Alan R. Townsend is Dean and Franke Professor at the WA Franke College of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana. His childhood in Hawaii and Montana led him to a career devoted to understanding our changing planet, and what we can do to chart a more sustainable relationship between human progress and the environments on which we all depend. He is a highly cited author of more than 140 peer reviewed articles, and a strong advocate for academic engagement beyond the ivory tower. Townsend has served as Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, Director of the University of Colorado’s Environmental Studies Program and its Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Director of the Division of Environmental Biology at the National Science Foundation, and Co-Director of the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program. He is an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow and a Google Science Communication Fellow, and the author of the book This Ordinary Stardust, published in 2024. Alan lives in Missoula, MT.