analysis of incentive-based policy, technological change, and the operation of markets.   He was associate editor of Energy Economics and a reviewer for numerous public and private institutions, including EPA, Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and National Commission on Energy Policy, among others. While at RFF, he took a one-year sabbatical to serve as senior economist on energy, environment, and resources for the Council of Economics Advisers. In 2007, Newell was appointed Gendell Associate Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University. From 2009 until 2011 he was on leave to serve as the Administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). He has since resumed his position at Duke.
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At RFF, you will find more than 40 Ph.D. colleagues interested in environment, energy, natural resources, and public health policy.

You also will find encouragement and the ability to publish your research in high-quality academic outlets. RFF scholars publish in top-tier journals, including:

Engagement with Policy Formulation

Because of RFF’s location in Washington, researchers have ready access to government officials. Engagement ranges from formal congressional testimony, before such committees as the House Ways and Means and the Senate and House energy committees, to informal briefings with elected officials and staff, and workshops with agency administrators at NASA, NOAA, EPA, and the Department of Energy. RFF researchers regularly take on temporary assignments to work as senior staffers at the Council of Economic Advisers and to consult with other entities, including the National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, National Science Foundation, and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Traditional academic institutions do not afford their scholars a chance to actively engage with policymakers at the highest levels. Such engagement is considered a key reason why many RFF researchers choose to work here—the chance to make a palpable difference in the nation’s policy choices and direction.

Our longstanding RFF seminar series regularly brings in influential speakers for public presentations and discussion on current issues.  Presenters have included Nobel Laureate Thomas Schelling, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation President Paul Joskow, MIT Professor John Deutch, Google founder Sergey Brin, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, and academicians Larry Goulder of Stanford and Robert Stavins of Harvard.  Over the years, the RFF Policy Leadership Forum has provided a forum for a diverse set of speakers, including Senator Joe Lieberman and and then Senator Barack Obama; House Science Committee Chair Sherwood Boehlert; Council on Environmental Quality Chair Jim Connaughton; Under Secretary of Energy Robert Card; former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator William K. Reilly; Jim Rogers, CEO of Cinergy; Steve Specker, CEO of the Electric Power Research Institute; and environmental advocates such as Amory Lovins and Bjørn Lomborg.

Our Intellectual Community

At RFF, researchers are part of a larger, extended community, and we provide a rewarding and welcoming academic environment where colleagues join in mutually productive work. Our research staff and visitors, roughly 40 people in all, encompass an interdisciplinary and international cohort that is linked to a network of partner and funding institutions around the world. Collaboration and co-authorship are the norm—RFF scholars are able to focus on academic and policy issues in a noncompetitive setting that is characterized by active give-and-take with peers. Daily work schedules are flexible and informal.

Commitment to Academic Excellence and Freedom

Researchers are recognized as the top people in their fields, and are expected to publish in elite academic journals. Those who wish to teach can easily arrange to lecture or instruct classes at universities in the Washington area. Several RFF staff members have taught at Georgetown University, George Washington University, University of Maryland, and Johns Hopkins University.  RFF was one of the founding institutions that supported the creation of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, and we remain a charter member of that organization.

Our researchers hold advisory positions at a variety of external institutions, including the National Academy of Sciences, the EPA Science Advisory Board, and the World Bank.

A Supportive Institution

About two-thirds of RFF researchers' time is funded through foundation and government grants; the rest is covered by RFF’s endowment, which provides them with flexibility to develop new research areas for which there is not yet an external demand.  During their first two years, researchers have reduced funding expectations and are provided with significant mentoring opportunities for both writing grant proposals and journal articles. Senior RFF staff members often bring new researchers into existing projects and new proposals as part of this mentoring process. We also provide researchers with professional skills training on how to better communicate with policymakers and the media. RFF strives to support its academic staff with not only research assistants and administrative help but also support from an experienced communications and editorial production team, an engaged and seasoned fundraising staff, a research library, and a robust information technology group.

A Researcher's Perspective on RFF

What others are saying about RFF