Biswa Das is an associate professor in the department of Community and Regional Planning and Extension economist with ISU Extension and Outreach, Community and Economic Development. In these roles, he teaches graduate courses on Public Finance and policy analysis, conducts research and extension programming in the broad areas of public finance, economic development, public policy and natural resource and environmental economics. He is the PI of the Iowa Government Finance Initiative (IGFI) and works closely with local governments in Iowa to develop and disseminate educational content to different stakeholder groups. He has been involved in several funded research projects, both at the national and state level on issues relating to public finance, housing, transportation, workforce development. In the past he has been involved in water research in the Texas High Plains where he developed an integrated framework, combining economics and groundwater hydrology to study the policy implications of extending the life of the Ogallala aquifer. He has been with ISU since 2012. He holds a PhD in agricultural economics from Texas Tech University and lives in Ames with his wife, and two children.<\/p>\n