B.A. in environmental science & policy, Harvard University; MUP in urban planning, Harvard University; MLA in landscape architecture, Harvard University; Ph.D. in urban and regional planning, MIT
Michael T. Wilson is a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, professor of policy analysis at Pardee RAND Graduate School, and former landscape architect serving as a member of the Boston Conservation Commission. Wilson is a strategic planner who works with local, state, and federal governments to create frameworks and tools to facilitate participatory decisionmaking under deep uncertainty. His recent efforts include risk assessment methods for the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s 2023 Master Plan, climate equity analyses for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities programs, and natural hazard exposure studies for the Department of the Air Force. Through tabletop exercises, advanced spatial analytic techniques, and interactive data visualizations, Wilson has also led foresight exercises for the U.S. Coast Guard, scenario development for the International Joint Commission, energy resilience planning for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, and green stormwater infrastructure in neighborhoods across Pittsburgh, PA. His prior professional experience ranges from large-scale economic development and urban infrastructure projects in Toronto, ON; St. Louis, MO; and Austin, TX to long-term planning in the New York-New Jersey region after Hurricane Sandy. He has also independently published peer-reviewed research on emergency management, resilient building standards, and flood insurance. In 2014 he was a summer fellow in the Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, and since 2013 has held a mayoral appointment to the Boston Conservation Commission, which regulates the city’s urban development in the floodplain as well as wetland, riverine, and coastal ecosystems.
Michael T. Wilson, "Assessing voluntary resilience standards and impacts of flood risk information," Building Research & Information, 48(1), 2020
Michael T. Wilson and Carolyn Kousky, "The Long Road to Adoption: How Long Does it Take to Adopt Updated County‐Level Flood Insurance Rate Maps?" Risk, Hazards, and Crisis in Public Policy, 10(4), 2019
Alan M. Berger, Michael T. Wilson, Jonah Susskind and Richard J. Zeckhauser , "Theorizing the resilience district: Design-based decision making for coastal climate change adaptation," Journal of Landscape Architecture, 15(1), 2020
Michael T. Wilson, "Catastrophes and their Classifications: Revising New York City’s Hurricane Evacuation Maps after Irene and Sandy," Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 15(2), 2018
Michael T. Wilson, Jordan R. Fischbach, Kyle Siler-Evans, and Devin Tierney, "Modeling the uncertainty of potential impacts on Robust Stormwater Management from neighborhood-scale impervious cover change: a case study of population-based scenarios in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania," Urban Water Journal, 2020
