Kristen McCormack Joins RFF As a Research Fellow

Resources for the Future is pleased to welcome back to its Washington, DC office economist Kristen McCormack, who joins the staff as a research fellow.

Date

July 7, 2025

News Type

Press Release

Resources for the Future (RFF) is pleased to welcome back to its Washington, DC office economist Kristen McCormack, who joins the staff this week as a research fellow.

McCormack was a research assistant at RFF from 2015 to 2017, when she worked with fellows Dallas Burtraw, Joshua Linn, Alan Krupnick, and others on air pollution and greenhouse gas control policies such as the Clean Power Plan.

After departing RFF, McCormack attended Harvard University to pursue her PhD in public policy. There, she continued her work on environmental economics—her job market paper examining the effect of temperature on student absenteeism and disciplinary referrals earned her the Harvard Environmental Economics Program Ana Aguado Prize and two fellowships to support her work. In 2023, McCormack began working as a financial economist at the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Tax Analysis.

At RFF she will focus on a range of environmental and energy topics, including the distributional effects of climate change and the design of energy and environmental policy under regulatory and market uncertainty.

“It’s great to be back at RFF,” McCormack said. “In the years since I left to pursue my PhD and work for Treasury, energy and environmental policy has changed substantially. I’m looking forward to continuing my work here with new skills and experiences, alongside colleagues who are dedicated to publishing the best research around on these important issues.”

Carlos Martín, RFF’s Vice President for Research and Policy Engagement, speaks for the staff when he says that he’s thrilled by McCormack’s arrival. “Kristen will be a fantastic addition to our team,” he said. “We all think highly of her and of her work—her reputation precedes her, and I know her to be a smart, dedicated, and driven individual. She will bring much to the table in support of our mission of nonpartisan, rigorous research and policy engagement.”

RFF continues to recruit new staffing capacity for many of its programs and initiatives. For more information, visit our Careers page.

Resources for the Future (RFF) is an independent, nonprofit research institution in Washington, DC. Its mission is to improve environmental, energy, and natural resource decisions through impartial economic research and policy engagement. RFF is committed to being the most widely trusted source of research insights and policy solutions leading to a healthy environment and a thriving economy.

Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed here are those of the individual authors and may differ from those of other RFF experts, its officers, or its directors. RFF does not take positions on specific legislative proposals.

For more information, please see our media resources page or contact Media Relations and Communications Specialist Annie McDarris.

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