Overview
Article: Economist Richard Schuler dies at age 81
Richard E. Schuler was professor of economics (College of Arts & Sciences) and professor of civil and environmental engineering (College of Engineering), emeritus, and a Graduate School Professor at Cornell University. For twelve years he also taught "The Political, Legal, Regulatory Environment of Business" for MBA students in the Johnson Graduate School of Management. From 1995 to 2001 he directed and expanded the Institute for Public Affairs, Cornell's interdisciplinary, university-wide professional MPA program.
Professor Schuler served on the executive committee of the NSF-supported, multi-university Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems. Previous administrative positions at Cornell have included director of the Waste Management Institute and the NYS Solid Waste Combustion Institutes (1987-93) as well as associate director of the Center for the Environment (1989-93). He has served on the Board of Trustees of Cornell University (1993-97), including its executive committee, on Cornell's most recent presidential search committee, and he was a member of the faculty senate for nearly twenty years.
Professor Schuler's industrial and government experience included: engineer and manager with the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company (1959-68), energy economist with Battelle Memorial Institute (1968-69), and public service commissioner and deputy chairman for New York State (1981-83). He has been a consultant to numerous government agencies and industries on pricing, management, and environmental issues and to the World Bank on energy and infrastructure investment programs for Thailand and the Philippines. From its inception in 1999 until April 2012 he was a founding board member of the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) that is responsible for operating the electric transmission grid reliably in New York while overseeing an efficient power market. During his tenure he chaired the NYISO board's market performance, reliability and markets and its governance committees, and from 2008-2010 he was the board's lead director.
Professor Schuler's degrees include a B.E. (electrical engineering), Yale 1959, an M.B.A., Lehigh 1969, and a Ph.D. (economics), Brown 1972. He was a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania since 1963.
Research Focus
Professor Schuler's research emphasizes the micro-planning, management, and pricing of infrastructure and utilities as well as the societal issues of their institutional structure, regional economic impact, and environmental consequences. He has written extensively on the changing institutional and regulatory needs for the electric industry, including its deregulation. He has also explored basic questions of organizational structure in the information age, using numerical simulation techniques, together with colleagues at Cornell and the Santa Fe Institute.