Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer and the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment
Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer is inspiring people worldwide to rethink how they interact with nature and reconnect not only with the world around them but also with themselves. But her primary audience — and perhaps the most important one — is her students at ESF.
ESF is fortunate to count Dr. Kimmerer as one of its own among its distinguished faculty. A SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology and the Founder and Director Emeritus of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment (CNPE), she is also a New York Times best-selling author for “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.” Among many accolades, Kimmerer was named a 2022 MacArthur Fellow, was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2023, and was presented with the National Humanities Medal by President Joseph R. Biden in October 2024. Most recently, Dr. Kimmerer was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2025.
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) to the classroom.
At the CNPE, Kimmerer and her team create programs that draw on the wisdom of both Indigenous and scientific knowledge in support of our shared goals of environmental sustainability. Work at the CNPE is largely supported through philanthropy.
In collaboration with Indigenous partners, Kimmerer and her students have an active research program in the ecology and restoration of plants of cultural significance to Native people. The CNPE 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. Kimmerer is engaged in programs that introduce the benefits of Indigenous environmental science to the western scientific community, in ways that respect and protect Indigenous knowledge.
Kimmerer plans to continue writing and teaching on behalf of land justice and deepening her commitment to the urgent work of climate activism. For ESF students, that means the continued opportunity to benefit from her knowledge and wisdom.
