Professor Koontz’s research focuses on the public sculpture of Ancient Mesoamerica and includes articles, book chapters and the books, Lightning Gods and Feathered Serpents (University of Texas Press, 2009) and Organized Violence in the Art and Architecture of Mesoamerica (with Heather Orr, UCLA, 2009). His more general interests include design and communicative function in non-Western art. His review article “Visual Culture Studies in Mesoamerica” appeared recently in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica, and in 2011 he was one of three North Americans chosen to contribute to Mexico’s bicentenary exhibition catalog at the National Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico City (Seis Ciudades Antiguas de Mesoamérica). Other books include Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica, edited with Kathryn Reese-Taylor and Annabeth Headrick, and Mexico (5th, 6th and 7th editions, 2002, 2008, and 2013) with Michael Coe. He is the recipient of fellowships at Dumbarton Oaks (Harvard) and the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

Prof. Koontz teaches courses in Pre-Columbian Art, Ancient Gulf-Coast (Mexico), and Latin American Art.