Keenan, Jesse M.

Jesse M. Keenan is an associate professor and social scientist on the faculty of the School of Architecture at Tulane University. Keenan leads courses and seminars advancing the interdisciplinary fields of sustainable real estate and urban development. As a globally recognized thought leader, Keenan’s research focuses on the intersection of climate change adaptation and the built environment, including aspects of design, engineering, regulation, planning and financing. Keenan holds concurrent appointments as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; as special government employee advisor to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where he co-leads research efforts evaluating the impacts of climate change on financial stability; and, as visiting scholar at the Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania. Keenan formerly served as the area head for real estate and built environment on the faculty of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and as the research director of the Center for Urban Real Estate on the faculty of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. Keenan’s research has partnered with a variety of global actors, including the American Institute of Architects, Audi, Carnegie Corporation, city of New York, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Reserve, Goldman Sachs, Google, Knight Foundation, Museum of Modern Art, Mori Foundation, Lennar Foundation, NASA, National Security Council, National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Science Foundation, Open Society Foundation, Regional Plan Association, RAND Corporation, states of California and Massachusetts, the White House, and the United Nations. Keenan’s books include Blue Dunes: Climate Change by Design (Columbia University Press), Climate Change Adaptation in North America: Experiences, Case Studies and Best Practices (Springer) and Climate Adaptation Finance and Investment in California (Routledge). Keenan holds degrees in the law (JD, LLM) and science of the built environment (MSc), including a PhD from the Delft University of Technology.