He received his doctorate in Resource Economics from Colorado State University and has spent the past five years researching water use decisions and management institutions. As part of the Urban Water Innovation Network, his research was primarily focused on the development of decision support systems for management of water resources and providing policy makers with the tools necessary to identify vulnerable areas and assess tradeoffs. In addition to his academic work, Dr. Maas served on the Fort Collins Water Board, which advises city council, acting as a quasi-judicial body. He also worked on a collaboration project with the Nature Conservancy and Dow Chemical investigating watershed ecosystem services which received the Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.