James Buizer

University of Arizona

Jim Buizer is a Designated Campus Colleague and Emeritus Professor of Climate Adaptation in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Arizona (UA), where he was Professor from 2011-2024. His research and teaching focused on mechanisms to incorporate scientifically based findings of projected impacts of climate variability and change into development decisions, institutionalizing the science-to-action interface, and climate assessments. From 2019-2021 he served  Senior Strategy Advisor to the Office of Research, Innovation and Impact and Founding Director of the Arizona Institute for Resilience. 

In addition to serving on the Council of Advisors to Planet Forward, he serves on the External Advisory Council of the Lovejoy Center for Bridging Biodiversity, Conservation Science, and Policy, as Senior Strategy Advisor to the UA College of Medicine Aegis Consortium for a Pandemic Free Future, and on the Biosphere 2 Board of Directors.

From 2003-2011, Jim was Senior Advisor for Institutional Transformation to President Michael Crow at Arizona State University where he led the design and establishment of the Global Institute of Sustainability and its degree-granting School of Sustainability launched fall 2006. He maintains his affiliation with ASU as a “Senior Global Futures Scientist.”

Prior, Jim was Director of the Climate and Societal Interactions Division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) where he was responsible for providing vision and leadership for NOAA’s integrated, multidisciplinary research and applications grants program positioned at the climate and societal interface in Washington, D.C. His degrees are in Oceanography and Marine Economics & Policy from the University of Washington.  He is a native Spanish speaker.