Jianguo "Jack" Liu, PhD
Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability
Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability and Director
115 Manly MIles
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife
University Distinguished Professor
Telephone: 517-432-5025
Background:
A human-environment scientist and sustainability scholar, Jianguo "Jack" Liu holds the Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability, is University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University and serves as director of the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability.
Liu takes a holistic approach to addressing complex human-environmental challenges through systems integration, such as the integration of ecology with social sciences, policy and advanced technologies. He is particularly keen to connect seemingly unconnected issues, for example divorce and environmental sustainability. His work has been published in journals such as Nature and Science and has been widely covered by the international news media.
Liu has served on various international and national committees and panels. He was a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science and has been named to the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture Intensification. Also, Liu was a coordinating lead author of the global assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services organized by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
Liu also is the founder of the International Network of Research on Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS-Net.org) and is a past president of the U.S. Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology.
In recognition of his efforts and achievements in research, teaching, and service, Liu has received many awards, such as being elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He has received the World Sustainability Award from the MDPI Sustainability Foundation, the Gunnerus Award in Sustainability Science from The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters and Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the Guggenheim Fellowship Award, the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, the Distinguished Landscape Ecologist Award and the Distinguished Service Award from US-IALE and the Sustainability Science Award, the Innovation in Sustainability Science Award and the Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship from the Ecological Society of America, as well as being named a fellow in the society.
In 2018 he was named in the Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers List, which recognizes influential researchers around the world. 
Liu came to MSU after completing his postdoctoral work at Harvard University. He also was a visiting scholar at Stanford, Harvard and Princeton.
Areas of Interest:
Coupled human and natural systems (CHANS); sustainability; telecoupling; metacoupling; conservation; environment; ecological economics; biodiversity; ecosystem services; landscapes; applications of GIS and remote sensing technology; household-environment interactions; systems integration and modeling
Selected Publications:
Publications and Research Profile:
Selected Media:
- CCTV - Professor Jianguo Liu on China Forest Recovery
- BBC chats up Jack Liu about climate change, bamboo and pandas
- New York Times - Human Competition Edging Out Those Lovable Icons of Wildlife
- NBC News - Tigers roam at night to avoid crossing paths with people
- Conservation Magazine - Ecological Freakonomics
- Time Magazine - The New Science of Telecoupling Shows Just How Connected the World Is
- AAAS MemberCentral - Jack Liu tracks our environmental footprint
- Los Angeles Times - In divorce, even the environment feels the pain
Pandas and People