Dr. Feng is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geographical Science at the University of Maryland at College Park. Prior to this appointment he held positions as Research Professor and the Chair of Research Faculty, Associate Research Professor, and Assistant Research Professor from 2012 to 2020 at the University of Maryland after his PhD study at University of Leeds, UK. He is currently leading a human dimension of global change research group specializing in socio-economic and environmental accounting at different spatial scales (local, national, and global), with focuses on sustainable consumption and production, climate change mitigation, low carbon transition, sustainable natural resource management, and environmental justice. Dr. Feng’s research prominently features methodological and modeling development and applications, including Environmentally Extended Input-Output models and extensions (EEIO), Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA), and Integrated Assessment Models (e.g. Global Change Analysis Model - GCAM). He is lead/co-author of more than 170 journal articles with significant contributions to top-tier journals of his discipline, including 40 publications in Nature, Science and Cell Press journals and PNAS. His research has been supported by different funding sources, such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Energy Foundation, the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Cheniere Energy, Inc

Dr. Feng actively contributes to his field's community through leadership roles. He is currently the Vice-President of the International Input-Output Association (IIOA) and Vice-Secretary of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE). He also co-chaired the SETAC&ACLCA EEIO working group and the ISIE-EEIO section. As a well-recognized researcher in the field of Climate Change Mitigation, he contributed to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report. He also serves on the editorial boards of several journals, including Ecological Economics, Sustainable Production and Consumption, and Science of the Total Environment. He was named as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate from 2019 to 2023. He received multiple International Visiting Fellows awards from the QS World Top Universities, including Hong Kong University, University of Adelaide, and University of Nagoya.   

Areas of Interest

  • Teleconnection of local consumption and global environmental change
  • Sustainable consumption and production
  • Climate change mitigation
  • Just transition
  • Integrated Assessment Modelling
  • Environmental input-output analysis
  • Hybrid life-cycle analysis
CV:

Degrees

  • Degree Type
    Ph.D
    Degree Details
    Ecological Economics, University of Leeds, 2011
  • Degree Type
    MA
    Degree Details
    Sustainability Research, University of Leeds, 2007
  • Degree Type
    BA
    Degree Details
    Environmental Management & Env Sci, University of Leeds, 2006
Course Name Course Title Semester Syllabus
GEOG415 Land Use, Climate Change, and Sustainability Spring 2015 Syllabus
GEOG788J Deforestation, Land Grab, and Global Commodity Chain Fall 2015

Principle Investigator

07/2024 – 12/2025 "Cheniere Lifecyle Assessment Study" funded by Cheniere Energy Shared Services, Inc. (Total 376,774)

07/2024 – 06/2025 "New Directions Fund - Conceptualizing and modeling the co-benefits of air quality and public health from low-carbon transitionfunded by University of Maryland VPR Office. (Total 25,000)

05/2022 – 12/2022 "Assessing water security from agricultural expansion in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru under future climate change: a coupled socio-economic and biophysical accounting framework" funded by Inter-American Development Bank. (Total 25,000)

03/2019 – 02/2010   “Managing Water Footprint and Virtual Water of Main Economic Sectors in Latin America and Caribbean: A Water-Energy-Food Nexus Analysis Using a Coupled Physical and Socio-Economic Accounting Framework” funded by Inter-American Development Bank. (Total 115,000)

09/2017 – 12/2018   “Climate risk: managing distributional impacts of carbon taxes” funded by Inter-American Development Bank (Total $60,000)

07/2018 – 06/2019   "Accounting and Modeling Urban Low Carbon Transformation: Case Studies of the US and Australia" funded by the BSOS Dean’s Research Initiative. (Total $6,000)

07/2015 – 06/2016   “Economic Transport Modeling to Link Climate Change to Socio-Economic Vulnerability in Alaska” funded by the BSOS Dean’s Research Initiative. (Total $7,500)

12/2014 – 11/2016   "Venture: Linking local consumption to global impacts" funded by National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) (Total ~$40,000)

 

 

  • International
    2021 - Present Editor: Ecological Economics
  • International
    2020 - Present Associate Editor: Science of the Total Environment

Related Students (Listed by Student on Student's Profile)

  • Xiangjie Chen
  • Baobao Liu
  • Triet Nguyen
  • Jiaxun Sun
  • Yuhao Wang
Kuishuang's headshot
Room 1125 Lefrak Hall
Department of Geographical Sciences
Phone
Email
kfeng [at] umd.edu