Hi, my name is Craig Allen, and I am a resilience scientist in the Center for Resilience in Agricultural Working Landscapes (CRAWL). 

Prior to coming to UNL in July 2004, I was leader (2002 - 2004) and assistant leader (1998-2001) of the South Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Clemson University. I held a non-tenure track faculty position in the zoology department at the University of Florida before that. 

I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, but was born in Berkeley, California. I spent three years in Southampton and Oxford in England; and Katwijk aan Zee in the Netherlands. For a period in Wisconsin, I ran a chimney sweeping company with two partners, but I try to keep away from roofs today. 

Professionally, I am most interested in understanding the links between land use or land cover change, biological invasions and extinctions. I conduct both applied and theoretical research on the impacts and predictions of invasions, and hope to continue a focus on invasive species in Nebraska, using empirical, experimental and spatial tools. I am also interested in how invasions can affect the resilience of ecosystems and other complex systems. I also sit on the Board of Directors for the Resilience Alliance. 

On a personal note, I am married to my wife, Patty, who I met during biology class in Green Bay and we have a son. After 14 years in the South, Patty and I are not so eager to shovel snow, but we are happy to be back in the Midwest. We enjoy travel and the outdoors.