Nik Sawe

Nik Sawe is a PhD candidate in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources in the School of Earth Sciences. His work adapts neuroeconomics—the study of financial decision-making in the brain—to environmental applications: from consumer responses toward eco-labeling, to environmental philanthropy and the valuation of natural resources. In combination with behavioral economics experiments and national surveys, neuroimaging allows Nik to better understand the individual differences in how people make environmental decisions by assessing how they route and process information via fMRI. This helps to optimize environmental policies in order to best serve a heterogeneous population.