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Ken Pearson

Created: 9/20/2000
Updated: 5/12/2015
Visits: 9,434
Dr. Ken Pearson
Professor and Principal Researcher, GEMPACK Software

Centre of Policy Studies
Melbourne
Australia

http://www.copsmodels.com/



Biography
Ken Pearson (1943-2015) was a central figure in the establishment and development of the GTAP network. His selection to the GTAP Hall of Fame in 1996 was based on his contributions to the development of state-of-the-art software for applied general equilibrium modeling, his participation in cutting edge research using these methods, and his outstanding contributions to the development of curriculum for, and participation in, the GTAP short courses.

Ken Pearson was appointed Professorial Fellow in the Centre of Policy Studies (CoPS) and Impact Project at Monash University in January 1999. Prior to that he was in the Mathematics Department at La Trobe University (Reader and Associate Professor since 1990, Senior Lecturer from 1970 to 1989). He completed his PhD from Adelaide University in Pure Mathematics in 1966. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship from 1967 to 1969 when he worked as Assistant Professor in Mathematics at the Pennsylvania State University.

Starting in 1983 he focused on development of general-purpose software (GEMPACK) for implementing and solving general and partial equilibrium models. This software is now used in over 400 organizations in over 60 countries around the world. Pearson has published about 20 papers relating to GEMPACK and software for economic models. This work resulted in several secondments at both Melbourne and Monash Universities to work with the GE modelling teams directed by Alan Powell and Peter Dixon. Two major research grants were obtained in conjunction with members of these teams for this work. Pearson has been actively involved in organizing and teaching the software parts of GE modelling courses, mainly at CoPS and for GTAP.

Prior to 1983, Pearson’s research was in the area of abstract algebra, especially ring theory. Pearson published over 20 papers in international journals in this area.

Pearson was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in October 2006.

Pearson is a co-author of the book "Abstract Algebra and Famous Impossibilities", published by Springer, and is author of “Software For Use With "Notes and Problems in Applied General Equilibrium Economics", published by North-Holland. He was Deputy Editor of the Bulletin of the Australian Mathematical Society from 1979 to 1984 and has been an Associate Editor of Computational Economics since 1994. He was Chairman of the Pure Mathematics Department at La Trobe University from 1982 to 1984.


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