Karen Rosel Polenske (born March 20, 1937) is an American regional economist specialized in energy, environmental, and infrastructure analyses, and input-output accounts and models, particularly at the subnational scale.
She is currently the Peter de Florez Professor of Regional Political Economy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Polenske has been an advisor to international agencies, including the United Nations Development Programme, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the World Bank, as well as an economic consultant to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce, Department of Justice, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
In 1999, she received the Margaret McCoy Award, for her outstanding contribution towards the advancement of women in planning at institutions of higher education through service, teaching, and research, and in 1996 she was awarded the Walter Isard Distinguished Scholar Prize for distinguished long-term achievements in the field of Regional Science.
Her publications include eight books, and numerous articles in key economic, energy, environmental, and planning journals, establishing her as a leading political economist.