Research Fellow
Thomas S. Benson is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and was previously an Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corps Fellow at the American Security Project in 2022. His research focuses on urban sustainability, local government, community engagement, environmental justice, and climate security.
Previously, Thomas was a Princeton Dissertation Scholar, Presidential Management Fellow, Aspen Institute Future Climate Leader, Visiting Researcher to Boston University’s Initiative on Cities, and served as the Senior Sustainability Coordinator and Fellow for the University of Delaware. For his dissertation, Thomas conducted 77 interviews with city officials, thinktank experts, non-profit leaders,
and community organization representatives regarding urban sustainability, community engagement,
local government, and climate security. He has also published several peer-reviewed papers and
reports, presented at 20 conferences, and has received 27 awards, grants, and fellowships since 2020.
Thomas earned his Ph.D and MA in Political Science and International Relations from the University
of Delaware in 2023 and 2019, respectively, and his bachelor’s degree (LLB) in Law from the
University of Leeds (UK).
All views expressed in blog post content are his own.