After graduating from Skidmore College with a Biology major and an Environmental Studies minor, I worked as a butterfly biologist for the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, The Nature Conservancy, and the University of Colorado. I later worked as a high school teacher in Santa Fe, NM, and an ecotourism guide in Central America and Fiji.

In 2007, I obtained a Master in Public Administration (MPA) with a focus in Environmental Policy, Management, and Law at the University of Colorado Denver (UCD) while working as a policy researcher at the university’s Wirth Chair in Sustainable Development Policy. I was awarded a National Science Foundation IGERT grant to pursue my Ph.D. in the interdisciplinary Sustainable Urban Infrastructure program at UCD’s School of Public Affairs. During these years, I worked on teams completing some of the first greenhouse gas inventories and climate plans in Colorado, and, as an adjunct instructor, I taught classes in the MPA program. My dissertation was entitled An Examination of Policy and Political Learning: A Study of Colorado Climate and Energy Policy Actors. My graduate school work and education were profiled in The New York Times in January 2010. 

During my years in Colorado, I served on the Board of Directors for two nonprofit organizations: New Era Colorado, which fosters political awareness and activity among young adults, and Conservation Colorado, which educates the public about the environmental positions of candidates and elected officials and holds elected officials accountable for their environmental records. In 2010 & 2011, I was the Sustainability Director for the Auraria Higher Education Center. I directed greenhouse gas inventory work, climate planning, and sustainability projects on the 50,000-person Auraria Campus. Also, in 2010, I was appointed by then-Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to the Pollution Prevention Advisory Board, which provides overall policy guidance, coordination, and advice to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

I later moved to Santa Barbara to work as a Senior Planner for Sustainability and Climate Change at a municipal consulting firm. I led greenhouse gas inventories and climate planning projects for local governments, private companies, nonprofits, and educational institutions. I was a visiting faculty member of the Department of Policy Studies at California Lutheran University from 2013 to 2016, teaching classes in the Master in Public Policy and Administration (MPPA) program. In 2014, I was appointed by the Ventura City Council to serve on the Board of Commissioners for the Housing Authority of the City of Ventura, dedicated to providing and maintaining affordable housing for city residents.

In 2016, my wife Chandra Russo and I joined the faculty at Colgate University. I was The Gretchen Hoadley Burke ’81 Endowed Chair for Regional Studies (2016-2017), and currently, I am an Associate Professor in Environmental Studies. I work locally with the Village of Hamilton and the Town of Hamilton on sustainability and climate planning and with Madison County on sustainable and affordable housing policy issues.