Staff Profile

Jacob Campbell is an Urban Environmental Anthropologist with the Keller Science Action Center, where he leads the social science team for the Chicago region. Along with museum colleagues, Jacob helped establish the Roots and Routes Initiative with the Chicago Park District and a network of community leaders, artists, and organizations. In Pembroke Township, he conducts qualitative participatory research with local landowners that informs decision-making about conservation and quality of life. Jacob also co-directs the Urban Ecology Field Lab undergraduate summer course, and collaborates with partners across Chicago to improve access to the city’s cultural institutions and natural areas for underrepresented residents. Jacob’s approach to community-based research and applied anthropology has emerged through two decades of work with groups that include the Zuni Tribe, Gulf Coast fisherman, and Trinidadian oilfield workers.