Melissa Kenney
Melissa A. Kenney is an Assistant Research Professor in Environmental Decision Analysis at the University of Maryland and Lead Principal Investigator of the U.S. Global Change Research Program National Climate Indicator System. Her research in environmental decision analysis broadly addresses how to integrate both scientific knowledge and societal values into policy decision-making under uncertainty. This research is inherently multidisciplinary, drawing on the fields of decision theory, environmental sciences, and public policy. This research addresses a range of topics including global change indicators, nutrient criteria setting, non-market benefits of nutrient reductions, cost-benefit analysis of urban stream restoration, scale of economies and diseconomies in coastal restoration, adaptive environmental decision making for complex systems, model-based bias correction factors for expert elicitation surveys, and value of information of indicators. Among her significant honors are Lead Author for the Decision Support Chapter of the 2013 National Climate Assessment (2012-2013), Sigma Xi Fresh Faces (2011), National Water Research Institute Fellowship (2006, 2007), Morris K. and Stuart L. Udall Scholar for Environmental Policy and Leadership (2001), National Winner of FFA Soil and Water Management Proficiency Award (1999). Melissa received a B.A. from the University of Virginia, a Ph.D. from Duke University, and was a postdoctoral scholar with the NSF National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics at Johns Hopkins University