Dr. Diane E. Pataki is an ecologist focused on science-based solutions that enable people and nature to thrive together. She is currently a Professor in the School of Life Sciences, and also serves as the Chief Scientist and Vice President for Science of the National Wildlife Federation. She has previously served as the Director of the ASU School of Sustainability.
Prior to coming to ASU, Dr. Pataki was the Associate Vice President for Research and a Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Utah, with an adjunct appointment in the Department of City & Metropolitan Planning, where she focused on growing university research and partnerships for greater social and environmental impact. She has previously held positions as Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Science at the University of Utah. Prior to 2012, she was on the faculty of the University of California, Irvine with a joint appointment in the Department of Earth System Science and the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. She was the founding Director of the UC Irvine Center for Environmental Biology and the Steele Burnand Anza Borrego Desert Research Center, a University of California Natural Reserve operated in collaboration with Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Dr. Pataki received a B.A. in environmental science at Barnard College and an M.S. and Ph.D. at the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.
Her work is transdisciplinary and has spanned the impacts of climate change on ecosystems, coupled human-natural processes related to urban greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption, and the role of nature, greenspace, and forestry in urban sustainability. She has authored or co-authored more than 140 papers on local and global carbon, nitrogen, and water cycles and urban biodiversity, forestry, ecohydrology, and socioecology. Dr. Pataki is a Fulbright Global Scholar, a James B. Macelwane Medalist, a Leopold Leadership Fellow, and an elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the Ecological Society of America (ESA), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She has previously served as a Program Director in the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology, the Vice President for Science and Governing Board member of ESA, a member of the U.S. EPA Board of Scientific Counselors, and a member of the NSF Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education.