Christopher Torres

Assistant ProfessorEnvironmental Studies

Christopher Torres is currently the Jane and Robert E. Meyerhoff Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Goucher College. He completed his Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration at Boise State University in 2021. His training is at the intersection of philosophy, environmental studies, policy studies, and public administration. Prior to Goucher, he taught at Connecticut College, College of Idaho, and Boise State University. At Goucher, he teaches courses like Introduction to Environmental Studies (ES 140), Environmental Justice (ES 410), and, starting soon, courses covering US environmental politics, policy, and law. He also serves as Co-Director of the Language House program; Spanish. His current research project is looking to better understand conservative environmental values and how they shape U.S. environmental politics and policy. Other research interests include exploring the relationship between public administration, public perceptions of “bureaucracy”, and public trust in democratic institutions.

Areas of Expertise

  • U.S. Environmental Politics, Policy, and Law
  • Public Administration and Democratic Institutions
  • Public Trust in Government and Government Ethics
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Research, Scholarship, Creative Work in Progress

Conservative Environmental Values: examining the relationship between conservative values and attitudes towards different environmental policy areas such as public land use, wildlife conservation, meat consumption, social and ecological impacts of consumer goods, and air and water quality.

Publications

Torres, C., & Fowler, L. (2023). Creatively interpreting policy to move science forward: Implementing participatory technology assessment at NASA. Review of Policy Research, 40(3), 389–405.

External Awards, Honors, Grants

Graduate Research Assistantship — Boise State University

Carl P. Burke Scholarship in Public Policy — Boise State University

James B. and Dana L. Weatherby Scholarship in Public Administration — Boise State University

Environmental Fellow | Environmental Fellows Program
University of Michigan (now at Yale) and the Environmental Grantmakers Association

Graduate Teaching Assistantship — University of Oregon

Regents’ & Chancellor’s Scholarship — University of California, Berkeley

Conference Papers & Panel Participation

Tomblin, David, Jen Schneider, Christopher Torres. “STS Boundary Spanners: An Essential Ingredient to Substantive Public Engagement Work with U.S. Federal Government Agency.” Society for the Social Studies of Science Conference (presented by David Tomblin). Honolulu, HI. November 2023.

Torres, Christopher, Jen Schneider, David Tomblin, Verra Yevsukov, Allison Griffith, Menal Shams, Luke Della Grotte, Mahmud Farooque, and Nich Weller. “Collaborative Research: Participatory Technology Assessment and Cultures of Expertise in the U.S. Federal Government.” Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes Workshop (presented by Jen Schneider and David Tomblin). Washington, DC. December 2021.

Torres, Christopher. “Participatory Technology Assessment as Policy Innovation in NASA’s Asteroid Initiative.” Society for Social Studies of Science. Virtual (COVID). October 2021.

Torres, Christopher. “Participatory Technology Assessment in the American Federal Bureaucracy.” STGlobal Conference. Virtual (COVID). April 2021.

Torres, Christopher. “Participatory Technology Assessment in the American Federal Bureaucracy.” Western Social Science Association Conference. Virtual (COVID). April 2021.

Tomblin, David, Jen Schneider, Christopher Torres, and Mahmud Farooque. “Technical Expertise Meets Public Deliberation: Going Beyond Laboratory Studies to Understand the Expert/Lay Divide.” Society for the Social Studies of Science Conference (presented by Jen Schneider and David Tomblin). New Orleans, LA. September 2019.

Crandall, Curtis, and Christopher Torres. “Treasure Valley Water Atlas.” Presented at the Andrus Center for Public Policy Conference. Boise, ID. April 2018.

Christopher Torres. “Who has Power on the Boise River: The Importance of Informal Relationships in the Boise River Water Management System.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Idaho NSF EPSCoR. Pocatello, ID. October 2017.

Academic or Professional Associations

American Political Science Association