O’Neill Professor Jerome Dumortier is looking into the future. Not through a crystal ball, but through practices rooted in science and data.
Dumortier says he wants to help society overcome sustainability challenges ranging from food production and environmental degradation to climate change and energy use. Using simulation models, he can look at those topics through the lens of future economic impact.
His most recent research examined the effects of the war in Ukraine on climate change, crop prices, and food shortages. The findings can help leaders create policies now that could help offset those future consequences, especially for vulnerable groups. He’s now working on a new project to see how increased electric vehicle use in the United States will impact farmers who produce corn for ethanol and the ripple effects that will have for American consumers.
Having that kind of far-reaching impact is what attracted Dumortier to O’Neill in the first place. He says O’Neill gives him the chance to educate the next generation of leaders while also doing applied policy research in an interdisciplinary environment.
“My professor once said that research should be to the benefit of society,” he explains. “Here at O’Neill, that’s exactly what we are doing.”
Dumortier shares his take on why sustainability matters, how O’Neill helps prepare students to take on those challenges, and why he enjoys the combination of research and teaching at O’Neill.
