Janet Franklin, a distinguished sustainability scientist and professor in ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, recently began her term as president of the U.S. national chapter of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE). Landscape ecology is an interdisciplinary field that concentrates on understanding ecological processes at the landscape scale and improving land management.

According to Franklin, the chapter she now heads will be very busy over the next year. A primary focus is preparing to host the IALE World Congress, held every four years and scheduled to convene in July 2015. While overseeing congress preparations, Franklin will continue her research, which examines the dynamics of terrestrial plant communities with a particular focus on the impact of human-caused landscape change.