Director, RAND Center for Climate and Energy Futures; Senior Policy Researcher, RAND; Professor of Policy Analysis, RAND School of Public Policy
He/Him
Benjamin Preston is a senior policy researcher at RAND and director of the RAND Center for Climate and Energy Futures. He is also a professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. Preston's recent research efforts include advancing understanding of the implications of natural hazards on the delivery of infrastructure services, analyzing and communicating the environmental justice dimensions of climate change, scenario analysis for low-carbon technology pathways, and application of strategic foresight to the field of emergency management.
From 2021 to 2023 Preston took a leave of absence from RAND to serve as the assistant director for Climate Services and Adaptation in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Previously, he held research positions with the Climate Change Science Institute at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the CSIRO's Division of Marine and Atmospheric Research, and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
Preston has contributed to national and international scientific assessments including the U.S. National Climate Assessment and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's fifth and sixth Assessment Reports. He is also active with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine including service on the Board on Environmental Change and Society and the Advisory Committee to Climate Crossroads.
Preston received a Ph.D. in environmental biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.S. in biology from the College of William & Mary.
Ph.D. in environmental biology, Georgia Institute of Technology; B.S. in biology, College of William & Mary
