Adam Pollack is a postdoctoral research associate working with Professor Klaus Keller in the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. He earned a dual B.S./M.S. degree in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from Stony Brook University and completed his Ph.D. in the Earth and Environment Department at Boston University under the supervision of Professors Christoph Nolte and Ian Sue Wing.

Pollack’s research addresses how society can effectively and equitably manage flood risks. In one focus area, he employs techniques in decision analysis, econometrics, and geospatial analysis to produce decision-relevant insights about flood-risk management across spatial scales and governance levels. In the second, he employs methods in engineering and statistics to reduce biases and enhance uncertainty characterization in flood risk assessment workflows used in policy and decision contexts.

During his Ph.D., Pollack led and contributed to studies that produced new insights on the roles of flood hazard, household defense, and insurance policy in shaping housing market outcomes [1, 2, 3]. For example, one study estimates the degree of unpriced flood risk in the US and demonstrates that this fiscal risk is disproportionately concentrated in census tracts with lower median household income [2]. He led a subsequent study, funded by the Program on Coupled Human and Earth Systems (PCHES), which finds that policy reforms currently considered by federal agencies and state governments can effectively reduce these fiscal risks [1].

In his current research, Pollack analyzes how decision-makers can promote equity objectives in floodrisk management [4, 5]. He led one study that identifies improved practices for how to define and measure equity in flood-risk management [4]. The study’s results could help facilitate agreements about equity in managing flood risks and in other environmental management settings. Building off this work, he and co-authors evaluated how well the US government’s new Justice40 Initiative meets its equity objectives in a flood-risk reduction case study [5]. They find that the Justice40 Initiative can be an obstacle, not an aid, for promoting equity in grant adaptation outcomes. The research team identified simple funding rules that can improve on Justice40 in terms of equity and efficiency objectives.

Pollack's research relies on collaborations with earth system modelers, economists, statisticians, philosophers, and engineers. He is grateful for the research and training opportunities the MSD community provides.

Highlighted Articles:

1. Pollack, A.B., Wrenn, D., Nolte, C., et al. Potential Benefits in Remapping the Special Flood Hazard Area: Evidence from the U.S. Housing Market, Journal of Housing Economics (2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhe.2023.101956 
2. Gourevitch, J.D., …Pollack, A.B., …, et al. Unpriced climate risk and the potential consequences of overvaluation in US housing markets. Nat. Clim. Chang. 13, 250–257 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01594-8
3. Pollack, A.B. and Kaufman, R.K. Increasing storm risk, structural defense, and house prices in the Florida Keys, Ecological Economics (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107350
4. Pollack, A.B., Helgeson, C., Kousky, C. et al. Developing more useful equity measurements for flood-risk management. Nat Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01345-3
5. Pollack, A., Santamaria-Aguilar, S., Maduwantha, P., Helgeson, C., Wahl, T., & Keller, K. (2024). Funding rules that promote equity in climate adaptation outcomes. OSF Preprints. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/6ewmu

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