Last Updated: 06 March 2025
Public Policy Ph.D. with more than a decade of experience in research, teaching, and management. Field knowledge of global and United States domestic energy systems and policy. Expertise in quantitative analysis of green technology innovation system. Technical, communications, and capacity-building skills. Passionate about uncovering data-driven insights for the public good.
EDUCATION
Ph.D. in Public Policy 2019
Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin
Dissertation: Individual decision-making as the root of policy outcomes: An application in residential solar PV subsidy policy
Master Public Affairs 2014
School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs with High Distinction and Honors 2013
School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
SELECTED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Research Associate, University of Cambridge, CEENRG 2024 - Present
Global Business Unit Lead, Building Optimization, Longevity Partners 2023 – 2024
Visiting Assistant Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Public Policy 2021 - 2022
Postdoctoral Researcher & Lecturer, University of Texas at Austin, LBJ School of Public Affairs 2014 - 2020
Visiting Scholar, ETH Zurich, Switzerland 2019
PEER REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
1. Banboukian, A., Thomas, V. M., Brown, M., Reeves, D. C., Husbands Fealing, K. Internal determinants or external drivers? The case of U.S. water reuse policy adoption. Resources, Conservation & Recycling. 2025.
2. Nagy, Z., Felkner, J., Beck, A., Reeves, D. C., Richter, S., Shastry, V., Ramthun, E., Mbata, E., Zigmund, S., Marshall, B., Marks, L., Rueda, V., Triplett, J., Dodamead, S., Vazquez-Canteli, J., Rai, V. IMPACT pathways – a bottom-up modelling framework to guide sustainable growth and avoid carbon lock-in of cities. Journal of Building Performance Simulation. 2024.
3. Reeves, D.C., Haley, M., Uyanna, A., Rai, V. Information Interventions Can Increase Technology Adoption Through Information Network Restructuring. iScience. 2022.
4. Reeves, D.C., Willems, N., Shastry, V., Rai, V. Structural effects of agent heterogeneity in agent-based models: An application in the social spread of COVID-19. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation. 2022.
5. Shastry, V., Reeves, D.C., Willems, N., Rai, V. Policy and behavioral response to shock events: An agent-based model of the effectiveness and equity of policy design features. PLoS One. 2022.
6. Reeves, D.C., Rai, V. Strike While the Rebate is Hot: Savvy Consumers and Strategic Technology Adoption Timing. Energy Policy, 121, 325-335. 2018.
7. Reeves, D.C., Rai, V., Margolis, R. Evolution of Consumer Information Preferences with Market Maturity in Solar PV Adoption. Environmental Research Letters, 12, 1-14. 2017.
8. Rai, V., Reeves, D.C., Margolis, R. Overcoming barriers and uncertainties in the adoption of residential solar PV. Renewable Energy, 89, 498-505. 2016.
9. Yarbrough, I., Sun, Q., Reeves, D., Hackman, K., Bennett, R., & Henshel, D. Visualizing Building Energy Demand for Building Peak Energy Analysis. Energy and Buildings, 91, 10-15. 2015.
RESEARCH PIPELINE – DRAFTS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
1. Reeves, D.C., Matisoff, D., Zacarias, M., Rao, A. Policy levers to traverse the “Valley of Death” – which to pull, when, and how hard? (Manuscript in preparation)
2. Khan, N., Reeves, Brettman, B., Reeves, D.C., Consumer gatekeeping in sustainable materials streams: an application in cellulose nanomaterials. (Manuscript in submission)
3. Reeves, D.C., Shastry, V., Beck, A., Rai, V. Composition, Sequencing, and Timing of Co-Adopted Home Energy Technologies. (Manuscript in preparation)
AWARDS
1. Graduate School Dissertation Writing Fellowship, 2019
2. Precourt Fellowship, 2015, 2016, 2017
Grant for Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change conference attendance
3. US Association for Energy Economics (USAEE) Ph.D. Day, 2017
Invited Participant
4. USAEE/IAEE Student Scholarship, 2016
Grant for conference attendance
5. NSF IGERT: Sustainable Grids, 2015
Traineeship/Fellowship
FUNDED PROJECTS
1. $4,000. 2022 Funding Support for Circular Economy of Biomaterials, Renewables, and Plastics Publications. With Dr. Blair Brettmann.
2. $12,000. 2021 Small Grant for White Papers at the Intersection of Science, Technology, and Public Policy. With Dr. Daniel Matisoff.
INVITED TALKS
1. Cambridge Center for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (CEENRG) Seminar Series. Cambridge University, UK, February 2025
2. Engaging Communities in Developing Technologies for Community Flourishing Workshop. Lehigh University, USA, May 2024
3. New Energy Summer Summit. The Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy & Society, Dartmouth College, USA, June 2022
4. Series: How the digital era changes our world. Universidad Externado de Colombia, Colombia, October 2021
5. CSSSA Webinar Series. Computational Social Science Society of the Americas, USA, June 2021
6. New Energy: Conversations with Early-Career Energy Researchers. The Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy & Society, Dartmouth College, USA, March 2021
7. University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway, August 2019
8. Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA, November 2018
CONFERENCE ACTIVITY
1. Reeves, D.C., Zacarias, M., Matisoff, D. Policy levers to traverse the “Valley of Death” – which to pull, when, and how hard? Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management 44th Annual Fall Research Conference (APPAM). Wasington, DC, USA. 2022.
