Gregg Verutes

Bio

With a strong background in spatial analysis that leverages location intelligence for decision-support, I blend the fields of geography and technology to empower natural resource managers and data analysts who are passionate about protecting the planet.

My interests include biodiversity conservation, natural resource use and management in the context of intensified human activity and climate change. I specialize in designing scientific tools to support sustainable development planning through data-driven visualization, interactive storytelling, and game-based learning.

I am passionate about environmental education, especially in data-limited places, to make better use of existing data and turn information into action. To accomplish this, I have developed series games and machine-learning tools (ANN, RandomForest, TensorFlow). Ultimately, I seek to engage stakeholders, strengthen local capacity, and inform decisions with better outcomes for people and nature.

Research & Teaching

My research has been features in the NY Times, PBS NewsHour, Science, Nature, National Academy of Sciences, MongaBay, Audubon Society, and Microsoft flagship store in Manhattan.

I have had the privilege of consulting for National Geographic, United Nations, Pixar Animation Studios, Field Museum of Natural History, NOAA, The New Yorker, Inter-American Development Bank, Government of Belize, Conservation Strategy Fund, WWF, Nature Conservancy, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Living Planet Report.

Since 2010, I lead workshops on ecosystem-based planning and spatial analysis. I've taught university courses in 20 countries, including at Stanford Uni, Wake Forest, Uni Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil), Uni de Vigo (Spain) and guest lectures for Villanova, San Francisco State, Kwangwoon Uni (Korea), and U of Aveiro (Portugal).

Interests

Currently, I'm completing a PhD in marine science, technology, & management at Campus Do Mar and the U of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. My dissertation highlights illegal and unreported fishing to understand fisheries bycatch risk and compare the effectiveness of marine mammal conservation policy in the US and European Union.

In my free time I enjoy graphic design, travel, reading, camping, surfing, and cycling the hills of San Francisco with an e-bike. I've lived in NY, California, Washington DC and Europe.