Robin W. Kimmerer, PhD

Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer is a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF). She was named a 2022 MacArthur Fellow in 2022. Her most recent book  “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants” has been on the New York Times best seller list since 2020. The book is a collection of essays weaving traditional ecological knowledge with scientific knowledge to examine the relationship people have and can have, with the living environment.
Dr. Kimmerer brings to her scientific research and writing her lived experience as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and the principles of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). Her research interests include the role of traditional ecological knowledge in ecological restoration and the ecology of mosses.
In collaboration with tribal partners, Dr. Kimmerer and her students have an active research program in the ecology and restoration of plants of cultural significance to Native people. She is active in efforts to broaden access to environmental science education for Native students and to create new models for the integration of indigenous philosophy and scientific tools on behalf of land and culture. She is engaged in programs that introduce the benefits of traditional ecological knowledge to the scientific community, in a way that respects and protects indigenous knowledge.
Dr. Kimmerer holds a Master's and Ph.D. in botany from the University of Wisconsin and a bachelor's in botany from ESF. She is the author of numerous scientific papers on plant ecology, bryophyte ecology, traditional knowledge, and restoration ecology.