Biosketch
Greg Asner is Director of the Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science at Arizona State University. He is a Professor in ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning and n the School of Earth and Space Exploration. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Earth System Science at Stanford University. Asner graduated with a bachelor?s degree in engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1991, followed by service in the U.S. Navy. He earned masters and doctorate degrees in geography and biology, respectively, from the University of Colorado in 1997. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University until he returned to Colorado as a professor in the geological sciences department. In 2001, he became a staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science, which was followed by his move in 2019 to start the Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science. Asner has served in numerous national and international posts including the NASA Senior Review Committee, U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Steering Group, U.N. Diversitas Program, NASA-Brazil LBA Steering Committee, and as a Senior Fellow for the U.S. State Department. Asner is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award, NASA Career and Group Achievement awards, Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, and the Heinz Award for the Environment.
Research Interests
Dr. Asner investigates the interactions between society, climate and ecosystems through a combination of extensive field study, airborne and satellite remote sensing, and computer modeling. His work has uncovered ecological change in forests and coral reefs of the world. He also maintains a research program on the chemical evolution of plants and corals, and their expression in Earth spectroscopy measured with airborne and orbital remote sensing instrumentation. His basic research has propelled a series of U.S. and foreign satellite missions to study Earth?s changing biological diversity. He has published more than 600 scientific articles.
Membership Type
Member
Election Year
2013
Primary Section
Section 64: Human Environmental Sciences
Secondary Section
Section 63: Environmental Sciences and Ecology