Janet Franklin has been a Professor of Biology and Adjunct Professor of Geography at San Diego State University, where she was on the faculty from 1988 2009. In 2009 she joined the faculty of Arizona State University as a Professor in the Schools of Geographical Sciences and Life Sciences. She received the Bachelors' degree on Environmental Biology (1979), the Master of Arts (1983), and the PhD (1988) in Geography, all from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research interests include biogeography, landscape ecology, plant ecology, biophysical remote sensing, digital terrain analysis, and geographic information science. She has conducted research on plant community composition, structure, dynamics and spatio-temporal patterns in Mediterranean-climate ecosystems, deserts, tropical dry forests and rain forests. She was the Editor of The Professional Geographer (1997 2000) Board Member of Landscape Ecology (2000 5), and Associate Editor of Journal of Vegetation Science (1999 2006). She is currently a Board Member of Ecology and Diversity and Distributions. She has published more than 80 refereed book chapters and papers in journals Ecological Applications, Ecological Modelling, the Journal of Vegetation Science, Ecology, Diversity and Distributions, the Journal of Tropical Ecology and Conservation Biology. She has received research support from NSF, NASA, USGS, Forest Service, California State Parks, National Geographic Society, and others.