Professor Kosnik joined the Economics Department at UMSL in 2004, after receiving her PhD from UCLA. Her research focuses primarily on energy and environmental issues, including climate change and electricity generation, and she is considered a leading expert on the topic of hydroelectric energy production in the U.S., and hydropower regulation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In recent years her research has expanded to include analyses of the academic economics profession itself, including studies that focus on writing, retirement, and research productivity. Methodologically, her skill set includes textual analysis and natural language processing, along with traditional econometric techniques. In 2016 she received an honorable mention for Article of the Year from Contemporary Economic Policy, and in 2022 she gave the keynote address to the Illinois Economics Association. She has also served in a number of important service capacities, including as Midwest Representative for the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE), as an AERE Board Member, as President, Past-President, and Board Member of the Transportation and Public Utilities Group (TPUG), as a Senior Editor for the journal Cogent Economics & Finance, and as Department Chair.
Economists Unplugged, September 2025: Dr. Simanti Banerjee sits down with Dr. Lea-Rachel Kosnik for an inspiring conversation on the power of reaching out and thinking beyond the box.
