Faculty Expert: Climate Change, Environmental Politics, Environmental Policy, Resource Management, Resource Conservation, Economic Modeling

Dr. Pankaj Lal is founding director of Clean Energy and Sustainability Analytics Center and professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University. He undertakes integrative, interdisciplinary research that explores interconnections among society and the environment. He integrates research activities of faculty into a broader and more meaningful framework with multiple outcomes. Along with his research team, he has been working in the United States, Caribbean islands, Africa and South Asia focusing on environmental economics and energy geography, human dimensions of ecosystem management, natural resource conservation and policy, and climate change. His ongoing research projects involve aspects of clean energy, water, natural resources, and economies that collectively impact communities around the world. He has received more than $12 million in grants and contracts for his research as PI or co-PI, including funding from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Conservation Society, NJ Department of Environmental Protection, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and others. He was awarded Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) by President Obama. The PECASE Award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. This Presidential Award embodies the high priority placed by the government on maintaining the leadership position of the United States in science by producing outstanding scientists and engineers and nurturing their continued development. The Awards identify a cadre of outstanding scientists and engineers who will broadly advance science and the missions important to the participating federal agencies. He is the first Montclair State University faculty recipient of the PECASE award. Lal’s PECASE award nomination by U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture stressed the contributions Lal is making to develop new biofuel pathways, saying that, “Besides fostering innovative developments in science and technology, Dr. Lal’s efforts and commitment enhance connections between fundamental research and the grand challenges facing the nation, and highlight the importance of interdisciplinary and systems-approached science, engineering, and technology for America’s future.”

Dr. Lal has been awarded the prestigious NSF CAREER Award to explored place-based opportunities for bioenergy sustainability. He was Advisory Board member for Rockefeller Foundation’s initiative on “Valuing the Resilience Dividend”, that was undertaken by RAND Corporation and the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation. He was economic analysis lead in NJ Governor’s Office of Recovery and Rebuilding grant whereby ecosystem inventory for natural resources was developed and ecosystem tradeoffs due to potential engineering design solutions for flood mitigation across the state was evaluated. Recently, Dr. Lal conducted rapid economic impact analysis of regional summer flounder restrictions, which was successfully used by NJ DEP in their request to reconsider Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder Management Board's harvest restrictions. He is also primary author of a research report titled "Economic Values of Nyungwe National Park & Rugezi Wetlands and their contributions towards national policy goals in Rwanda", that was supported by MacArthur Foundation and Wildlife Conservation Society.

Dr. Lal earned his Master’s degree in geography from the University of Delhi, MBA from Indian Institute of Forest Management, and PhD in resource economics from the University of Florida. Prior to his terminal degree, he worked with Winrock International India as a program officer in natural resource management division and Pricewaterhouse Coopers India in the government reforms and infrastructure development practice. He has reviewed competitive grant proposals for agencies like National Science Foundation, United States Department of Agriculture, Sea Grant Consortium, and served as a reviewer for The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine along with a diverse array of environmental and energy journals. He has published more than five dozen scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals, federal research agencies technical reports and book chapters. He is thesis committee chair of thirteen doctoral students and committee member for another six students. Dr. Lal is environmental management doctoral faculty and undergraduate geography program advisor at the University and teaches courses in environmental economics, environmental law and policy, life cycle analysis, water resource management, world geography, and introduction to global studies. He loves spending time with his wife Aditi and daughters Myra and Mahika.

Expert on climate change, environmental politics and policy, resource management and conservation, and economic modeling.