James Buizer

University of Arizona

Jim Buizer is Professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment and Founding Director of the Arizona Institutes for Resilience at the University of Arizona, where he also holds faculty positions in Arid Lands Resource Sciences, and the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Global Change. In addition to his service on the Planet Forward Board, he serves as Immediate Past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Council for Science and the Environment, and on the Executive Council of the Board of Directors of Second Nature, Inc.

From 2003-2011, Jim was Senior Science Policy Advisor to Arizona State University (ASU) President Michael M. Crow, and Executive Director for Strategic Institutional Transformation in the Office of the President, where he led the conceptualization, design and initiation of a number of academic programs, including the Global Institute of Sustainability and its School of Sustainability, launched fall 2006. He also served as founding Director of the ASU Center for Integrated Solutions to Climate Challenges and maintains his affiliation with ASU as a “Senior Sustainability Scientist.”

Prior to ASU he was Director of the Climate and Societal Interactions Office at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) where he was responsible for providing vision and leadership of NOAA’s integrated, multidisciplinary research and applications grants program positioned at the climate and societal interface. He led the establishment of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) and the Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessment (RISA) program. Jim received his degrees in Oceanography, Marine Resource Economics and Science Policy from the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. He is a native Spanish speaker.