Judy Layzer is the Linde Career Development Associate Professor of Environmental Policy in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT, co-directs the Environmental Policy and Planning group's Society, Business and the Environment Project. She will also be the director of the soon-to-be-unveiled Urban Sustainability Project at MIT.

Judy Layzer is the Linde Career Development Associate Professor of Environmental Policy in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT, co-directs the Environmental Policy and Planning group's Society, Business and the Environment Project. She will also be the director of the soon-to-be-unveiled Urban Sustainability Project at MIT. Layzer's research and teaching focus on the roles of science, values, and storytelling in environmental politics, as well as on the effectiveness of different approaches to environmental planning and management. Now in its second edition, Professor Layzer’s book, The Environmental Case: Translating Values Into Policy (CQ Press, 2006) describes 16 prominent cases of environmental policymaking, ranging from local disputes over hazardous waste to national controversies over public lands and international conflicts over global warming. In Natural Experiments: Ecosystem Management and the Environment (MIT Press, 2008), Layzer aims to explain whether and how ecosystem-based management results in more environmentally beneficial policies and practices than the conventional regulatory approach. She analyzes seven cases, including the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program, the San Diego Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, the California Bay-Delta Program, and the Kissimmee River Restoration.