James Gerber, PhD
Co-director and lead scientist of the Global Landscapes Initiative at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment.
James Gerber is the Co-director and lead scientist of the Global Landscapes Initiative at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment (IonE). His research develops solutions for improving global food security while minimizing agriculture’s impact on the earth’s ecosystems. He leads the team’s efforts to collect, map, and analyze global-scale data on agricultural practices and the evolving vulnerability of the world’s food supply. A particular research focus is the interrelation of climate variability, crop yields, and systemic trends in food security. James is a lead author on mitigation strategies for the next Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment and recently led efforts to estimate the current and future value of agriculture as part of the World Bank’s Changing Wealth of Nations report. Prior to joining IonE in 2009, he was a lead scientist at Ocean Power Technologies, developing devices to convert ocean wave energy to electricity. James has a doctorate in physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
