Earth Institute News Archive
posted 02/01/07
Dedicated Geographer Takes Helm of Center for International Earth Science Information Network
Robert S. Chen has been appointed Director of the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN).
The Earth Institute at Columbia University is pleased to announce the appointment of Robert S. Chen as Director of the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN).
Chen has served as interim director since May 2006 and as deputy director since 1998, when CIESIN became a center within the Earth Institute. With more than 14 years of experience at the center, he brings to the directorship an intimate knowledge of CIESIN’s capacity and a vision for heightening its growth and impact in the years ahead. A geographer by training, Chen has worked for more than 30 years in research and policy analysis concerning human-environment interactions.
At CIESIN, he has managed the NASA-funded Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) for more than a decade and has led many other projects on spatial data management, global natural disaster risks, environment and security, poverty mapping, and environmental sustainability. He helped to launch many of CIESIN’s flagship data and information products and services and is playing a leadership role in a number of national and international data activities and networks such as the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS), the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA), and the Open Geospatial Consortium.
As a critical part of the Earth Institute, CIESIN plays a unique and vital role as a leader in information mapping and data management. Through such endeavors as the Global Poverty Mapping Project, the Global Natural Disaster Risk Hotspots study, and the Natural Resource Management Index (recently adopted for use by the Millennium Challenge Corporation), CIESIN is advancing the science and application of information and data by making innovative tools and data available for broad use and distribution.
“The Earth Institute, and the Columbia community as a whole, will truly benefit from CIESIN’s growth under Robert Chen,” said Steve Cohen, Earth Institute Executive Director. “We could not be more pleased to have him lead this valuable Center.” As CIESIN's director, Chen leads an organization of more than 40 professional staff, including active research scientists, experienced data analysts, and experts in data management and information systems. CIESIN also regularly hosts postdoctoral fellows, visiting scientists, and students from around the world.
Chen received his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has served on the faculty of Brown University and held research fellowships at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the National Research Council. He is currently the Secretary-General of CODATA and a member of the Working Group on Science & Technology Recruiting to Increase Diversity (STRIDE), part of the Earth Institute (EI) ADVANCE Program.
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