Ruth S. DeFries (born October 20, 1956) is an
environmental geographer who specializes in the use of
remote sensing
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Earth ...
to study Earth's habitability under the influence of human activities, such as
deforestation, that influence regulating
biophysical
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...
and
biogeochemical
Biogeochemistry is the scientific discipline that involves the study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment (including the biosphere, the cryosphere, th ...
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.
Life
DeFries received her Ph.D. in 1980 from the Department of Geography and
Environmental Engineering
Environmental engineering is a professional engineering discipline that encompasses broad scientific topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiology, and mathematics to create solutions that will protect and ...
at
Johns Hopkins University and her B.A. in Earth Science in 1976 from
Washington University
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a Private university, private research university with its Danforth Campus, main campus in St. Louis County, Missouri, St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the universi ...
. 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
Columbia may refer to:
* Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America
Places North America Natural features
* Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...
's Department of
Ecology,
Evolution, and
Environmental Biology
Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physics, biology, and geography (including ecology, chemistry, plant science, zoology, mineralogy, oceanography, limnology, soil science, geology and physical geograp ...
. 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
Stewart Brand (born December 14, 1938) is an American writer, best known as editor of the ''Whole Earth Catalog''. He founded a number of organizations, including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation. He is the autho ...
,
Barry Brook,
Erle Ellis
Erle Christopher Ellis (born 11 March 1963 in Washington, DC) is an American environmental scientist. Ellis's work investigates the causes and consequences of long-term ecological changes caused by humans at local to global scales, including those ...
, Christopher Foreman,
David Keith, Martin Lewis,
Mark Lynas,
Ted Nordhaus,
Roger A. Pielke, Jr., Rachel Pritzker, Joyashree Roy, Mark Sagoff,
Michael Shellenberger
Michael D. Shellenberger (born June 16, 1971) is an American author and former public relations professional whose writing has focused on the intersection of politics, the environment, climate change and nuclear power, as well as more recently ...
,
Robert Stone, and Peter Teague
Works
Books
* The Big Ratchet: How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Natural Crisis (2014) Basic 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
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...
; 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.
Awards
* 2007
MacArthur Fellows Program
The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...
* 2015 Breakthrough Paradigm Award
* 201
Honorary Doctorate(Faculty of Science
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven(
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
))
References
http://www.ruthdefries.e3b.columbia.edu/
External links
Homepage at University of Maryland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Defries, Ruth
1957 births
Living people
American geographers
MacArthur Fellows
Johns Hopkins University alumni
University of Maryland, College Park faculty
University of Maryland College of Behavioral and Social Sciences people
Columbia University faculty
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
American women academics
Women geographers
Fellows of the Ecological Society of America
21st-century American women