The planet is a complex system in which humans are playing an ever more important role in shaping the environment, and the livability of the planet. The data, modeling, and analysis of data and model results requires a variety of visualization tools. Computational resources needed for the exercise are very large. A reason for this is the inherent uncertainty in our projections, and the need to represent that uncertainty with large ensembles of model projections using Monte Carlo techniques. This then further requires decision tools and techniques that lead to decisions that are robust in the face of uncertainty.

Dr. John M. Reilly is a Co-Director of the Joint Program on Global Change and a Senior Lecturer at the Sloan School of Management. As an energy, environmental and agricultural economist, his research is focused on understanding the role of human activities as a contributor to global environmental change and the effects of environmental change on society and the economy. A key element of his work is the integration of models of the global economy as it represents human activity with models of the ocean, atmosphere, and terrestrial vegetation. By understanding the complex interactions of human society with our planet, the goal is to aid in the design of policies that can effectively limit the contribution of human activity to environmental change, to facilitate adaptation to unavoidable change, and to understand the consequences of the deployment of large scale energy systems that will be needed to meet growing energy needs.

Focused on the integrated assessment of climate change, Dr. Reilly’s work is published in more than 150 articles, reports and volume chapters. He has served in a variety of capacities on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, was the Co-Chair of the US National Agricultural Assessment on Climate Variability and Change, served on early committees in the Federal government that shaped the direction of the US Global Change Research Program – along with a wide range of other advisory committees. 

Prior to joining MIT in 1998, Dr. Reilly spent 15 years with the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, and previously for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Institute for Energy Analysis, Oak Ridge Associated Universities. He has a Ph.D. (1983) and M.S. (1980) in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BS (1978) from the University of Wisconsin.