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 Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

, 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. Bi ...

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 The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2006.

Life

DeFries received her Ph.D. in 1980 from the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

and her B.A. in Earth Science in 1976 from Washington University. In April 2016,

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

named her a University Professor, its highest academic rank. She had previously been the Denning Family Professor of

Sustainable Development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...

in Columbia's Department of

Ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

, and Environmental Biology. Before moving to Columbia in 2008, she was a professor at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

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 auth ...

, Barry Brook,

Erle Ellis Erle Christopher Ellis (born 11 March 1963 in Washington, DC) is an United States of America, American environmental scientist. Ellis's work investigates the causes and consequences of long-term ecological changes caused by humans at local to globa ...

, Christopher Foreman,

David Keith David Keith may refer to: * David Keith (novelist) (1906–1994), pen name of American scholar Francis Steegmuller *David Keith (actor) (born 1954), American film and TV performer and director *David Keith (physicist), Canadian-born Harvard Profess ...

, Martin Lewis,

Mark Lynas Mark Lynas (born 1973) is a British author and journalist whose work is focused on environmentalism and climate change. He is a contributor to ''New Statesman'', ''The Ecologist'', ''Granta ''and ''Geographical ''magazines, and ''The Guardian'' ...

Ted Nordhaus Ted Nordhaus (born 1966) is an American author and the director of research at The Breakthrough Institute. He has co-edited and written a number of books, including ''Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibilit ...

Roger A. Pielke, Jr. Roger A. Pielke Jr. (born November 2, 1968) is an American political scientist and professor, and was the director of the Sports Governance Center within the Department of Athletics at the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the Un ...

, 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 on ...

, 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 lar ...

; 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 ind ...

* 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 th ...

))

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