Sperow, Mark

Mark Sperow is an Associate Professor in the Agricultural and Resource Economics program within the School of Natural Resources at West Virginia University (WVU). He earned a B.A. in History from WVU and M.A. in History from Duquesne University. After working as a systems engineer for Martin Marietta (Lockheed Martin) for ten years in Colorado, he became a technical writer in the engineering department of ITT, Antarctic Services in Antarctica for six months. After leaving Antarctica, he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from Colorado State University (CSU) and completed post-doctoral work at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at CSU. His research addresses agriculture, natural resources, and environmental economics issues that are primarily related to carbon sequestration and energy, with funding from the USDA-ERS, USDA-NRCS, and US-DOE. He has published in twelve different journals, including Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Land Economics , and Climatic Change. Dr. Sperow served as an Expert Reviewer for the “2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Inventories”, invited reviewer of the IPCC “Good Practices Guidance for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry”, and serves on the Editorial Board for Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. Dr. Sperow teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses that address microeconomic theory including consumer and production economics as well as environmental, and natural resource economics.

Publications

1. Sperow, M. 2016. Estimating soil carbon sequestration potential on U.S. agricultural topsoils. Soil & Tillage Research, 155: 390-400.
   
2. Sperow, M. 2014. An enhanced method for using the IPCC approach to estimate soil carbon storage potential on U.S. agricultural soils. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment,193: 96-107.
   
3. Chaudhuri, S., E.M. Pena-Yewtukhiw, L.M. McDonald, J. Skousen, and M. Sperow. 2012. Early C Sequestration Rate Changes for Reclaimed Minesoils. Soil Science, 177(7): 443 – 450
   
4. Evans, J., G. D’Souza, A. Collins, C. Brown and M. Sperow. 2011. Determining consumer perceptions of and willingness to pay for Appalachian grass-fed beef: An experimental economics approach. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 40(2): 233 – 250.
   
5. Wu, J., M. Sperow, and J. Wang. 2010. Economic Feasibility of a Woody Biomass-Based Ethanol Plant in Central Appalachia, USA. J. Agric. Res. Econ .35(3): 522 – 544.
   

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