Alford's interests include restoration and management of wildlands to sustain healthy functioning of natural ecosystems. His research interests include studying the effects of wildland fire on natural ecosystems.

Sala is the Julie A. Wrigley, Regents, and Foundation Professor and the Founding Director of the Global Drylands Center at ASU.

Garcia-Pichel is the Director of the Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics. He studies the roles, adaptations and impacts of microbes in natural environments, from desert soils to shallow marine waters.

With a research emphasis in applied ecology, Lewis' research incorporates the principles of wildlife biology, landscape ecology, and conservation biology.

Upham is an eco-evolutionary biologist with core interests in how species ecologies have diversified through time and across the tree of life. He studies the phylogenetic ecology of wild mammals, especially desert rodents.