RFF Welcomes New University Fellows Francisco Aguilar, Åsa Löfgren, and Eric Tate

Resources for the Future (RFF) is pleased to announce that Francisco Aguilar, Åsa Löfgren, and Eric Tate are joining the organization as university fellows.

RFF university fellowships are designed to establish close working relationships between RFF and outstanding scholars based in the academic community. Currently, RFF is home to more than thirty university fellows that hold positions at well-regarded institutions around the world.

“Francisco, Åsa, and Eric are all terrific experts in their fields,” said Billy Pizer, Vice President for Research and Policy Engagement at RFF. “Collaborations with university fellows not only help RFF’s research grow in new directions and deepen in others, but more generally support the engagement of social science research to improve environment, energy, and natural resource decision-making.  Sharing ideas, points of view, and resources are vital parts of helping move the world toward a resilient, equitable, net-zero emissions economy.”

Aguilar is a professor of forest economics at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Umeå, Sweden. His research focuses on social-natural resource interactions, particularly in regard to forest conservation and management. From boreal to tropical latitudes, he also studies how public policy interventions can be used to promote sustainable forests. Aguilar’s relationship with RFF started at the beginning of his resource economics career during a summer internship working with scholars Allen Blackman, Carolyn Fischer, and Roger Sedjo. He has been a recipient of RFF’s Joseph L. Fisher and Gilbert F. White fellowships.

“I’m thrilled to be returning to RFF in this capacity,” Aguilar said. “I’ve worked regularly with RFF experts over the course of my career, and I’m happy to be formalizing my relationship with my great new colleagues. Today’s appointment made me think of the impact Molly Macauley continues to have on my career and those of numerous other researchers. I may be a long way from Washington, DC, but I have always been close to RFF and its mission.”

Löfgren is an associate professor with the University of Gothenburg’s economics department. Currently, her research focuses on the intersection of climate change and behavioral economics, particularly through the lens of policy instruments, leadership, and industrial carbon-reduction investment behavior. She has experience working with policymakers and was appointed expert of the Swedish Climate Policy Council by the Swedish government and is currently member of the advisory board of the Swedish Energy Agency advising the Director General. Like Aguilar, this is not Löfgren’s first time at RFF—she was a visiting scholar from 2000–2001 and in 2008 and 2015.

“It's great to be back at RFF as a university fellow,” Löfgren said. “As someone who studies environmental economics in great detail, I’m happy to be partnering with RFF—arguably one of the best institutions analyzing this globally important subject. I’m excited to bring my perspectives and expertise to the table, and work with full-time RFF scholars to make our work as rigorous and meaningful as possible.”

Tate is an associate professor with the University of Iowa’s Geographical and Sustainability Sciences department. He studies the relationships between social vulnerability and disasters, with a particular eye toward analyzing flood risk and vulnerability factors. His work at present focuses on evaluating social equity in disaster mitigation and recovery, assessing indicators of vulnerability and risk, and analyzing uncertainty in geospatial models. Among other appointments, Tate sits on the Resilient America Roundtable at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which provides advice on disaster risk reduction.

“It’s important that we have sound empirical research about who is most affected by extreme events and why,” Tate said. “Working together to assess these issues, and combining scholarship and building off each other’s ideas, is crucial to moving forward in this evolving area of research. I’m very excited to partner with RFF’s team working on climate risk and resilience—I know that we will create some thought-provoking research together.”

To learn more about RFF’s university fellows, click here.