Alan S Stephen Polasky

A. Stephen Polasky is the Fesler-Lampert Professor of Ecological and Environmental Economics at University of Minnesota; Co-leader for Mapping and Valuing Ecosystem Services for the Natural Capital Project; a Member of the Science Council of The Nature Conservancy; a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Research Fellow of The Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics. Polasky’s research interests include ecosystem services, natural capital, biodiversity conservation, endangered species policy, integrating ecological and economic analysis, renewable energy, environmental regulation, and common property resources. Among the first scientists to integrate economic thinking into conservation biology, Polasky has inserted a crucial element into debates ranging from energy production to land use and habitat conservation. Polasky’s research combines natural and social science – and specifically ecology and economics – to better understand the dynamics of social-ecological systems. Through this unified approach, Polasky hopes to successfully address the dual challenges posed by sustainable development: to promote the economic growth necessary to provide all people with a decent standard of living, while maintaining ecosystem processes and environmental quality essential to support human well-being over the long-term. Internationally renowned for his research and scientific contributions, Polasky is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Science in addition to his American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership. He also served as the senior staff scientist for environment and resources for the President’s Council of Economic Advisors (1998-1999). His papers have been published in Biological Conservation, Ecological Applications, Journal of Economics Perspectives, Land Economics, Nature, PNAS, and Science, among other journals.