Sappington awarded professorship from UF Research Foundation
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Lanzillotti-McKethan Eminent Scholar Chair Dr. David Sappington was awarded a professorship from the UF Research Foundation for 2011-2014.
Dr. Sappington, Director of the Robert F. Lanzillotti Public Policy Research Center, was one of 33 UF faculty members to receive the professorship, which is awarded to faculty members who have a renowned research record and have a strong agenda for future research.
“I am very grateful to the University for this professorship and indebted to my co-authors for making the award possible,” Dr. Sappington said. “Corresponding professorships have been awarded to the University’s leading scholars, and it is an honor and a privilege to be included in such an elite group of researchers.”
The professors were recommended by their college deans based on nominations from their department chairs. Candidates are judged on criteria such as publication in leading academic journals, awards in their fields, evidence of consistent external funding, a supporting letter from the department chair and a personal statement from the candidate.
The professorship includes a $5,000 annual salary supplement and a one-time $3,000 grant.
Dr. Sappington’s research focuses on the design of reward structures in the presence of limited information. He has published more than 25 articles in leading journals in the past five years. His research examines, for example, how to motivate members of a team to contribute to the team’s success when the individual contributions of team members are difficult to measure. His work also determines how to motivate electricity suppliers to convince their customers to use less of the very product they sell—electricity.
Dr. Sappington teaches graduate courses on regulation, information and incentives. He has served on the faculties of the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania, and has served as an advisor to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, the OECD, the World Bank, and regulators in Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru. He is also active on the editorial boards of seven journals, and he recently completed his term as the President of the International Industrial Organization Society.
Dr. Sappington earned his BA in Economics from Haverford College and his MA and Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University.
