Keith's research interests focus on modelling terrestrial systems and their interactions with climate and climate change.  As the Science Liasion for the Land Model Working Group (LMWG), he also supports the development, testing, evaluation, and documentation of the land model component of the Community Earth System Model (CESM), the Community Land Model (CLM). He is a lead author of technical descriptions for several versions of CLM, including CLM3, CLM4, CLM4.5, and CLM5. In 2008, he was a co-recipient of the CCSM Distinguished Achievement Award for his collaborative work with the CCSM community in developing the CLM. He was a highly cited researcher in the Geosciences for 2014-2020.
His most recent accomplishments include the development and implementation of an urban parameterization in CLM (the Community Land Model Urban [CLMU]) to address climate change related issues unique to urban areas. In particular, he has published on subjects such as global projections of urban heat waves, multi-model projections of local urban climates, development of heat stress metrics, contributions of background climate to the urban heat island, and urban model development and evaluation.