Travis Franck

Dr. Franck is the Climate Modeling and Policy Director at the Climate Policy Lab. He develops system dynamics models and tools that focus on the burning questions facing leaders today. Currently he is leading the Raising Ambitions project, which provides capacity building support to develop deep decarbonization pathways for ten fast-emerging economies.

Previous to Fletcher, Dr. Franck led a modeling team at Climate Interactive to develop a series of system dynamics models for decision makers. The C-ROADS model (https://c-roads.org) is a peer-reviewed model useful the UNFCCC COP negotiations and the En-ROADS model (https://en-roads.org) grounds conversations about the green energy transition in rigorous science and data. Additional modeling includes impacts of hurricanes on coastal communities, livelihoods and household resilience in East Africa and Dem. Republic of Congo, and climate-smart agricultural in Morocco and Ethiopia.

He has co-authored papers on modeling and the ability for interactive tools to improve cognitive understanding of climate change policy effectiveness. An interdisciplinary collaboration through SeSYNC/NSF resulted in a Nature Climate Change article about the need to bring “people” into integrated assessment models of climate change and climate policy.

Research/Areas of Interest:

Dr. Franck's research applies the system dynamics methodology to climate change policy. The projects have varied across the range of climate change topics (mitigation, adaptation, agriculture, resilience) but the connecting theme has been how useful, policy-relevant models and tools could connect and be useful for members of parliament, UN delegates, and business leaders around the world.

Education

• PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
• Masters, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States
• Bachelor's, Iowa State University, Ames, United States

Selected Publications

• Rooney-Varga J.N., Sterman J., Fracassi E., Franck T., et al. (2021). Chapter 29: A Simulation Game that Motivates People to Act on Climate. World Scientific Encyclopedia of Climate Change, pp. 231-243. https://doi.org/10.1142/9789811213960_0029
• Beckage, B., Lacasse, K., Winter, J.M., Franck, T., et al. (2020). The Earth has humans, so why don’t our climate models?. Climatic Change, 163, 181–188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02897-x
• Beckage B., Gross L.J., Lacasse K., et al. (2018). Linking models of human behaviour and climate alters projected climate change. Nature Climate Change, 8, 79–84. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0031-7
• Rooney-Varga J.N., Sterman J.D., Fracassi E., Franck T., Kapmeier F., Kurker V., et al. (2018). Combining role-play with interactive simulation to motivate informed climate action: Evidence from the World Climate simulation. PLoS ONE, 13(8). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202877
• Sterman, J., Franck, T., et al. (2014). World climate: a role-play simulation of climate negotiations. Simulation & Gaming, 46(3-4), 348–382. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878113514935
• Sterman, J., Fiddaman, T., Franck, T., et al. (2013). Management flight simulators to support climate negotiations. Environmental Modelling & Software, 44, 122-135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2012.06.004.
• Sterman, J., Fiddaman, T., Franck, T., et al. (2012). Climate Interactive: The C-ROADS climate policy model. System Dynamics Review, 28(3), 295–305. https://doi.org/10.1002/sdr.1474
• Franck, T. (2009). Coastal communities and climate change: A dynamic model of risk perception, storms, and adaptation. Thesis, Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division.
• Franck, T. (2009). Coastal adaptation and economic tipping points. Management of Environmental Quality, 20(4), 434-450. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14777830910963762
• Sawin, E., Jones, A., Fiddaman, T., Siegel, L., Wright, D., Franck, T., et al. (2009). Current emissions reduction proposals in the lead-up to COP-15 are likely to be insufficient to stabilize atmospheric CO2 levels: Using C-ROADS, a simple computer simulation of climate change, to support long-term climate policy development. Climate Change - Global risks, Challenges, and Decisions Conference. University of Copenhagen. https://mitsloan.mit.edu/shared/ods/documents?DocumentID=4385
• Franck, T. (2008). A Behavioral Model of Hurricane Risk and Coastal Adaptation. Proceedings of the International System Dynamics Conference, Athens, Greece, July 2008.
• Franck, T. (2007). Choice of utility functions in integrated assessment: Comparing Subjective Well-being and Traditional functions. Proceedings of the International System Dynamics Conference, Boston, MA, July 2007.
• Corfee Morlot, J., Smith, J., Agrawala, S., & Franck, T. (2005). Long-term goals and post-2012 commitments: Where do we go from here with climate policy? Climate Policy, 5(3), 251-272. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2005.9685557
• Franck, T. (2005). Quantifying the cost uncertainty of climate stabilization policies. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.