About me

I am a Program Officer on the Environment team at Allen Family Philanthropies, where I help harness cutting-edge science and technological innovation to make meaningful progress for conservation and the environment.

Previously, I completed a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship in the USDA Office of the Chief Scientist, from 2023-2025. Before that, I was a postdoc in the Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment in Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs with Professor David S. Wilcove. In May 2022, I defended my dissertation in environmental policy, titled “Agriculture in flux, biodiversity in the balance: conservation implications of agricultural expansion and abandonment”, also advised by Professor Wilcove.

Before graduate school, I worked at the environmental nonprofit Sustainable Conservation in San Francisco, working to encourage river restoration in California’s Central Valley and prevent the use of invasive plants in gardening and landscaping through the PlantRight program. A proud Michigander, I grew up in East Lansing, MI and graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in ecology & evolutionary biology in 2012. I now live in Arlington, VA with my wife, daughter, and dog. In my free time, I enjoy playing peekaboo, baking sourdough, looking for birds, listening to Swedish music, and taking photos of clouds.

Chris, 2019, having achieved pony-tail status. An old photo of Chris, taken by Egan Jimenez (Princeton University) in December 2019 at the Princeton University Art Museum.