About

I am an Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy in the Department of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Reno. I received a Ph.D. in Political Science (2023) from the University of Washington, Seattle, and an MA in Political Science (2019) from Yonsei University. 

I am an environmental political scientist broadly interested in domestic-international interactions in climate change politics and policy. I write about carbon reduction targets and policies of (sub)national governments and private firms, social acceptance (acceptability) of renewable energy, and voluntary environmental programs. My current research investigates various sources of opposition to renewable energy facilities at a local level. Specifically, I am interested in why and how rural communities resist large-scale renewable energy projects in their vicinity and what implications it has on national-level decarbonization outcomes. 

My papers have been published or are forthcoming in Energy Research & Social Science, Climatic Change, Review of Policy Research, and PLOS Climate. They have been featured in media outlets and magazines such as WSJ, Forbes, The Regulatory Review, Skeptical Science, and Reputation (by Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation). 

Before joining the University of Nevada faculty, I was a graduate chair of the Center for Environmental Politics and a graduate fellow of the Clean Energy Institute at the University of Washington. Before joining the doctoral program, I was a youth climate activist and a composer

Here is my CV and here is my Google Scholar page

* All photos on this website are taken by Inhwan Ko.