He received his degrees from St. Lawrence University (BS) and Yale University (MPhil, PhD), and was a postdoctoral researcher at Wesleyan University. His research program uses a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to address how environmental change drives evolutionary processes in plants and animals. In his research, Peppe integrates methods in paleobotany, ecology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, and paleomagnetism to address questions about the underlying dynamics of environmental, biotic, and climatic change through time. Peppe's research is focused on reconstructing ancient climates and ecosystems in North America and East Africa, and on developing better and more accurate paleoclimate and paleoecological proxies.