Researcher of the Month

Dr. Nicholas Brozovic

Nicholas Brozovic has been an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois since 2003, and has recently joined CWACES as a faculty affiliate. Dr. Brozovic brings a diversity of experience to campus, with a B.A. in Geology from Oxford University, an M.S. in Geological Sciences from the University of Southern California, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. This background allows him to address economic and policy questions in water resource management with a good understanding of the underlying physical processes and their spatial complexity.

Dr. Brozovic started his career in geology, with research in basin analysis, magnetostratigraphy, GIS analysis, and geomorphology. Like many other geologists, he enjoys working outside in remote, mountainous regions, and conducted extensive fieldwork in the Himalayas, Alps, Sierra Nevada, and other regions of North America and Europe. After initially studying the relationships between tectonics, erosion, and sedimentation on million-year timescales, Dr. Brozovic undertook research on landscape processes and natural hazards operating at a human timescale. While studying fire-flood cycles in the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California, he became interested in the design and implementation of natural hazard management policies for dealing with high magnitude, low frequency events. This interest in how to translate a scientific understanding of stochastic physical processes into effective natural resource and environmental policy led Dr. Brozovic to complete a Ph.D. dissertation in Agricultural and Resource Economics.

For his Ph.D. research, Dr. Brozovic considered the regulation of spatially heterogeneous and uncertain resources using economic decision-making and optimization frameworks. Living in California, a critical resource that fits into this category is … water! A particular problem that he analyzed in detail was the management of groundwater – a complex, diffusive resource with multiple users and uses – across space and time. During his graduate studies, he also conducted research on agricultural water markets in the Central Valley of California and on the vulnerability of urban water supply infrastructure to earthquake-induced disruptions.

Now, at Illinois, Dr. Brozovic has two main research areas. The first is in the economic analysis of water resources, watersheds, and ecosystems, and in particular how the spatial complexity of such physical and biological resources affects the choice and outcomes of management policies. Current research in this area includes further work on the spatial management of groundwater and on the impacts of catastrophic water-supply disruption in urban areas, as well as analyses of the economic consequences of the invasion of Asian carp in the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, of resource management when there are multiple dynamic regimes separated by unknown thresholds, and of the linkages between economic and ecological benefits in semi-arid watersheds. The second research area considers more generally the role of spatial and network externalities and neighborhood effects in determining the impacts of environmental and resource policy. Recent and ongoing theoretical and econometric research in this area includes studies of how the proportion of sport-utility vehicles on the roads alters personal safety and vehicle purchasing decisions, how counties and firms respond to changes in regional air quality regulations, and how the spread of foot-and-mouth-disease can be effectively controlled.

Dr. Brozovic believes that in order to be relevant to policymakers and stakeholders, many studies of water resources must be interdisciplinary. This requires the (sometimes delicate) integration of physical, biological, and social sciences and the disparate languages of each of these disciplines. CWACES provides an excellent framework to facilitate this integration, as researchers affiliated with the Center are now conducting exciting research in many disciplines critical to a better understanding of water resources.