News and Insights

Dr. Greg Asner is the Chief Science Officer for Carbon Mapper and director of ASU’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science. He serves on the faculty of the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning and the School of Earth and Space Exploration. Asner is an ecologist recognized for his exploratory and applied research on ecosystems and climate change at regional to global scales. His research spans the areas of spatial ecology and biodiversity, terrestrial carbon cycle, animal-habitat interactions, and climate change. He develops scientific approaches and technologies for investigation and conservation assessments of large ecoregions. Asner has published hundreds of scientific articles and has served in numerous national and international programs with NASA, the U.S. State Department, and the United Nations. He is a recipient of multiple scientific and sustainability awards and is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Asner has a PhD in biology (1997), MS Geography (1995) and BS in Engineering (1991), all from the University of Colorado-Boulder.

David Stepp is a Data Engineer at Carbon Mapper. Before joining Carbon Mapper, he was GIS Developer at RS Metrics for 9 years where he was involved with creating satellite imagery ordering and processing pipelines using open source software. He helped create satellite analytics products for monitoring traffic at retail locations, for understanding global metal ore storage at ports, and for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions at specific factories. David started his career working as Customer and Technical Support at DigitalGlobe (now Maxar). David has a B.S. in Geographic Information Science from Murray State University.

Mackenzie Huffman is Director for Strategy and Partnerships for Carbon Mapper, responsible for advancing opportunities that maximize impact and build meaningful partnerships. Prior to joining Carbon Mapper she was Vice President for Sustainability at JPMorgan Chase, where she worked to develop and advance the firm’s climate and sustainability strategy. There she led the firm’s climate and resilience grantmaking and reporting, monitored industry and policy trends, and led stakeholder engagement on climate policy, risk and opportunities. Mackenzie also previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality and in several roles at the Department of Energy where she focused on policies related to climate, energy, finance, environment, and resilience.

Deborah Gordon is a senior principal in the Climate Intelligence Program at RMI where she is leading the Oil and Gas Solutions Initiative. Gordon also serves as a senior fellow at the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University and the principal investigator for the Oil Climate Project. Her research has spearheaded the development of the Oil Climate Index Plus Gas (OCI+), a first-of-its-kind analytic tool that compares the lifecycle climate impacts of global oil and gas resources. Gordon is the former director of the Energy and Climate Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Trained as a chemical engineer and policy analyst, Gordon works on global oil and gas issues relating to climate change. After beginning her career with Chevron, Gordon managed an energy and environmental consulting practice, taught at the Yale School of Environmental Studies, and directed the Energy Policy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Gordon is currently a stakeholder in NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System program, and she has testified before Congress and served on National Academy of Sciences panels. She has co-authored articles in numerous academic journals, is published and quoted in media outlets. Her third book, No Standard Oil: Managing Abundant Petroleum in a Warming World (Oxford University Press), will be published in November 2021.

Riley Duren is Chief Executive Officer for Carbon Mapper and a Research Scientist at the University of Arizona. He also maintains a joint appointment as an Engineering Fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he supports other earth science programs. From 2008-2019 he served as Chief Systems Engineer for the JPL’s Earth Science & Technology Directorate with a portfolio including spaceborne instruments and missions, airborne studies, research and analysis, and applied science. For over three decades he has worked at the intersection of science and engineering to deliver observational systems including seven successful satellite missions ranging from earth-mapping radars to telescopes in deep space. He served as Chief Engineer for the Kepler mission that conducted a major survey of earth-size planets around other stars. Since 2008 he has worked to extend the discipline of systems engineering to the challenge of societal decision-making for climate change responses with a focus on greenhouse gas mitigation. He is currently Principal Investigator on two NASA funded research projects focused on multi-scale methane and CO2 monitoring and has led previous projects on the same topic for NASA, CARB, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Robbie Schingler is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Planet. As CSO of Planet, Robbie leads the company’s long-term strategic trajectory and manages Planet’s Product, Impact, Corporate Development and financing activities. He spearheaded Planet’s acquisition of BlackBridge in 2015 and Boundless in 2019, was Managing Director of Planet Europe from 2016-2017 and recently acted as Chairman of the board for Planet Federal. Prior to Planet, Robbie spent 9 years at NASA, where he helped build the Small Spacecraft Office at NASA Ames and Chief of Staff for the Office of the Chief Technologies at NASA Headquarters. He received an MBA from Georgetown University, a MS in Space Studies.

Dan Cusworth is Project Scientist for Carbon Mapper. He formerly worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a data scientist working on understanding sources of anthropogenic carbon dioxide and methane emissions from regional to facility scales. His main research interest is to design multi-tiered observing and analysis frameworks where multiple atmospheric carbon observations are jointly assimilated to provide actionable data for greenhouse gas emission mitigation. He is currently Principal Investigator on one NASA funded research project to quantify strong CO2 point sources using satellite imaging spectroscopy. He has provided support to several NASA Carbon Monitoring System projects aimed at quantifying carbon point sources across emission sectors. He received his B.S. in Applied Math/Atmospheric Sciences at UCLA and Ph.D. in Atmospheric Chemistry at Harvard University.

