Bio
Dr. Matthew Houser has a joint appointment at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Horn Point Laboratory and The Nature Conservancy’s Chesapeake Bay Program. This partnership between The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) supports the development and execution of collaborative projects that will advance their collective goals in regenerative agriculture and sustainable agricultural landscapes in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Houser is an environmental sociologist who conducts interdisciplinary research programs to inform the development of “policy and engagement strategies toward increasing the short- and long-term resilience of managed ecosystems and human communities to environmental change.”
Previously, he was a Faculty Fellow and Assistant Research Scientist with the Environmental Resilience Institute and Department of Sociology at Indiana University. Other topics Matt has researched include agricultural nitrogen fertilizer management, farmers’ decision-making in response to climate extremes, and the general public's climate change beliefs and support for policies to reduce its impact.
Areas of Expertise
- Human dimensions of environmental change
- Socio-Ecological Systems Approaches
- Farmer Decision-Making
- Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
- Evaluation
Education
- Michigan State University, 2018, PhD, Sociology
- Michigan State University, 2015, MA, Sociology
- The Pennsylvania State University, 2013, BP, Interdisciplinary Studies
Recent Publications
- In J. Fox, I. Carrillo, J.P Sapinski, and D. Stuart (Eds.). Environmental Sociology Now. University of California Press.2026
- Conservation Science and Practice.2025
- Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.2025
