J.R. DeShazo

Founding Director of the Luskin Center for Innovation
Dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs (UT Austin)

Email: dean.jrdeshazo@austin.utexas.edu

Twitter: @JRDeshazo

J.R. DeShazo is the founding director of the Luskin Center for Innovation at UCLA. He holds a Ph.D. in urban planning from Harvard University and a M.Sc. in economics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He was the director of the Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies at UCLA for five years (2004-2011). He was awarded Professor of the Year, Masters Program in Public Policy, UCLA in 2001, 2005, and 2007.

Dr. DeShazo’s recent research has focused on local public finance, regulatory reform, climate change policy, solar energy policy, and water system planning. He is co-chair of the External Environmental Economics Advisory Committee, an independent organization providing the best available economic advice to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He also advises city, regional and state leaders and government agencies such as the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. He has previously advised the United Nations, McArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, among others.