A Life Devoted to Placed-Based Real World Solutions

Dr. Charles G. Curtin

Based on three decades of experience working with landscapes and communities across the globe, I have, over the last decade, written three books that address how to find positive solutions to societal challenges based on a wide diversity of perspectives, as well as my own first-hand experience.

I hold a Ph.D. in Zoology and an M.S. in Land Resources from the University of Wisconsin and have spent decades working at the intersection of science, policy, and environmental change. My work focuses on designing and leading large-scale, community-based responses to complex environmental challenges, including the establishment of major place-based conservation and research initiatives across North America, such as the Malpai Borderlands, the Blackfoot Challenge, and large marine co-management and fisheries restoration programs in the Western Atlantic and along the Maine coast.

I have helped develop academic programs in governance and policy design at MIT and other universities and have taught courses in adaptive management, ecology, and complex systems at MIT, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and elsewhere. My experience includes directing large ecological experiments, coordinating international conservation efforts, and authoring more than 70 peer-reviewed publications and several books, which have been cited over 8,000 times.