Travis Franck

Travis Franck

Assistant Research Professor
Climate Modeling and Policy Director

Contact Information

Research/Areas of Interest

Dr. Franck's research applies the system dynamics methodology to climate change policy. The projects have varied across the range of climate change topics (mitigation, adaptation, agriculture, resilience) but the connecting theme has been how useful, policy-relevant models and tools could connect and be useful for members of parliament, UN delegates, and business leaders around the world.

Education
  • PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
  • Masters, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
  • Bachelor's, Iowa State University, Ames, United States
Biography
Dr. Franck is the Climate Modeling and Policy Director at the Climate Policy Lab. He develops system dynamics models and tools that focus on the burning questions facing leaders today. Currently he is leading the Raising Ambitions project, which provides capacity building support to develop deep decarbonization pathways for ten fast-emerging economies.

Previous to Fletcher, Dr. Franck led a modeling team at Climate Interactive to develop a series of system dynamics models for decision makers. The C-ROADS model (https://c-roads.org) is a peer-reviewed model useful the UNFCCC COP negotiations and the En-ROADS model (https://en-roads.org) grounds conversations about the green energy transition in rigorous science and data. Additional modeling includes impacts of hurricanes on coastal communities, livelihoods and household resilience in East Africa and Dem. Republic of Congo, and climate-smart agricultural in Morocco and Ethiopia.

He has co-authored papers on modeling and the ability for interactive tools to improve cognitive understanding of climate change policy effectiveness. An interdisciplinary collaboration through SeSYNC/NSF resulted in a Nature Climate Change article about the need to bring "people" into integrated assessment models of climate change and climate policy.