Panelists
Keerthi Reddy
Associate Advisor
Behavioral Insights Team, New York
Keerthi Reddy is an Associate Advisor at BIT North America. Her work focuses on the application of behavioral insights to improve the delivery of municipal services. Through Bloomberg Philanthropies' What Works Cities program, she and her colleagues collaborate with mayor's offices across the US, designing behavioral interventions and the randomized controlled trials to test them, analyzing data, and developing policy suggestions based on the results. Prior to joining BIT, Reddy worked as a lab manager for psychology professors Fiery Cushman and Joshua Greene at Harvard University. During this time, she studied moral thinking and the application of reinforcement learning models to goal setting.
Rachel Zuraw
Director of Analytics
Opower
Rachel Zuraw has over 15 years of analytics experience and leads the Analytics team at Opower, which is now a part of Oracle Utilities Global Business Unit. This team utilizes quantitative techniques to understand the impact of products on customer behavior and enhance the effectiveness of Opower products and programs. Her responsibilities include evaluating results such as self reported outcomes across products and programs, customer segmentation, advanced analytics on smart meter data, and predictive modeling. Zuraw communicates these findings to Opower’s clients, drives optimization of outcomes, and helps deliver valuable interactions to the end utility consumer. Prior to joining Opower, Zuraw led the Web Analytics group at GEICO focused on improving the online experience through site optimization.
Professor Joseph Aldy
Associate Professor of Public Policy
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
Joseph Aldy is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a Visiting Fellow at Resources for the Future, a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is also the Faculty Chair for the Regulatory Policy Program at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. His research focuses on climate change policy, energy policy, and mortality risk valuation. In 2009-2010, Aldy served as the Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Environment, reporting through both the National Economic Council and the Office of Energy and Climate Change at the White House. Aldy was a Fellow at Resources for the Future from 2005 to 2008 and served on the staff of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1997 to 2000. He holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University, a Master of Environmental Management degree from the Nicholas School of the Environment, and a BA from Duke University.
Event Photos
Over 50 members of the Harvard/MIT community attended the conference - thank you for coming!
The Speakers and Organizers
Prof. Joe Aldy (moderator), Shauna Theel (co-organizer) Christina Chang (co-organizer), Rachel Zuraw (speaker), Keerthi Reddy (speaker), Prof. Max Bazerman (sponsor)
Panel Discussion
Rachel Zuraw presents and discusses Opower's work, including their most recent findings on behavioral segmentation.
Our Speakers, at the Harvard University Center for the Environment
Cindy Hu (co-organizer), Rachel Zuraw (speaker), Keerthi Reddy (speaker), Shauna Theel (co-organizer) and Christina Chang (co-organizer)
Hands-on Case Workshop
After an introduction to applied behavioral science, participants worked in groups using the BIT card game to develop behavioral solutions to a self-defined problem of interest.
Agenda
Hands-On Case Workshop
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Room 440
Harvard University Center for the Environment
Museum of Comparative Zoology
26 Oxford St., 4th floor
In this workshop run by the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), participants will learn to apply behavioral insights to their policy area of interest and use rigorous evaluation in a low-cost and time-sensitive way. Following a presentation about BIT’s work and methodology, participants will have the opportunity to apply the concepts they learned to a real policy issue by working in small groups. The goal is for participants to leave not only with an understanding of the science but also a roadmap on how to use the tools practically in a policy setting. This event is available only to the first students who RSVP. Please sign up here.
Presentations & Panel Discussion
4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Room 275
A. Alfred Taubman Building
Harvard Kennedy School
Rachel Zuraw, Director of Analytics at Opower, and Keerthi Reddy, Associate Advisor at the Behavioral Insights Team, will give an overview of cutting edge research in behavioral science as applied to energy demand reduction and other climate solutions. The discussion will be moderated by Harvard Kennedy School Professor Joseph Aldy, who is a visiting fellow at Resources for the Future and previously served as the Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Environment.
Sponsors
Behavioral Insights Group,
Center for Public Leadership
Launched in 2013 by faculty co-directors Iris Bohnet and Max Bazerman, the Behavioral Insights Group (BIG) brings together Harvard’s outstanding group of decision research scholars, behavioral economists, and other behavioral scientists to focus their energies on improving how decisions are made, both by leaders, and by individuals. BIG is driven by the belief that improving the quality of our leaders’ decisions is a core lever we possess to improve the world.
The Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School improves the practice of leadership and global citizenship through teaching and research.
Harvard University
Center for the Environment
The Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE) encourages research and education about the environment and its many interactions with human society.
The Center seeks to provide the next generation of Harvard-educated researchers, policymakers and corporate leaders with a comprehensive interdisciplinary environmental education, while fostering linkages and partnerships amongst different parts of the University as well as between the University and the outside world.
Climate Justice Caucus
a student organization at HKS
The Climate Justice Caucus, a student organization at HKS, brings together HKS students with a career interest in climate change and HKS students with a broader interest in social justice and climate justice. Ultimately, it aims to connect social movements, human rights and climate-related science to form new ideas and understandings about climate change ethics and dilemmas, within the HKS community.
