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Ruth DeFries

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Name
  
Ruth DeFries

Role
  
Environmental Geographer


Awards
  
MacArthur Fellowship

Ruth DeFries wwwearthcolumbiaeduacimagesdefriesjpg

Fields
  
Environmental geography

Institutions
  
Columbia University; University of Maryland, College Park

Alma mater
  
Washington University; Johns Hopkins University

Education
  
Johns Hopkins University, Washington University in St. Louis

Notable awards
  
MacArthur Fellowship

Ruth DeFries receives honorary doctorate from McGill


Ruth DeFries (born 1957) 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, that influence regulating biophysical and biogeochemical processes. She was one of 24 recipients of the 2007 MacArthur Fellowship, and was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 2006.

Contents

Ruth DeFries httpspbstwimgcomprofileimages4942490993155

Tropical deforestation and carbon science meets policy by ruth defries


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.

An Ecomodernist Manifesto

In April 2015, DeFries joined with a group of scholars in issuing An Ecomodernist Manifesto. 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

Also see Portal:Sustainable development

Awards

  • 2007 MacArthur Fellows Program
  • 2015 Breakthrough Paradigm Award
  • References

    Ruth DeFries Wikipedia