Solomon Hsiang

Chancellor's Associate Professor of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley

Solomon Hsiang combines data with mathematical models to understand how society and the environment influence one another. In particular, he focuses on how policy can encourage economic development while managing the global climate. His research has been published in Nature, Science and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Hsiang earned a BS in Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science and a BS in Urban Studies and Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received a PhD in Sustainable Development from Columbia University. Hsiang was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Applied Econometrics at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy at Princeton University. He is currently the Chancellor's Associate Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley and a Research Associate at the NBER.

Live Event Appearances

Past event

Climate Winners and Losers

The new climate reality means that even those living on a hill will be affected by flooding in the valley, and those living in Northern states will be affected by droughts in the South. But as the corn belt moves to higher latitudes and new industries emerge, there will be, among the many losers, some climate winners. UC Berkeley researcher Solomon Hsiang wrote a paper in Science looking at state and regional economies that will be winners and losers as climate disruption impacts agriculture, employment, crime, storms and human mortality. What does that picture look like?

Podcast Guest Appearances

Fire and Water: A Year of Climate Conversations

From fires and floods to hurricanes and hot temperatures, 2018 put climate on the front page in ways it hadn’t been before. Yet amidst the disruption, clean energy prices continued to fall, climate-conscious technologies continued to progress, and people living on the front lines of climate change found ways to adapt and thrive. Join us for a look back on some of our most memorable conversations of 2018.