YSE Economist Plays Key Role in Newly Finalized Guidance on Accounting for Ecosystem Services
How do proposed projects such as logging or new pipelines affect the benefits people derive from parks, wetlands, forests, and other natural resources? Until now, there have not been any specific federal guidelines directing agencies on how to assess ecosystems impacts. Eli Fenichel, Knobloch Family Professor of Natural Resources Economics at YSE, played a critical role in a new first-of-its kind guidance finalized by the White House in February, which provides a blueprint to assess how ecosystem services can be enhanced or diminished by federal rules.
Fenichel helped develop the guidance while on leave in 2021 to serve as assistant director for natural resource economics and accounting at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The agency, along with the Office of Budget Management (OBM) was tasked by President Biden with modernizing regulatory reviews to incorporate the assessment of natural assets.
“This is an avenue for real change. We’ll have more consistency in rulemaking and regulation around how we think about environmental services. Agencies will take a clearer and more deliberate view of how different rules or different programs create or alter the services people get from the environment and ecosystems,” Fenichel said.
While the value of ecosystems has sometimes been included in federal assessments in the past, there has never been a government wide directive or guidance for all federal agencies to account for costs and benefits of actions that impact natural resources. This omission has led to the “under-valuing and erosion of our natural resources,” said Arati Prabhakar, director of OSTP, and Richard Revesz, administrator for Information and Regulatory Affairs at OMB.
Agencies now must identify direct and indirect impacts on how their proposed actions might affect ecosystem services and establish a no-action baseline and explore alternative options.
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Five YSE Faculty Members Named to 2025 ‘Highly Cited Researchers’ List
Five Yale School of the Environment faculty members have been named to the world’s most influential researchers list by Clarivate Analytics, a company that compiles a list of scientists and social scientists whose papers rank in the top 1% of citations.
Included on this year’s list were: Mark Bradford, the E.H. Harriman Professor of Soils and Ecosystem Ecology; Xuhui Lee the Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor of Climate Science; Anthony Leiserowitz, the JoshAni-TomKat Professor of Climate Communication; Peter Raymond, the Oastler Professor of Biogeochemistry; and Karen Seto, the Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science. In total, 49 faculty members from Yale University made the list of 6,868 researchers worldwide.
Mark Bradford
E.H. Harriman Professor of Soils and Ecosystem Ecology
Xuhui Lee
Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor of Climate Science
Anthony Leiserowitz
JoshAni-TomKat Professor of Climate Communication; Director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC)
Peter A. Raymond
Oastler Professor of Biogeochemistry; Co-Director, Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture
Karen Seto
Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science; Director of the Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability; Co-Director of the Yale Center for Geospatial Solutions
YSE Urban Scientist Receives Franklin Institute Award
Karen Seto, the Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science, has received a 2026 Franklin Institute Award for her work on urban issues.
The Institute honored Seto for her “pioneering work integrating satellite imagery, modeling methods, and social sciences to analyze the consequences of urbanization, land use, and global environmental change.” The award is one of the oldest in the nation.
“The 2026 laureates embody the same remarkable spirit of curiosity, ingenuity, and discovery that defined our nation’s founding,” said Larry Dubinski, President and CEO of The Franklin Institute.
Seto, a world renown geographer, was coordinating lead author of two U.N. climate change reports and co-led chapters on how urban areas can mitigate climate change. Her research developed the first forecasts of urban land expansion globally.
Seto is one of eight recipients of the award, which will be given during a ceremony April 30, 2026, in Philadelphia.
"I’m deeply honored by the award, especially given past recipients in the category of earth and environmental science. I’m also grateful for all my students and postdocs in the lab. This award is a celebration of our collective work," Seto said.
Karen Seto
Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science; Director of the Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability; Co-Director of the Yale Center for Geospatial Solutions
New Haven Promise Interns Gain Experience in Forest and Wetland Data Analysis
Four undergraduate students from New Haven received field training this summer at YSE through the New Haven Promise program. The students assisted on a range of projects focused on biogeochemistry, hydrology, forest health and forest restoration.
The program, which began in June and ended in August, supports paid internships to help students gain work experience in their respective fields of study.
Working with research scientist Marlyse Duguid, KeRen Tan ’28 inventoried invasive plant species for the Yale Golf Course and Preserve, examined the impacts of Beech Leaf Disease (BLD) on New Haven’s urban forests, and took height measurements of planted trees in an Urban “Miyawaki Micro Forest” project.
Kaleb Diaz Alvarez, Mark Taylor, and Erica Arias, worked with Professor Peter Raymond and postdoctoral fellow Craig Brinkerhoff on hydrology projects in Connecticut and Massachusetts, exploring the role of river wetlands connectivity on downstream water quality. They learned to “read a river,” annotate images of rivers across the U.S. and helped train AI models.
Clockwise:
From left: Erica Arias, Mark Taylor, and Kaleb Diaz Alvarez measure the alkalinity of water samples taken from a mangrove river in the Florida Everglades in the Raymond biogeochemistry lab.
KeRen Tan ’29 takes height measurements of planted trees for an urban Miyawaki Micro Forest project.
Alvarez (left) and YSE postdoc Craig Brinkerhoff (right) measure a headwater stream's flowing width in Guilford, CT.