Chris grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, and studied engineering at Harvey Mudd College. After graduating, they tried out lots of different work: solar manufacturing engineering, a one-person kickstarter, and serving with AmeriCorps VISTA to help provide employment training. Eventually, Chris discovered ecological economics, and finally had a name for the thing they’d wanted to work on their entire life. They threw themselves into it, visiting Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, doing graduate work at the University of Leeds, and now studying at the University of Vermont.

For their dissertation at Leeds, Chris studied the labor required to provide well-being for all. Chris is particularly interested in the social, political, and economic change necessary for a long-term sustainable world, including the systemic drivers of growth and global inequality, the human requirements for well-being, and macroeconomic theory. In their free time, Chris loves to code, climb, play ping pong, spend time with friends, and listen to music.