Title
Chief Environmental Scientist
Company
Microsoft
Bio
I am a scientist at Microsoft Research where I work on computational techniques for monitoring, modeling, and managing earth’s natural environments. In 2015 I co-founded the Nature + Computing group, a diverse collection of scientists drawn from Microsoft Research who develop and apply the tools of data science to scientific data and whose research interests are focused on the study of nature. I am committed to using the tools of computer science to tackle some of the hardest challenges in environmental sustainability, including conserving biodiversity, ensuring robust food systems, and mitigating climate change. I lead Microsoft Research’s engagements on environmental sustainability, and my work includes aspects of what makes Microsoft Research so special – from artificial intelligence and machine learning to software and hardware development. I developed and lead Microsoft’s partnership with the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, serving on the IUCN Red List Committee and chairing the Red List Informatics Working Group. I am a member of the Ecological Society of America’s US steering committee for the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and serve on the Strategic Advisory Council for NatureServe, the External Advisory Board for the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, and the United States Federal Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment. I have previously served in advisory roles for the European Biodiversity Observation Network, the Global Environmental Facility, and for Natural England and as the ‘Advisor on Science and Innovation’ at the United Nations Environmental Program – World Conservation Monitoring Center (UNEP-WCMC). I am currently an Honorary Conservation Fellow at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and am a past Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Kent’s Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology (DICE) . In 2013 I received the Society for Conservation Biology’s ‘Early Career Award’, and in 2015 shared their ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ with all the past and present members of the IUCN Red List Committee. I co-founded the Technology for Nature initiative, an early online effort with a mission to rapidly scale up the global conservation response through technology innovations and have been involved in many subsequent efforts to do just that. I hold a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Ecology and Zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, completed my PhD in Ecology from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, and am a former Peace Corps volunteer (Malawi).