Prior to coming to Virginia Tech in August 2006, he spent 15 years as a Fellow at Resources for the Future, a non-profit organization in Washington, DC that conducts research and policy analysis on environmental quality and natural resources. Wernstedt studies a variety of issues in environmental planning, management, and policy, with topical emphases on contaminated properties, water resources, and climate change and variability. His broad substantive interests include regulatory innovation, decision making under uncertainty, and institutional responses to risk. Research sponsors have included a range of foundations, think tanks, and federal agencies.