Biography

Dr. Schultz is a professor of natural resource policy and governance. Her research agenda focuses on how policies and other aspects of governance mediate the effective integration of scientific information into decision-making and guide how science is balanced with political goals and public preferences. She is currently investigating the development and design of adaptive governance institutions to tackle planning and decision-making under conditions of uncertainty and complexity. Dr. Schultz brings her expertise in political science to her investigation of these issues, along with a background in legal analysis and biological sciences. She has conducted research on large-scale wildlife conservation planning, the development of monitoring and adaptive management plans by federal agencies, and various aspects of forest restoration policy. Currently, she and her students are investigating the governance of landscape-scale forest restoration projects, the integration of climate change and resilience considerations into forest planning, the role of citizen science programs within public land agencies, multi-scale monitoring strategies, and aspects of fire management policy. Their work is grounded in the public administration, adaptive governance, and science-policy literatures.