Expertise

Sustainable Housing Placement, Watershed-Wide Decision Making, Urban Agriculture, Urban Green Amenities

Biography

Dr. Sorrentino received his Ph.D. from Purdue University and came to Temple University in 1973. Most of his publications and consulting work have involved the micro-economics of energy and the environment. (Please see his selected publications & CV for more on this.) He took two courses in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and has used GIS in nearly all his subsequent publications. In 2013, he took training in “Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs” (InVEST) & “Resource Investment Optimization System” (RIOS) software. “Dr. John” was the first MBA online instructor in the business school, and taught one, and then two, online courses in the MBA program from 1997 to 2006. He has taught economics courses from general education to Ph.D. mathematical economics, taught statistics and management information systems courses when Temple economists were in over-supply, taught economics seminars for actuaries, and was a co-founder of Temple’s Environmental Studies Program. 

He was honored by Temple University with a 1999 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, and has performed service on numerous committees at all levels of the university and in the outside community. He has served as Secretary-Treasurer of the US Society for Ecological Economics since 2015, & has been a member of the Abington Township Environmental Advisory Council since 2009.

Curriculum Vitae

Website 

Selected Publications

• “The Economic Implications of Recycling Exhaustible Natural Resources: The Case for Crude Oil” Ecological Modelling, September 1975, 219-33 (with A. Whinston)
• “Externalities in a Regulated Industry: The Aircraft Noise Problem” American Economic Review, September 1977 (reprinted from Papers and Proceedings, February 1977; with J. Muskin)
• “An ‘Effluent’ Charge Approach to Aircraft Noise Abatement” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 5(4), December 1978, 333-50 (with J. Muskin)
• “Modelling Aircraft Noise Abatement: Dealing with a ‘Flow’ Pollutant,” in Application of Ecological Modelling in Environmental Management, Part B, edited by S.E. Jorgenson and W.J. Mitsch, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1983 (with C. Fiorentino)
• “A Model of ‘Social Consciousness’ with Applications to Personal Exchange and Energy/Environment Decisions,” in Mathematical Modelling in Science and Technology, edited by E.Y. Rodin and X.J.R. Avula, published as Volume 11 of Mathematical and Computer Modelling, Pergamon Press, New York, 1988
• Going Virtual: What to Bring Along from the F-2-F Classroom and LAN Computer Lab?” on Technology Tools for Today’s Campuses, http://horizon.unc.edu/projects/monograph/CD/,a CD_ROM ed. by James L. Morrison, & produced by Microsoft under the direction of Jim Ptaszynski, Spring 1997
• “Can a Viable Distance Education Program Stay Behind the Technology ‘Wave?'” in A Distance Education Evolution: Issues and Cases, edited by D. Monolesque, C. Schifter & L. Greenwood, Idea Publishing Group, Hershey, PA, 2004
• “Suitable Housing Placement: A GIS-Based Approach,” (with Md M. R. Meenar & Bradley J. Flamm) in Environmental Management, Vol. 42, No. 5, November 2008
• “Coupling GPS and GIS” (with Md M. R. Meenar & S. Yesmin) & “Dealing with 3D Surface Models: Raster and TIN,” (with Md M. R. Meenar) in The Handbook of Geoinformatics, Idea Publishing Group, Hershey, PA, November 2008. ISBN: 978-1-59140-995-3.
• “Successfully Preserving a Farm as Open Space: What Values Were Behind the Giving?” Expert Opinion on Environmental Biology, Vol. 2, Issue 2., doi:10.4172/2325 9655.1000105, Fall 2013
• “Housing location in a Philadelphia metro watershed: Can profitable be green?,” (with Mahbubur M. Meenar, Alice J. Lambert & Donald T. Wargo) in Landscape and Urban Planning, Vol. 125, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.02.005, May 2014, Pages 188-206
• "Residential Land Use Change in the Wissahickon Creek Watershed:Profitability and Sustainability?" (with MahbuburM. Meenar & Donald T. Wargo) in Sustainability 11, 5933; doi:10.3390/su11215933
• “Containing carbon through cap-and-trade or a per-unit tax.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science. Oxford University Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.746. 2021.
• “Housing location in a Philadelphia metro watershed: Can profitable be green?,” (with Mahbubur M. Meenar, Alice J. Lambert & Donald T. Wargo) in Landscape and Urban Planning, Vol. 125, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.02.005, May 2014, Pages 188-206
• "Residential Land Use Change in the Wissahickon Creek Watershed:Profitability and Sustainability?" (with MahbuburM. Meenar & Donald T. Wargo) in Sustainability 11, 5933; doi:10.3390/su11215933

Courses Taught

Undergraduate

• The American Economy (GenEd)
• Micro and Macro Principles
• Micro/Macro for Engineers
• Intermediate Micro Theory
• Mathematical Analysis for Economists
• Economics of Energy (developed by self)
• Managerial Economics
• Independent Studies: Advanced Energy Economics
• Honors Course: Ecology/Economics/Energy
• Economics Component of Freshman Interdisciplinary Studies
• Contemporary Economic Problems
• Field Experience in Economics
• Selected Topics in Statistics
• Introduction to Management Information Systems

Graduate

• Advanced Microeconomic Theory
• Mathematical Economics
• Theory of Welfare Economics
• Environmental Economics
• Independent Studies: Natural Resource Modelling/Energy Economics/Environmental Modelling
• MBA Economic Analysis
• MBA Economic Decision Making in the Firm