Zhenshan Chen
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Zhenshan Chen’s research focuses on coastal flood risk, renewable energy development, land use, and fishery issues. He worked on policy evaluation and nonmarket valuation of related policies and projects. He also identifies his minor area of interest as applied econometrics. His work mostly involves bringing in high-quality large datasets and tailoring novel statistical methods based on specific research questions. He loves the efficiency brought by critical thinking and algorithms, but he acknowledges that trade-offs take place more often than expected.
Expertise
Applied econometrics and economic analytics; energy and public economics; environmental and natural resource economics
Education
- Ph.D., Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 2021
- M.S., Economics, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 2014
- B.S., Physics, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 2011
His past and working research topics mostly focus on climate change adaptation and resilience, the related public policies, and the effects on and responses from the communities. Specific research topics include: how to model coastal residents’ preferences toward different climate change adaptation plans in Virginia; how extreme weather affects farmers’ land use in Ethiopia; how flood risk and related mitigation efforts affect coastal housing prices in Connecticut; Long Island Sound anglers’ preference and compliance toward different management plans; recreational homeowners’ impact on agricultural land use; and coastal residents' valuation of oyster restoration projects in the Gulf of Mexico states under outcome uncertainty.
His future research is expected to involve the following aspects: utilizing large-scale high-resolution spatial data to facilitate resilience for both coastal and inland areas, documenting and forecasting behavioral changes in response to environmental and policy changes, and bridging empirical and survey data with improved methods in environmental valuation.
Research and Working Papers in Progress
- Heterogeneous Flood Zone Effects on Coastal Housing Prices - Risk Signal and Mandatory Costs
- Dynamic Sorting in the Coastal Housing Market - Who Surfs the Tide, Who Bears the Blunt?
- Impact of Large-scale Solar on Property Values in the US: Diverse Effects and Causal Mechanisms
Ongoing Projects
- "Fast and (or?) Fair: Are rapid and equitable processes for large-scale solar development mutually exclusive?” DOE EERE SETO SEEDS 4, $2.5 m, PI: Douglas Bessette. 01/01/2025 – 12/31/2027
- "Fair and Viable Carbon Markets for Farmers: Empowering Sustainable Agriculture Practitioners"
- VT ISCE PREP, $10k. PI. 08/2024 – 06/2025
- "Piloting Agri-photovoltaic Solutions for Sustainable Ruminant Production Systems" The John Lee Pratt Endowment, $150k. PI: Zachary Easton. 06/15/2024 - 06/15/2025
- "Advancing the Vision 2030-2047 Concept through Student-led Project-based Learning" VT CETL High-Impact Project Grant, $10k. PI: Robin White. Fall 2024
- "A systematic approach to link soilborne pathogens, soil physicochemical characteristics, plant disease occurrence, and crop yield for the development of integrated disease management"
- CALS Integrated Internal Competitive Seed Grant, $75k. PI: Yuan Zeng. 05/01/2023 - 12/30/2024
Current teaching
- AAEC 5824 Advanced Applied Economic Analytics (with Python)
- AAEC 3014 Analytical Methods in Applied Economics
Previous courses
- Environmental Economics, EEC535, College of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island
Experience
Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, Aug. 2022 - Present
Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University, Aug. 2021 - July 2022
Awards
- Predoctoral Fellowship, ARE, UConn
- Nathan Koenig AG/EC Student Fund Award, ARE, UConn
- Outstanding Poster Presentation, Graduate Student Research Forum, CAHNR, UConn
- Paul Putnam Travel Award, ARE, UConn
- Stewart Johnson Scholarship, ARE, UConn
"The Value of Oyster Reef Restoration" with Daniel Petrolia, Freedom Enyetornye, and Seong Yun. Forthcoming at Marine Resource Economics.
"Revealed Preferences from Voluntary Contributions" with Stephen Swallow. Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, 2024.
"Pricing Coastal Amenities and Flood Hazards" with Charles Towe. Land Economics, 2023.
"The Influence of Projected Outcomes on Preferences over Alternative Regulations: Evidence from a Recreational Fishery". Zhenshan Chen, Pengfei Liu, Eric Schultz, Jacob Kasper, Stephen Swallow. Land Economics, 2022.
"Weather, Cropland Expansion, and Deforestation in Ethiopia". Xi He and Zhenshan Chen. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2022.
"Recreational Home Owners’ Impact on Agricultural Land Use". Charles Towe and Zhenshan Chen. Land Economics, 2022.
"Nonparticipation and Heterogeneity in Stated Preference: A Double Hurdle Latent Class Approach for Climate Change Adaptation Plans and Ecosystem Services". Zhenshan Chen, Stephen Swallow, and Ian Yue. Environmental and Resource Economics, 2020.