Katherine Y. Zipp

Katherine Y. Zipp is an Associate Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education (AESE) at The Pennsylvania State University, where she is co-funded by the Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE). Based at 116 Ferguson Building in University Park, PA, she conducts critical research on the economic drivers and environmental consequences of land cover and land use changes, addressing pressing issues including climate change, habitat destruction, and water pollution through interdisciplinary frameworks.

Her research program integrates Environmental and Resource Economics with spatial analysis to investigate Open-space Conservation, Environmental Risk Assessment (focusing on floods, wildfires, and invasive species), Water Quality, and Biofuel Production. She develops sophisticated models that capture the dynamic feedback between economic decisions and environmental systems, emphasizing how land-use policies must account for both human behavior and ecological processes to achieve sustainable outcomes. Her work bridges theoretical economics with practical applications in conservation and resource management.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on spatially explicit economic modeling applied to environmental challenges, particularly in three domains: flood risk and insurance policy (examining market adaptations to flood maps), bioenergy crop adoption on marginal lands (using spatial hot spot analysis), and recreational ecosystem services (linking visitor motivations to management outcomes). Her interdisciplinary approach frequently incorporates natural resource management perspectives and stakeholder engagement, yielding actionable insights for environmental policy design.

Dr. Zipp has secured substantial external funding as Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator across multiple high-impact projects:

• Co-PI on a $748,456 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant (2020-2022) for "Implementing High Priority Objectives, Strategies, and Actions Identified in the Pennsylvania Aquatic Invasive Species Management Plan"
• PI on a $9,952 PSU ICS Seed Grant for "The Study and Simulation of the Mechanisms Driving Species Migration"
• Co-PI on a $797,949 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant (2019-2021) for "Advancing High Priority, Objectives, Strategies and Actions Identified in the Pennsylvania Aquatic Invasive Species Management Plan"
• Co-PI on a $499,500 USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant (2017-2019) for "Flexible Buffer Systems: Enhancing Ecosystem Services and Expanding Agricultural Options in Riparian Areas"
• PI on a $200,000 FAA ASCENT grant (2016-2017) for "Analysis of Ecosystem service valuation and policy design of water quality improvements associated with perennial grasses and cover crops"
• Co-PI on a $326,646 USDI Joint Fire Sciences Program grant (2016-2019) for "Firescapes in the mid-Atlantic: Mismatches between social perceptions and prescribed fire use"
• Co-PI on a $50,000 Center for Rural Pennsylvania grant (2016) for "Flood Mitigation for Pennsylvania's Rural Communities: Community-Scale Impact of Federal Policies"

She actively mentors graduate researchers including William L. Rice, X. Li, W. Jiang, and Y-H Shr, whose collaborative work appears in her publication record. Her research teams consistently integrate economists, ecologists, and social scientists to address complex environmental problems, with strong partnerships across federal agencies, state programs, and interdisciplinary research centers at Penn State.