To channel that energy, Roberts co-founded the student-driven Climate and Development Lab (CDL). Under his leadership, the CDL began working directly with the UN negotiations’ coalition of the 48 least developed countries, providing vital policy briefings on adaptation finance, losses, and damages to help these vulnerable nations shape their own climate agendas.

This drive to understand the political friction behind climate policy ultimately led to one of Roberts’ most significant achievements: the creation of the Climate Social Science Network (CSSN). Founded alongside Robert Brulle, IBES visiting professor and professor emeritus at Drexel University, the network was born out of a critical realization: "The climate movement, in particular, has failed again and again because they just didn't understand their opposition at all," Roberts explained.

To provide the research capacity needed to understand those barriers, the CSSN was launched to study the politics of climate change and institutional obstruction. What started as a targeted effort has grown into a massive international collaborative. Now extended into its seventh year of funding, the CSSN has expanded to include 900 researchers worldwide across 17 distinct thematic working groups, distributing over $2.5 million in grants to support vital environmental social science.

Closer to home, Roberts' work consistently bridged the gap between local and global politics. One of his fondest campus memories is of the "Denial Detectives," a group of students who tracked climate testimonies across Rhode Island government committees. That project eventually blossomed into HowDoTheyLobby.org, the world’s largest database on state-level lobbying. His collaborative approach culminated in a major milestone in 2016: helping draft and pass the Resilient Rhode Island Act, the state's first major climate legislation.

Inspired by his own undergraduate mentor, biology professor Ray Heithaus of Kenyon College, Roberts intentionally treated his students as true colleagues.

Kurt Teichert: Building a Culture of Sustainability

Over his 34 years at Brown, Teichert became one of the University's leading voices on structural sustainability. He joined the community with a desire to scale up the sustainable design principles he had practiced at small nonprofits. As the Environmental Coordinator in the Provost’s Office, Teichert’s early days were spent in the trenches of campus infrastructure—upgrading lighting and replacing electric motors to maximize energy efficiency.

When Brown launched major capital campaigns a few years later, Teichert became deeply embedded in the architectural design and engineering of the campus's major new construction and renovation projects. Throughout his career, he also became closely associated with the Urban Environmental Lab (UEL), helping cultivate it as a welcoming, vibrant hub for environmental learning and community.

As his role evolved into lecturing, Teichert became beloved for his immersive, community-engaged teaching in courses like “Transcending Transportation Impacts” and “Sustainable Design in the Built Environment.” He pivoted class projects away from purely theoretical concepts to applied, local solutions, partnering students with mentors across the Providence community.

Teichert's unique impact often reached students outside the traditional environmental tracks. He fondly recalled moments when applied mathematics or theory-heavy majors would take his courses and "the light would go on," completely shifting their career trajectories toward practical sustainability. His dedication to mentorship even extended to the athletic fields, where he served as an assistant coach for the Brown women's rugby team for seven years.

As he looks back on the ebb and flow of different campus administrations and the constant, renewing energy of the student body, Teichert hopes his students carry away a practical framework for the climate crisis. "Solving issues of climate change is a whole lot of small percentages added up," Teichert said. "No matter what people are doing in their careers, they can make decisions that are systemically oriented toward solving environmental problems."

An Enduring Impact

As the Brown community celebrates the careers of Professors Roberts and Teichert, IBES extends its deepest gratitude for their decades of scholarship, mentorship, and service. 

"Timmons and Kurt have had an outsized impact on shaping IBES to be the powerhouse of environmental scholarship that it is today," said IBES Director Kim Cobb. "As faculty, their passion inspired generations of students to tackle today’s most pressing challenges. I am grateful for their many gifts to IBES, to Brown, and to the world, and I wish them all the best in their next chapters."