Research
CEAE Links
Overview
UD's Center for Experimental and Applied Economics uses the scientific process of laboratory control and replication to study the critical causal relationships of economic behavior and to design improved policy, markets, and products that benefit individuals and society. We find our research to be at the nexus of Agriculture and the Environment.
The CEAE further’s UD’s land-grant mission. We have powerful partners in research and outreach, as a part of two national Centers of Excellence, the USDA ERS funded national Center for Behavioral and Experimental Agri-Environmental Research (CBEAR) and CONSERVE (COordinating Nontraditional Sustainable watER use in Variable climatEs): A Center of Excellence at the Nexus of Sustainable Water Reuse, Food and Health. In addition, we partner extensively with Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN).
The CEAE has received more than $70 million in external funding since its founding in 2007. Our research projects are funded by a number of federal, state, and non-profit funders, including:
- Delaware Sea Grant
- Delaware Economic Development Office
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- National Science Foundation
- Northeast Center for Risk Management
- USDA Economic Research Service
- USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture
- USDA HATCH
- US Forest Service
- William Penn Foundation
Scroll through a list of recent publications
-
Small changes, big impact
October 21, 2025 | Written by Nya Wynn | Photos by Evan Krape and Katie Young, courtesy of Carl Nelson-PoteetHolding an undergraduate degree in energy and environmental policy and environmental studies, Carl Nelson-Poteet next pursued a master’s in Water Science and Policy. His thesis on the effects of temperature defaults on energy and water consumption can be applied to evaluate sustainability efforts at colleges and universities. At the same time, his work with the Office of Sustainability and the CEAE mentoring network helps to keep students interested in sustainability. -
Climate conscious
October 04, 2024 | Written by Molly SchaferDavidson Obilor Nwaonu, an agricultural and resource economics graduate student in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, wants to reduce agriculture’s contribution to climate change. His research seeks to understand how consumers make trade-offs between climate-smart attributes and health attributes while grocery shopping. Nwaonu is a scholar at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Graduate Student Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Partners, also known as USDA GradCAMP. Climate justice is important to Nwaonu, who came to UD from an area of Nigeria polluted by oil drilling. -
Experimental economics undergrads
October 04, 2024 | Written by Katie PeikesUndergraduate students reflect on UD Center for Experimental and Applied Economics research experience.