Akhil Rao

Akhil Rao is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Middlebury College, specializing in environmental and computational economics with a focus on outer space and simulation modeling. He joined Middlebury in 2019 and teaches courses in economic statistics, environmental economics, and space economics. His research examines orbital resource management, policy design, and integrated assessment models for space industries.

Rao holds a PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder and a BS in Business Administration from the University of California, Riverside. His dissertation explored the economic dynamics of orbit use and policy frameworks for sustainable space utilization.

His research interests emphasize orbital debris governance, satellite market competition, and the economic implications of space exploration. Recent work includes analyzing spillover effects in automated orbital traffic systems and designing tabletop games to simulate business strategies in the satellite communications sector.

Rao advises students through courses like ECON 0111 (Economic Statistics) and ECON 0488 (Space Economics), and contributes to interdisciplinary programs such as ENVS 0700 (Senior Independent Study). He has collaborated on projects like the OPUS integrated assessment model and the CENKI space economic simulator.