A Life Devoted to Placed-Based, Real-World Solutions

Dr. Charles G. Curtin

All my work builds on the development of design labs to test and refine innovative forms of social and environmental action. 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, which has led to a deep commitment to understanding the integration of human and ecological systems.

My work focuses on co-designing or leading large-scale, community-based responses to complex environmental challenges, including establishing major place-based conservation and research initiatives across North America, such as the million-acre Malpai Borderlands, the 2-million-acre Blackfoot Challenge, vast marine co-management and fisheries restoration programs in the Western Atlantic, and international collaboratives in Central America, East Africa, and the Middle East. Current efforts focus on building circular economies to sustain ecosystem regeneration in New Mexico, USA, and Panama.

I have also 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.