Background
Woody Turner is the Program Manager for Ecological Conservation and also the Program Scientist for Biological Diversity in the NASA Headquarters Earth Science Division.
As such, Woody promotes the linkage of satellite observations and ecological models for decision-making on behalf of conservation biology and sustainable development. He also oversees the agency’s basic research efforts to use satellite-derived information to understand the relationship of biodiversity to climate, landscape and seascape change and ecosystem function.
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Woody graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1982 and earned master’s degrees in public affairs from Princeton University in 1987 and in conservation biology from the University of Maryland in 2001. In 2020, he received NASA's Excellence in Achievement Award.