Keith was raised on the family farm in Michigan and earned a BSc from University of Michigan School of Natural Resources in Ann Arbor, and a Masters from Framingham State University. Keith’s researches best practices for a resilient bioeconomy and contributes to international standards to support rural development. Keith’s professional career began with projects that involved renewable energy systems, sustainable agriculture and forest management. Current research aims to apply scientific approaches and causal analysis tools to improve understanding of the drivers that determine beneficial or destructive changes in land cover and ecosystem services. This work identifies innovations to enable beneficial “land-use change” (improved management of natural resources) and implementation of nature-based solutions that integrate agro-silvo-pastoral and urban production systems. Current research aims to document practical approaches to support adaptive management and continual improvement. Keith contributes to voluntary international standards initiatives addressing global barriers to a resilient and sustainable bio-economy including verifiable and practical approaches for carbon accounting and common-sense approaches to monitoring and evaluation. Keith was honored to be elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2024. Current research also supports international standards for measuring performance of a resilient and circular economy; the the reduction of uncertainties in land-system modeling.
