Rain or shine: ‘I love my morning bike ride’

By Michael R. Malone [email protected] 09-23-2025

Don't be surprised if, even during a morning shower, you spot economics professor David Kelly pedaling across campus on his red-and-black Scott mountain bike on his way to work at the University of Miami Patti and Allan Herbert Business School.

In fact, if it is raining, Kelly is likely to be cycling with an umbrella in one hand as he steers with the other. If there are people nearby, though, he's fine to just ride and get wet.

"It's not like I'm trekking 10 miles in the snow, but my morning bike ride gets the blood flowing," Kelly said. "My mind is able to dial in and focus in a very Zen way because I'm not thinking about driving in traffic and parking and all those things.

"It's sustainable and meditative-so very relaxing. When I get on campus in the morning, things are quiet, and I'm focusing on what I have to accomplish," added Kelly, also the co-chair of the Sustainable Business Research Cluster and academic director of the Master of Science in sustainable business at the University.

The rigors of academic work require a sharp mindset.

"It's super important as an academic to be mentally focused and dialed in for the entire day; this is the job-it's a lot of thinking, a lot of mental computation," Kelly said. "So, it's important not to be distracted. Academics sometimes have this reputation for being off in la-la land, but you have to be focused."

Kelly joined the University more than two decades ago. Originally from Chicago, after earning his master's and doctoral degrees in macroeconomics from Carnegie Mellon University, he conducted research for years at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Most of the researchers there were focused on climate and environmental issues. Kelly had previously developed some models using artificial intelligence that predicted how the Federal Reserve might use rate cuts to manage the economy. He seized the opportunity to apply these same models to environmental regulation.

"It helped to understand how economic growth was going to drive emissions and carbon emissions and stuff like that. I gravitated more and more toward environmental regulation-there are thousands of types of environmental regulation, and clearly, they can't all cost the same."

He researched to find the least costly ways to reduce pollution, those free of loopholes and that promote innovation, adaptation, and resilience.

When he landed a position at the University, he thought the placement would be ideal.

"I study adaptation and resilience, and Miami's going to be the place for that. But for the first 10 years no one was interested-though now everyone is."

Most of the environmental legislation enacted in Washington, D.C., was rife with loopholes and often ended up slogged down in court proceedings for years. But Kelly noticed that many companies were acting on their own without regulation.

"Companies were working on their own, whether because of their investors or customers," he explained. "It's just about being efficient, and acting on your own, you just have to convince the CEO that this is the right way to go," he said.

Then the business school hired a dean who approached Kelly with the notion to shift the school toward sustainability business.

"Sounds great to me, let's do it," Kelly told him. "So, we started our master's program, our research cluster, LEED certified the building, along with other advancements.

"For me, it's been an evolution from macroeconomics to environmental regulation and from a government-centric focus, eventually, to a more firm-sector focus on the environment."

Kelly also has a favorite campus spot-the John C. Gifford Arboretum. He often bikes there to explore the exotic trees and inevitably ends up at his favorite-the allspice tree.

"I love cracking open and smelling the leaves; they're so fragrant and smell great. And it's fun to just walk around; there are so many crazy trees," he said.

As his workday finishes, Kelly is in a different frame of mind as he anticipates cycling home.

"The only thing I'm thinking about is: My bike is nearby, I'm going to hop on, and then I'm close to home. But now, as I ride, I'm just trying to put the work behind me-sometimes successfully, sometimes not," Kelly said.