Ruth DeFries

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Ruth DeFries
Ruth DeFries 2014.png
DeFries in 2014
Born(1956-10-20)October 20, 1956
Alma mater Washington University;
Johns Hopkins University
Awards MacArthur Fellowship
Scientific career
Fields Environmental geography
Institutions Columbia University;
University of Maryland, College Park
Doctoral studentsB. Clark

A. Neelakantan N. Schwartz M. Agarwala M. Cattau M. Jain M. Fagan M. Marlier V. Gutierrez-Velez K. Wurster S. Zeigler D. Morton J. Dempewolf L. Anderson

M. Songer

Contents

Ruth S. DeFries (born October 20, 1956) is an environmental geographer who specializes in the use of remote sensing to study Earth's habitability under the influence of human activities, such as deforestation, [1] [2] [3] that influence regulating biophysical and biogeochemical processes. [4] She was one of 24 recipients of the 2007 MacArthur Fellowship, [5] [6] and was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 2006. [7]

Life

DeFries received her Ph.D. in 1980 from the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and her B.A. in Earth Science in 1976 from Washington University. In April 2016, Columbia University named her a University Professor, its highest academic rank. She had previously been the Denning Family Professor of Sustainable Development in Columbia's Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology. Before moving to Columbia in 2008, she was a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park with joint appointments in the Department of Geography and the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center. [4]

An Ecomodernist Manifesto

In April 2015, DeFries joined with a group of scholars in issuing An Ecomodernist Manifesto . [8] [9] The other authors were: John Asafu-Adjaye, Linus Blomqvist, Stewart Brand, Barry Brook, Erle Ellis, Christopher Foreman, David Keith, Martin Lewis, Mark Lynas, Ted Nordhaus, Roger A. Pielke, Jr., Rachel Pritzker, Joyashree Roy, Mark Sagoff, Michael Shellenberger, Robert Stone, and Peter Teague [10]

Works

Books

Scientific papers

DeFries is the author or co-author of over 100 scientific papers on such topics as: impacts of tropical fires on air quality and greenhouse gas emissions; land use, nutrition, and food security; land use and conservation in the tropics; climate and tropical agriculture; processes of tropical deforestation and degradation; methods for remote sensing of land cover; and reviews and conceptual papers. [12]

Awards

Related Research Articles

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John Terborgh

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References

  1. "Maryland-Led Research Revises Estimates of Tropical Deforestation". Ascribe Higher Education News Service. 2002-10-14. Retrieved 2008-09-16.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  2. "An Improved Method For Monitoring National And Global Deforestation". ScienceDaily. 2001-06-05. Retrieved 2008-09-16.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. "Growth In Amazon Cropland May Impact Climate And Deforestation Patterns". ScienceDaily. 2006-09-22. Retrieved 2008-09-16.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  4. 1 2 "Ruth DeFries biography". The Earth Institute, Columbia University. Retrieved 2008-09-16.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  5. "MacArthur Fellows 2007". The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved 2008-09-16.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  6. Roylance, Frank D.; Emery, Chris (2007-09-25). "'Genius' rewarded: Hopkins physician, UM geographer are among 24 awarded $500,000 MacArthur grants for research". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2008-09-16.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  7. "A Conversation with UM's Ruth DeFries, Newly Elected to the National Academy of Sciences". University of Maryland. Retrieved 2008-09-16.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  8. "An Ecomodernist Manifesto". ecomodernism.org. Retrieved April 17, 2015. A good Anthropocene demands that humans use their growing social, economic, and technological powers to make life better for people, stabilize the climate, and protect the natural world.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  9. Eduardo Porter (April 14, 2015). "A Call to Look Past Sustainable Development". The New York Times. Retrieved April 17, 2015. On Tuesday, a group of scholars involved in the environmental debate, including Professor Roy and Professor Brook, Ruth DeFries of Columbia University, and Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus of the Breakthrough Institute in Oakland, Calif., issued what they are calling the "Eco-modernist Manifesto."CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  10. "Authors An Ecomodernist Manifesto". ecomodernism.org. Retrieved April 17, 2015. As scholars, scientists, campaigners, and citizens, we write with the conviction that knowledge and technology, applied with wisdom, might allow for a good, or even great, Anthropocene.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  11. DeFries, Ruth. "The Big Ratchet". Ruth DeFries.
  12. DeFries, Ruth. "Publications". Columbia University.
  13. "Ruth DeFries Announced as 2015 Paradigm Award Winner". The Breakthrough Institute. Retrieved August 14, 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)

http://www.ruthdefries.e3b.columbia.edu/