James Syme

James Syme
Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND; PhD Candidate, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Santa Monica Office

Education

M.S. in applied mathematics, University of Colorado Denver; B.S. in pure mathematics, University of New Mexico; B.A. in political science, University of New Mexico

Overview

James Syme is Ph.D. candidate at Pardee RAND Graduate School and an assistant policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. His research focuses on legislative redistricting, decarbonization and climate change adaptation (DMDU/RDM), complexity and Markov decision theory, optimization, graphs and network interventions, and other policy-relevant applications of mathematics.

Prior to joining Pardee RAND, Syme was a technical analyst at RAND who focused primarily on climate change adaptation and mitigation and applying DMDU methods to water management, transportation, and disaster mitigation planning. He has additionally provided modeling support for health insurance, epidemiological modeling, and defense logistics. 

He has an M.S. in applied mathematics from the University of Colorado, Denver, and a B.S. in pure mathematics and B.A. in political science from the University of New Mexico. 

Recent Projects

  • The Benefits and Costs of Decarbonization in Latin America
  • Identifying Legislative Communities of Interest
  • The Benefits and Costs Of Decarbonizing Costa Rica's Economy

Languages

English; Spanish

Publications