Chris Lant, Ph.D.

Field: Environment and Society
Areas of Focus: Conservation Policies, Environmental Sustainability, Water Resources Management, Water-Food Nexus

Expertise

• Virtual water
• Ecosystem services
• Net primary production
• Food-energy water nexus

Bio

Dr. Christopher Lant joined Utah State University’s Quinney College of Natural Resources as professor and Department Head of Environment and Society in 2014 after 26 years as a Geographer at Southern Illinois University — including 12 years as the executive director of the Universities Council on Water Resources. Dr. Lant’s work has focused on water resources, the water-food nexus, environmental and agricultural conservation policies, publishing over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, mostly in collaboration with dozens of doctoral and master’s advisees. His work has focused on policies that can reduce polluted run-off, restore wetlands, promote ecosystem service provision, and add wind energy as a 21st century “crop.” He has also published on water footprint analysis and virtual water trade. A recipient of over $10 million in research and program development funding, his recent work on NSF’s Coupled Natural and Human Systems and Innovations in Food-Energy-Water Systems (INFEWS) programs has focused on projecting the likely geographic response of the crop belts to climate change, human appropriation of net primary production, and the ecological inter-dependencies it generates through trade.