Dr. Wil Burns is the founding Co-Director of the Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal at American University and a Professor in the School of International Service. He previously served as the Associate Director of the Environmental Policy and Culture Program at Northwestern University, and Director of the Master of Science, Energy Policy & Climate program at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC. He also taught at the University of Chicago, Stanford University, and the University of California-Berkeley. Prior to entering academia, he served as Assistant Secretary of State for Policy for the state of Wisconsin and worked in the environmental non-profit sector for more than twenty years.
His community service includes serving as Co-Chair of the
International Environmental Law Section of the American Branch of the
International Law Association and as President of the Association of
Environmental Studies & Sciences (AESS). He was the 2019 recipient of AESS’s
Lifetime Achievement Award for Scholarship and Service in the field. He
received his Ph.D. in International Law from the University of Wales-Cardiff
School of Law and is the author of more than 90 publications.
He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of two journals: the Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, and Case Studies in the Environment.