2. Zacarias, M., Reeves, D.C., Matisoff, D. ABM of Financial and Informational Policy Interventions in Client-Broker Bidding. The Computational Social Science Society of the Americas 2022 Conference (CSS). Santa Fe, NM, USA. 2022. [CAPS Exceptional Policy Analysis in a Poster Award Winner]
3. Reeves, D.C., Zacarias, M., Rao, A., Matisoff, D. Policy levers to traverse the “Valley of Death” – which to pull, when, and how hard? The Computational Social Science Society of the Americas 2022 Conference (CSS). Santa Fe, NM, USA. 2022.
4. Khan, N., Brettmann, B.K., Reeves, D.C.. Consumer gatekeeping in sustainable materials streams: an application in cellulose nanomaterials. TAPPI Nano Conference. Helsinki, Finland. 2022.
5. Reeves, D.C., Beck, A., Felkner, J., Nagy, Z. Who Makes It in the Long Run: Estimating Equity Impacts in Policy and Land Development Scenario Projections. Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management 43rd Annual Fall Research Conference (APPAM). Austin, TX, USA. 2021 (moved to March 2022).
6. Reeves, D.C., Beck, A., Felkner, J., Nagy, Z. Who Makes It in the Long Run: Estimating Equity Impacts in Policy and Land Development Scenario Projections. The Computational Social Science Society of the Americas 2021 Conference (CSS). Santa Fe, NM, USA. 2021.
7. Shastry, V., Reeves, D.C., Beck, A., Rai, V. Integrated energy decision-making: How, when, and why adoption and co-adoption happen. Behavior Energy and Climate Change Conference (BECC). Sacramento, CA, USA. 2020.
8. Shastry, V., Reeves, D.C., Willems, N., Rai, V. COVID-19 Policy Evaluation (CoPE) Tool: An agent-based model for ex-ante evaluation of policy designs and behavioral responses to COVID-19. The Computational Social Science Society of the Americas 2020 Conference (CSS). Santa Fe, NM, USA. 2020.
9. Willems, N., Reeves, D.C., Shastry, V., Rai, V. Heterogeneity in Populations and Behaviors: An Agent-based model of the Social Spread of COVID-19. The Computational Social Science Society of the Americas 2020 Conference(CSS). Santa Fe, NM, USA. 2020.
10. Shastry, V., Reeves, D.C., Willems, N., Rai, V. Introducing the COVID-19 Policy Evaluation (CoPE) Tool. TACCSTER. Austin, TX, USA. 2020.
11. Willems, N., Reeves, D.C., Shastry, V., Rai, V. Heterogeneity in Populations and Behaviors: An Agent-based model of the Social Spread of COVID-19. TACCSTER. Austin, TX, USA. 2020.
12. Reeves, D.C. (Organizer), Rai, V., Heinrich, C., Axtell, R., Maroulis, S. Diversifying the Toolkit: Role and Future of Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation in Policy Analysis (Super Session). Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management 41st Annual Fall Research Conference (APPAM). Denver, CO, USA. 2019.
13. Reeves, D.C., Rai, V. Policy Prescience: Predictive modeling of technology diffusion in a changing policy context. Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management 41st Annual Fall Research Conference (APPAM). Denver, CO, USA. 2019.
14. Reeves, D.C., Haley, M., Uyanna, A., Rai, V. Priming the W-O-M Pump: Seeding Information to Increase Solar PV Adoption (Poster). Social Simulation Conference. Mainz, Germany. 2019.
15. Reeves, D.C., Rai, V. More or Faster? Technology Subsidy Policy, Additional Adoptions, and Accelerated Diffusion. APPAM 2019 International Conference: Public Policy for Sustainable Metropolitan Development. Barcelona, Spain. 2019.
16. Reeves, D.C., Sekar, A., Rai, V. Patterns in energy technology co-adoption behaviors. International Conference on Energy Research and Social Science. Tempe, AZ, USA. 2019.
17. Reeves, D.C., Rai, V. Cataracts in the Theoretical Lens: Better Explanations and Stable Policy Recommendations. Complexity and Policy Studies (CAPS). Washington DC, USA. 2019.
18. Reeves, D.C., Haley, M., Uyanna, A., Rai, V. Priming the W-O-M Pump: Seeding Information to Increase Solar PV Adoption (Poster). American Marketing Association Winter Academic Conference. Austin, TX, USA. 2019.
