Dr. Benjamin D. Leibowicz is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate Program in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. The program is part of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Leibowicz holds a courtesy appointment in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, and also supervises student research in the Energy and Earth Resources Graduate Program.

Dr. Leibowicz develops mathematical models and methods to improve decision making on energy and environmental policy and strategy issues. His primary research interests are energy systems, energy and climate policy analysis, integrated assessment modeling, sustainable cities, technological change, and innovation. He approaches these topics from an interdisciplinary perspective and develops modeling frameworks that combine methods from optimization, economics, game theory, stochastic control, and general equilibrium.

Dr. Leibowicz’s ongoing research projects are funded by federal agencies, industrial corporations, private foundations, and national laboratories, among others. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Energy Sources, Part B: Economics, Planning, and Policy, and on the Steering Committee for the City of Austin’s 2020 revision of its Community Climate Plan. He has served for four years as a Cluster Chair or Co-Chair at the INFORMS Annual Meeting.

Prior to joining UT Austin, Dr. Leibowicz received both PhD and MS degrees in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, and earned a BA in Physics with a minor in Economics from Harvard University. While working toward his PhD, he was a research fellow in the Energy and Transitions to New Technologies groups at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.