Dr. Jeannine Cavender-Bares is a Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota. She earned a Masters at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a PhD in Biology at Harvard University. Her research focuses on the ecology and evolution of plant function, applying phylogenetics and spectral data to community ecology, and remote sensing of biodiversity. She is committed to advancing international efforts for global monitoring and assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services to aid management efforts towards sustainability. Dr. John Gamon is a Professor in the Departments of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences and Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta. He also conducts research in Quantitative Remote Sensing at the Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies (CALMIT) in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He earned his Masters and his PhD in Botany at the University of California, Davis, and did his Post-Doctoral Research on Remote Sensing and Ecophysiology at the Carnegie institution in Stanford, CA. His research focus include photosynthesis, ecosystem function, productivity, biodiversity, ecoinformatics and sustainability. Dr. Philip Townsend is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He earned his PhD in Geography at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His research focuses include physiological remote sensing, imaging spectroscopy, ecosystem ecology, and watershed hydrology.