Professor Christopher A. Williams earned a B.A. in Biology / Environmental Studies at Bucknell University, an M.S. in Watershed Science at Colorado State University, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Science at Duke University. He joined the faculty in the Graduate School of Geography in Fall 2008. Prior to his arrival at Clark University he was a Research Scientist at Colorado State University’s Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, followed by Assistant Research Scientist with the Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center of the University of Maryland Baltimore County and based in the Biospheric Sciences Branch of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Prof. Christopher revealed in his research study funded by NASA that when sunlight doesn’t reach earth it results in heat called albedo effect. “We found that in some parts of the country like the Intermountain West, more forest actually leads to a hotter planet when we consider the full climate impacts from both carbon and albedo effects,” said Professor Williams. He further stated, “If we fail to consider both the carbon and the albedo effects, large-scale tree-planting initiatives, such as Canada’s 2Billion Trees Initiative and the Nature Conservancy’s Plant a Billion Trees campaign, could end up placing trees in locations that are counterproductive for cooling the climate system,”