19. Reeves, D.C., Rai, V. Cataracts in the Theoretical Lens: Better Explanations and Stable Policy Recommendations. Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management 40thAnnual Fall Research Conference (APPAM). Washington, DC, USA. 2018.
20. Reeves, D.C., Haley, M., Uyanna, A., Rai, V. Priming the W-O-M Pump: Seeding Information to Increase Solar PV Adoption. The Computational Social Science Society of the Americas 2018 Conference (CSS). Santa Fe, NM, USA. 2018. [Best Paper Finalist]
21. Reeves, D.C., Rai, V. The Forest and the Trees: The Choice of Theoretical Lens in Agent-Based Model Rule Formulation. APPAM 2018 International Conference: Public Policy for Sustainable Metropolitan Development. Mexico City, Mexico. 2018.
22. Reeves, D.C., Rai, V. Advanced Analytics: Residential Solar PV Diffusion as a Social Process. Austin Energy Conference. Austin, TX, USA. 2018.
23. Reeves, D.C., Rai, V. The Effect of Subsidy Policy to Accelerate Residential Solar PV Adoption: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from the California Solar Initiative. Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management 39thAnnual Fall Research Conference (APPAM). Chicago, Il, USA. 2017.
24. Reeves, D.C., Rai, V. The Forest and the Trees: The Choice of Theoretical Lens in Agent-Based Model Rule Formulation (Poster). The Computational Social Science Society of the Americas 2017 Conference (CSS). Santa Fe, NM, USA. 2017.
25. Reeves, D.C., Rai, V. Making Decisions While the Sun Shines: Savvy Consumers and Strategic Technology Adoption Timing. Behavior Energy and Climate Change Conference (BECC). Sacramento, CA, USA. 2017.
26. Reeves, D.C., Rai, V. Path-Based Neighborhood Identification: An Application in Agent-Based Modeling of Residential Solar PV Adoption. The conference on Complexity-Based Analytics and Policies for Social Good (CAPS). Washington, D.C., USA. 2017.
27. Reeves, D.C., Rai, V., Margolis, R. Information Preferences for Solar PV Adoption: Comparing Two Markets. Behavior Energy and Climate Change Conference (BECC). Baltimore, MD, USA. 2016.
28. Reeves, D.C., Rai, V. Behavioral Drivers of Solar PV Consumer “Pull-forward” at Changes in Rebate Levels. 34thUSAEE/IAEE North American Conference. Tulsa, OK, USA. 2016.
29. Rai, V., Reeves, D.C. Contagion and Seeding in Behaviors with Thresholds: An Application to Residential Solar Adoption. Behavior Energy and Climate Change Conference (BECC). Sacramento, CA, USA. 2015.
NON-PEER REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
1. Matisoff, D., Reeves, D.C., Rao, A. Traversing the “Valley of Death”: Policy Support to Transform Markets with Nascent Low-Carbon Technologies, 2021.
2. Reeves, D.C., Shastry, S., Rai, V. Understanding Distributional Impacts is Key to Community Resilience. LBJ Resiliency Toolkit, 2020.
3. Al-Hamoodah, L., Koppa, K., Schieve, E., Reeves, D. C., Hoen, B., Seel, J., Rai, V. An Exploration of Property-Value Impacts Near Utility-Scale Solar Installations. 2018.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
University of Cambridge
Supervisor, Land Economy Tripos, Paper 4: Environmental Economics, Climate Change and Energy | Spring 2025
Georgia Institute of Technology
Instructor, Energy Policy and Markets (Graduate & Undergraduate) | Fall 2022
Instructor, Quantitative Models in Public Policy (Graduate) | Spring 2022
Instructor, Network Analysis for Policy (Graduate) | Fall 2021
Instructor, Cost Benefit Analysis (Graduate) | Fall 2021 – Fall 2022
Instructor, Statistical Analysis and Learning for Policy (Graduate) | Spring 2021
Instructor, Sustainability, Technology, and Policy (Undergraduate) | Spring 2021 – Summer 2022
The University of Texas at Austin, LBJ School of Public Affairs
Instructor, Statistical Analysis and Learning (Graduate) | Spring 2020
STUDENT ADVISING
Majid Ahmadi | Committee Member | Ph.D. in Public Policy | 2024
Aline Banboukian | Committee Member | Ph.D. in Public Policy | 2023
Nasreen Khan | Committee Member | Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering | 2022
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
Computational Social Science Society of the Americas (CSSSA) – President & Research Fellow of the Society
Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM)
United States Association for Energy Economics (USAEE)
SERVICE
APPAM Fall Research Conference: Panel Organizer, Reviewer, Session Chair
Computational Social Science Society of the Americas: Reviewer, Program Committee
Complexity and Policy Studies Conference: Organizing Committee Member
APPAM International Conference 2019: Panel Organizer, Reviewer, Session Chair
ERSS Conference 2019: Panel Organizer
United Way of Greater Austin – Community Investment Grants: Grant Reviewer
United States Peace Corps: Volunteer, Sāmoa group 79