Social scientist  of the Nicholas School was presented the , during Duke’s Founder’s Day convocation on Sept. 30.

Established in 1981 by the United Methodist Church’s Division of Higher Education, this award is one of the highest honors bestowed by Duke on a faculty member who shows exceptional qualities of research, teaching, mentorship and citizenship.

Kramer, professor of resource and environmental economics, routinely has received the highest scores among teaching evaluations in the Nicholas School, where he offers a variety of classes in environmental economics and policy, especially focusing on policies that are developed and instituted in foreign lands.

The Nicholas School’s “Teacher of the Year” in 1989 and 1998, he is a committed and valued mentor to graduate students within the doctoral and professional masters programs, and provides an extraordinary amount of service to the university, serving on search committees, the Academic Council, and the Provost’s Academic Planning Committee.

Kramer’s research has focused on ecosystem valuation, water resource economics, and the economics of biodiversity and natural resource management in developing countries. He has published extensively and is co-editor of Last Stand: Protected Areas and the Defense of Tropical Biodiversity, Oxford University Press.

Current research efforts include projects on landowner behavior toward wetland restoration, deforestation and malaria in the tropics, and economic valuation of policies to reduce mortality risks from pollution.