Colin Kuehl

Environmental Politics

Conservation, Cooperation, Sustainability

Dr. Colin Kuehl is an Associate Professor in the Department ofPolitical Science and Institute for the Study of the Environment Sustainability and Energy at Northern Illinois University. For the Spring 2026 semester he is a visiting scholar at Northwestern University.

Dr. Kuehl's scholarship focuses on why important actors, like countries and people, behave the way they do toward the environment. He explores this broad question across different political domains and levels of analysis, from motivating individuals to conserve water to what makes countries more likely to ratify multi-lateral environmental agreements, using a wide variety of methodological approachs. His work has been published in Environmental Politics, Nature Sustainability, The Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Science Communication, and other highly regarded outlets. He is currently working on a book project focused on individual attitudes toward global environmental cooperation.

Colin was born and raised in small-town northeast Oregon and received his PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2017. In his free time he likes to drink coffee, watch soccer (#ynwa), and go on road trips with with his wife, two daughters, and dog.

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