Justin Baker

Justin Baker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University. He specializes in geospatial analytics and structural economic modeling to address complex interactions between natural resource systems, markets, and policy. His work focuses on climate change mitigation/adaptation, food-energy-water nexus sustainability, and forestry/agricultural sector projections. He directs the Southern Forest Resource Assessment Consortium (SOFAC) and the Resource Economics and Sustainability Lab, and holds affiliations with the Center for Environmental and Resource Economic Policy (CEnREP), the NSF STC STEPS Center, and IIASA.

Research interests include integrating biological and economic models for accurate carbon sequestration projections, analyzing trade policy impacts on environmental systems, and optimizing phosphorus resource management. Recent publications emphasize forest carbon dynamics, global phosphorus markets, and the socioeconomic implications of bioenergy expansion.

His projects often involve transdisciplinary collaboration to address global sustainability challenges. Grants and lab activities focus on advancing methodologies for quantifying ecosystem services and informing policy decisions at local-to-global scales.