I had many positive experiences in nature growing up. When I was little, I was lucky enough to go on family trips to national parks where we did a lot of camping and hiking. We also have a family farm in Wisconsin that has been in the family for over 150 years and five generations. If you're familiar with Aldo Leopold, the land that he wrote about in A Sand County Almanac is right up the road from where our family farm is. A lot of Leopold’s nature writing and observations are right at home for me, and visiting our farm was a piece of my childhood.

How are you inspired by science?

I'm partly inspired by science because it requires us to look more closely at the world around us in much the same way as art does. They both rely on observational skills and tuning into the world around you. I think that's important, especially if we want to do anything about the climate crisis. If people have a more personal connection to the natural world, they'll be more motivated to make a difference on that front. I think science helps us to pay attention.

How do you see your team’s work fitting into social change?

The ForestGEO network is a global project. The network makes a point of hiring local technicians and botanists in their plots, and their plots are around the world, which means we're getting more people involved in science, and valuing forests for things other than profit. Many people around the globe might not have had exposure to other purposes for a forest besides harvesting plantations and cutting down trees. I think that the [ForestGEO] network is doing a good job of engaging people at early stages in their career of science, people who might not have had access to that historically.