Dr. Luke Sanford

Biography

Luke Sanford is an Assistant Professor at the Yale School of the Environment, focusing on Environmental Policy Governance and secondary Political Science. His research explores how political institutions affect environmental policymaking, particularly how these institutions mediate the relationship between constituents' environmental preferences and the actions of policymakers. Sanford studies the distributional consequences of decisions regarding natural resources in space and time and employs innovative methods using digital data, text analysis, and satellite imagery to measure preferences and observe outcomes on the ground. He aims to better understand the preferences and effects of policies and is currently accepting PhD students. Sanford's research interests include political institutions, environmental policy, remote sensing, machine learning, economic development, environmental protection, causal inference, and econometrics. He obtained his Ph.D. in Political Science with a focus on International Affairs from the University of California San Diego and also holds an M.A. and a B.A. in Political Science and Politics, respectively.

Research Interests