Nicole Buecker

Wave and Tidal Energy Viability Assessment, California — Assessed opportunities and constraints on the emergent wave and tidal energy industry along the coast of California. Analyzed statewide and regional energy use, policy, geography, and wave and tidal energy dynamics for a resulting report for the California Energy Commission.

Carbon Capture Investment, Washington and British Columbia — Considered the feasibility of a multimillion-dollar carbon capture business and subsequent investment. Performed competitive analyses, business plan and risk evaluations, and policy analyses of domestic and international energy and environmental topics. Incorporated advanced statistical methods into the business and risk assessment in novel ways. Verbally presented a recommendation along with a comprehensive written report.

Citywide Climate Adaptation Planning, Half Moon Bay, California — Assisted in prioritizing various adaptation strategies using multicriteria decision analysis techniques. Considered impact, viability, equity, and cost, among other factors, to develop weighted, consistent, and transparent recommendations for policymakers and decision-makers.

Managed Retreat Feasibility and Strategy Report, Hawaii — Alongside various specialist contributors, evaluated the viability of various funding and financing mechanisms, both preestablished and novel, for the successful implementation of a beach management program in Hawaii. The final report, published by the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, was the first of its kind in the state and will serve as a major steppingstone toward future development planning.

Surf Recreation Valuation, Santa Cruz World Surf Reserve, California — Assisted with the computational analysis of survey respondents regarding their visitation to and enjoyment of the Santa Cruz World Surf Reserve using GIS and specialist statistical packages in R. Results were applied to a travel-cost model to estimate the recreators’ monetary value of the resource.

Academic Research on Fisheries Permit Structures, Washington — Investigated the comparative impacts of individual transferrable quota, limited entry, and open access permit formats on market entry costs in the short and long term. This theoretical work was to inform policy that implements these various permit structures. Applied economic frameworks, such as discounting, marginal decision-making, game-theory, and opportunity cost.

Academic Research on Recreational Infrastructure, Washington — Wrote a white paper in close collaboration with the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust to elucidate the relationships between classic macroeconomic indicators and recreational land acquisition in the Central Cascades region of Washington State. The white paper contains approximately 64,000 data points gathered from private and public sources, such as the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and Zillow. The paper was written to be accessible to both advanced and new audiences, and its data were used to produce graphs, GIS maps, causal statistical analyses, and a detailed discussion of results, bias, and limitations.

Natural Resource Damage Litigation Support Services, Confidential Sites, Northeast United States — Assisting in the defense of several statewide claims for damages to natural resources from historical releases of semivolatile organic compounds with potential injury to ecological services and human uses of resources.

Natural Resource Damage Litigation Support Services, Confidential Sites, Mid-Atlantic United States — Assisting in the defense of several statewide claims for damages to natural resources from historical releases of semivolatile organic compounds with potential injury to ecological services and human uses of resources.

Natural Resource Damage Litigation Support Services, Confidential Sites, Midwestern United States — Assisting in the defense of several statewide claims for damages to natural resources from historical releases of semivolatile organic compounds with potential injury to ecological services and human uses of resources.

Natural Resource Damage Litigation Support Services, Confidential Sites, Pacific Coast United States — Assisting in the defense of several statewide claims for damages to natural resources from historical releases of semivolatile organic compounds with potential injury to ecological services and human uses of resources.

Carbon Capture Investment, Washington and British Columbia — Considered the feasibility of a multimillion-dollar carbon capture business and subsequent investment. Performed competitive analyses, business plan and risk evaluations, and policy analyses of domestic and international energy and environmental topics. Incorporated advanced statistical methods into the business and risk assessment in novel ways. Verbally presented a recommendation along with a comprehensive written report.

Academic Research on Recreational Infrastructure, Washington — Wrote a white paper in close collaboration with the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust to elucidate the relationships between classic macroeconomic indicators and recreational land acquisition in the Central Cascades region of Washington State. The white paper contains approximately 64,000 data points gathered from private and public sources, such as the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and Zillow. The paper was written to be accessible to both advanced and new audiences, and its data were used to produce graphs, GIS maps, causal statistical analyses, and a detailed discussion of results, bias, and limitations.

Carbon Capture Investment, Washington and British Columbia — Considered the feasibility of a multimillion-dollar carbon capture business and subsequent investment. Performed competitive analyses, business plan and risk evaluations, and policy analyses of domestic and international energy and environmental topics. Incorporated advanced statistical methods into the business and risk assessment in novel ways. Verbally presented a recommendation along with a comprehensive written report.

Academic Research on Recreational Infrastructure, Washington — Wrote a white paper in close collaboration with the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust to elucidate the relationships between classic macroeconomic indicators and recreational land acquisition in the Central Cascades region of Washington State. The white paper contains approximately 64,000 data points gathered from private and public sources, such as the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and Zillow. The paper was written to be accessible to both advanced and new audiences, and its data were used to produce graphs, GIS maps, causal statistical analyses, and a detailed discussion of results, bias, and limitations.

Academic Research on Fisheries Permit Structures, Washington — Investigated the comparative impacts of individual transferrable quota, limited entry, and open access permit formats on market entry costs in the short and long term. This theoretical work was to inform policy that implements these various permit structures. Applied economic frameworks, such as discounting, marginal decision-making, game-theory, and opportunity cost.