Nicholas Brozović, a leading water economist with significant experience in Nebraska and around the world, has been named director of policy for the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute. His appointment begins July 1.

Brozović will join Christopher M. U. Neale, director of research, and Dr. Chittaranjan Ray, director of the Nebraska Water Center, as a member of the institute’s senior leadership team. He will also serve as associate professor of agricultural economics within the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Brozović is an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on using economic analysis to understand spatial, dynamic natural resource systems, with a special emphasis on water resources. He designs and evaluates management policies that can maintain or improve the condition of natural resources.

Much of Brozović’s work is interdisciplinary and involves collaborations with engineers, urban planners and others. He is working to establish functioning resource markets, such as groundwater markets, that can be used as both research and teaching platforms and as models of sustainability for industry.

“I am delighted that we have been able to attract Dr. Brozović to the University of Nebraska,” said Roberto Lenton, founding executive director of the Water for Food Institute. “His experience in policy-relevant research in Nebraska and elsewhere around the world, together with his deep knowledge of groundwater management, will be enormously helpful in advancing the policy work of the Water for Food Institute and in ensuring that the results of scientific and policy research effectively inform policy and policymakers.”

Brozović has a bachelor’s degree in geology from Oxford University, a master’s degree in geology from the University of Southern California, and a master’s degree and doctorate in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California-Berkeley.

The Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute was founded in 2010 to address the global challenge of achieving food security with less pressure on water resources through improved management of water in agricultural and food systems.