Karen R. Polenske, Professor of Regional Political Economy and Planning, Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has been at MIT since 1972. Professor Polenske, who holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University, is head of the International Development and Regional Planning (IDRP) group in DUSP. Her current research includes (1) an analysis of cokemaking and steelmaking technology options in the People's Republic of China ( China ), (2) socioeconomic impacts of the silent aircraft initiative in the United Kingdom, (3) economic growth in distressed counties in Appalachia, and (4) spatial dispersion of innovation.
Professor Polenske has worked in China for over 20 years where she has given regional planning and related lectures in 23 of the provinces. Starting in 1997, she has been team leader for 15 faculty and students who are conducting the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS) energy-efficiency research in China . The participants include chemical engineers, economists, physicists, and planners who are from China, Japan, Switzerland, and the United States. Their book, entitled The Technology, Energy, Environment, Health (TEEH) Chain in China: a Case Study of Cokemaking in Shanxi Province, edited by Professor Polenske, has been published in 2005.
She has been director of the multiregional planning (MRP) research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) since 1972. She is past President of the International Input-Output Association. In 1996, she won the 1996 North American Regional Science Distinguished Scholar Award; in 1999, she received the Associated Collegiate Schools of Planning Margarita McCoy Award for outstanding service; and since 1995, she is a Fellow of the Regional Science Association International. Her publications include eight published books, the latest of which is on the cokemaking sector in China, and numerous articles in key economic, energy, environmental, and planning journals. Professor Polenske is a leading political economist who has conducted energy and environmental research for many years, especially in the United States and China.
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