Todd Braje is the executive director of the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History. Dr. Braje spent nearly 15 years as a faculty member at San Diego State’s Department of Anthropology, where he conducted archaeological research specializing in long-term human-environmental interactions, the archaeology of maritime societies, historical ecological approaches to understanding coastal hunter-gatherer-fishers, and the peopling of the Americas. Dr. Braje also is a former Oregon middle school teacher, a returned Peace Corps volunteer, and the former Irvine Curator of Anthropology at the California Academy of Sciences. Along with over 100 academic manuscripts, Dr. Braje has published several books, monographs, and edited volumes. His newest book, Understanding Imperiled Earth: How Archaeology and Human History Can Inform Our Planet’s Future (April 2024, Smithsonian Books), explores the ways archaeology and history can act as critical guides for addressing the modern environmental crisis.