Thomas Sisk

Professor of Ecology and Graduate Programs Director, Center for Sustainable Environments

Northern Arizona University

Tom Sisk's work focuses on three interrelated objectives: improving our understanding of ongoing environmental change; engaging others in the challenges, societal relevance, and rewards of conservation; and helping to provide solutions to emerging problems facing policy makers and land managers. His research spans a broad range of topics related to the restoration and conservation of biodiversity and sensitive habitats, combining field study, geographic analysis, and spatial modeling. Tom also studies deliberative methods for engaging people in science-based environmental policy and planning. His work focuses primarily on the ecosystems of arid North America.

A native of New Mexico, Tom has worked around the world, developing a broad perspective on science, government, and the environment. From 1992-94 he directed an international program in tropical conservation for the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1992. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Georgia in 1994, and served as a Special Assistant to the Director of the National Biological Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, from 1994-1996. These experiences highlighted the challenges – and rewards – associated with translating sound science and progressive policy into on-the-ground action.

Tom has two daughters and a partner who love horses and the outdoors, and he finds time to pursue life-long fascinations with bikes, trout fishing, and old-time banjo. Whenever possible (but not nearly often enough) he disappears with family and friends, hiking, biking, and floating through the wild places of the Colorado Plateau.