Dr. Johnston received a B.A. from Williams College in 1990 and a Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island in 1996. He has been at Clark since 2008. He is Director of the George Perkins Marsh Institute and Professor of Economics.

Professor Johnston’s research interests include economic valuation, human-natural interactions and behaviors, benefit transfer and ecosystem services, with an emphasis on aquatic, riparian and coastal systems. His recent work has focused on topics such as the economic value of water quality improvements, marine plastics, the economics of coastal vulnerability and adaptation, the coordination of economic and ecological models to value aquatic, riparian and coastal ecosystem services, and household decisions that impact the environment (e.g., residential lawn care and fertilizer use). He is editor of the journal Resource and Energy Economics and Chair of Clark University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). In addition to his grant-funded research, Johnston works closely with international organizations, government agencies and non-profit organizations to assist in the use of economic information to guide environmental and natural resource decisions. Johnston serves on the Steering Committee and Science Advisory Board of the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, and the Senior Advisory Board of the Connecticut Sea Grant Program. He is a past member of the US EPA Science Advisory Board and chair of the Ecosystem Science and Management Working Group of NOAA Scientific Advisory Board. He has also served on multiple National Research Council Panels for the National Academy of Sciences addressing environmental and natural resource issues. He has published over 115 journal articles on economic and human dimensions of the environment.