Biography

Rachel M. Young is an assistant professor in the science, technology, and environmental policy area at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. She is an environmental economist who uses quantitative methods and big data to examine social impacts of climate change and natural hazards. Her work focuses on the impact of climate change and tropical cyclones on health and migration, and evaluating the effectiveness of adaptation and disaster response policies and programs.

She joined the University of Minnesota after serving as a Ciriacy-Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Visiting Postdoctoral Scholar at the Global Policy Lab at Stanford University. She earned her PhD in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs. 

During her doctoral training, she was also a research volunteer at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Development and Research. From January 2022 to May 2022, she worked at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, where she advised the Biden administration on issues related to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood mitigation and insurance programs. 

Education

PhD in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (Princeton University, 2024) 

MPP in Public Policy (University of California, Berkeley, 2017)

BA in Environmental Studies (Lewis & Clark College, 2011)