Dr. Michael Fotos

Dr. Fotos is a lecturer in Political Science and Ethics, Politics, and Economics at Yale University and associate program director and visiting assistant professor in the graduate program in public policy at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

He is presently writing a book of lessons in policy analysis based on the work of Vincent and Elinor Ostrom of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University. His other research interests and publications relate to coal mining regulation, voter turnout, ecosystem services, and counter-insurgency doctrine and operations.

Dr. Fotos was born and raised in Huntington, W.Va. He is a 1978 graduate of Yale College. He holds an MPA from Harvard and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Indiana University. He has a lifelong interest in energy and the environment and has worked in sales and marketing for wind energy, oil, and coal companies, as a senior administrator for state energy and environmental agencies in West Virginia, and as a director of land protection for an environmental NGO. He has taught at Trinity College since 2000 and at Yale since 2007. In addition to serving as a volunteer instructor and board member of WSP, Dr. Fotos volunteers as a director of the Connecticut Farmland Trust and presently serves as the president of its board of directors.