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Headshot of Dr. Christa Court.

Join us for Dr. Christa Court’s Water Institute Distinguished Faculty Fellow Seminar

“The Role of Economists in Analyzing Water Issues”

Co-hosted with the Food and Resource Economics Department

April 12, 2023 10:30 – 11:30 am

Reitz Union Room G330 (Coffee and pastries provided)

Zoom: bit.ly/WICourtSeminar

Dr. Christa Court is an Assistant Professor of Regional Economics and Director of the Economic Impact Analysis Program at the Food and Resource Economics department, UF/IFAS. 

Dr. Court’s research and extension program focus on regional economic modeling and integrated modeling of human and natural systems. She follows a systems-thinking approach to understand and solve complex water challenges and collaborates with researchers from a wide range of disciplines and extension faculty from around the state. Dr. Court’s water related projects focus on understanding the socioeconomic impacts of harmful algal blooms, modeling the bi-directional relationships between human activity and water quality in the State of Florida, and estimating the economic contributions of human activities that are supported by water resources.

Examples of Dr. Court’s interdisciplinary water-related projects include:

    • Understanding the socioeconomic impacts of harmful algal blooms (HABs),
    • Modeling the bi-directional relationships between human activity and water quality in the State of Florida,
    • Estimating the economic contributions of human activities that are supported by water resources (commercial fishing, aquaculture, recreational fishing, etc.), and
    • Assessing the economic contributions of agriculture, forestry and supporting industries for alternative climate, land use, cropping system and BMP scenarios in the North Florida and South Georgia.

These projects use advanced, interdisciplinary technologies such as artificial intelligence and geographic information systems to help inform water related decision making in Florida. The outputs of her research are being referenced by media and state and local-level policy-making agencies in Florida.