Karen Seto is the Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science at the Yale School of the Environment. She is one of the world’s leading experts on urbanization and its effects on the planet, including climate change, biodiversity, and food systems. A geographer and urbanization scientist, she integrates remote sensing, field interviews, and modeling methods to focus on four research themes: 1) measuring and characterizing urbanization; 2) modeling and understanding the drivers of urban expansion; 3) forecasting urban expansion; and 4) assessing the environmental consequences of urbanization. She is an expert in satellite remote sensing analysis and has pioneered methods to reconstruct historical urban land-use. Her research developed the first forecasts of urban land expansion globally. She has extensive fieldwork experience in Asia, especially China and India, where she has conducted research for over 20 and 10 years, respectively.