Judy Lai-Norling is Chief Operating Officer for Carbon Mapper responsible for overall operations, major contract management with Planet and JPL, global data portal development, and coordination of airborne operations. She joins Carbon Mapper from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory with experience in project management, airborne program management, spaceborne and airborne business development, project planning, systems engineering, and business management.
At JPL, Judy was the business and cost lead for the Mars 2020 mission before pivoting careers to become an electrical power systems engineer on small satellite missions. Her passion for public policy and projects with socioeconomic impact eventually led her to Earth science, where she successfully led a proposal team to secure a $30 million extension for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) satellite mission; was project manager for NASA’s Airborne Snow Observatory in collaboration with multiple state and local water agencies; and most recently served as project manager for the Delta-X mission, deploying multiple aircraft and boat teams to study relative sea level rise in the Mississippi River Delta.
Judy holds a M.A. in Mathematics from the University of Texas-Austin, M.S. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin Madison, and B.A. Mathematics and B.S. Business Administration from the University of Southern California.

Mr. Seaman has been at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 35 years with over 25 years of demonstrated experience in managing and delivering world class optical instruments. These instruments incorporate a wide spectrum of technologies serving both NASA and non-NASA customers. Among these are the AIRS and TES instruments for NASA’s Earth Observing Systems AQUA and AURA spacecraft, an active mirror technology demonstration instrument, the Cosmic Web Imager instrument for the Keck Observatory and most recently, an instrument testbed project which helped maintain NASA’s leadership in compact imaging instruments and provided heritage designs and technologies that directly benefit NASA Earth Science and Planetary missions. Mr. Seaman recently received the NASA Outstanding Public Leadership Medal for his contribution to the legacy of continuous spectrometer advancement at NASA.

James Mason leads the Space System division at Planet, responsible for developing, manufacturing, and operating Planet’s fleet of satellites and supporting ground systems, including the Carbon Mapper spacecraft and mission. James is a Planet founding employee and has held a number of technical and leadership roles, including being directly involved in launching over 450 satellites. Prior to Planet, James was a NASA researcher working on a number of novel R&D projects including the PhoneSat cubesat program, the LightForce debris remediation project, and novel optical communications concepts. He holds a Master of Space Studies from the International Space University in Strasbourg France, a BSc-Honours in Astrophysics from the South African National Astrophysics and Space Science Program, and a BSc in Physics and Applied Mathematics from the University of Cape Town.

Jeff Guido is the Mission Director of new space missions at Planet where he is leading the spacecraft, commercial product and business development initiatives enabling the Carbon Mapper hyperspectral mission. Jeff led the preceding hyperspectral study at Planet, supported philanthropic fundraising and aligned the public benefit mission to the company’s long-term strategy. Prior to his current role, Jeff served as a program manager and operator for the SkySat program, facilitating the transfer of the platform from Google to Planet while growing the constellation from 3 to 21 spacecraft. Before joining Google in Silicon Valley, Jeff served nine years on active duty in the US Air Force. He directed a bold research and development portfolio, led the AEHF/Milstar mobile resiliency mission and executed solid and liquid rocket test campaigns for missile defense programs. Jeff continues his service as a citizen airman acting as a conduit of ideas and best practices between the US Space Force and NewSpace. Jeff received his BS in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and his MS in Electrical Engineering from University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

Dr. Robert O. Green is the Principal Investigator of the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) that in 2018 was selected by NASA to fly on the International Space Station. He is the Principal Investigator of AVIRIS and AVIRIS-NG that have been shown to be powerful tools for detecting and measuring greenhouse gas point source emissions. Dr. Green was the Instrument Scientist for the NASA Discovery Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) that discovered water/hydroxyl on the illuminated surface. He is a science Co-Investigator and Instrument Scientist on the Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE) that will address science questions related to habitability for NASA’s Europa Clipper mission. Dr. Green is a science co-investigator on the NASA Lunar Trailblazer mission. He is a Senior Research Scientist and Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Director of the Microdevices Laboratory. For more than 25 years, his research has used advanced imaging spectrometer instrumentation to test hypotheses and pursue scientific investigations on Earth and through the solar system.

Richard Corey is the Executive Officer of the California Air Resources Board. Mr. Corey has over 30 years of professional experience in the air quality and climate change field. Prior to his appointment as Executive Officer, he served as Deputy Executive Officer, Chief of the Stationary Source Division, as well as various management positions throughout the organization. Mr. Corey’s team of approximately 1,700 engineers, scientists, technicians and analysts are responsible for a broad range of programs including those concerning cleaner emission standards for motor vehicles and equipment, fuels, climate, incentives, and air toxics. Some of the key programs that his team is responsible for implementing include the zero and near zero emission standards for mobile and off road sources, low carbon fuel standard, cap-and-trade regulation, and focused efforts to drive down emissions and exposure in impacted communities throughout the state. A key focus of CARB is developing policies that not only work for California by reducing emissions of pollution while creating economic opportunities for clean technologies, but building national and international partnerships. CARB has partnered with states and jurisdictions around the world that are helping to secure additional emission reductions and bolstering the signal to the market that investments in zero and near zero emission technologies will be rewarded. Mr. Corey has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Toxicology as well as an MBA from the University of California, Davis.

Mary D. Nichols is widely recognized for a career as one of the world’s most important environmental regulators. As chair of the California Air and Resources Board, California’s powerful air-pollution and climate regulatory agency from 1975-1982 and then from 2007-2020, she led California’s leading battle to cut smog and carbon emissions. Under Nichols’ leadership, CARB enacted the first comprehensive cap on industrial greenhouse gas emissions by any major regulatory agency in the world. Nichols and CARB also crafted and enforced regulations that slashed air pollution from cars and light trucks by over 99%, paved the way for a new generation of advanced biofuels, and created the roadmap for a transition to a fully electrified transportation system. Nichols now is a professor at UCLA Law School and holds visiting appointments in the Columbia Global Energy Program and the Cornell Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. She also serves as the Vice-Chair of the China-California Climate Center and Co-Chair of the Commission on the Future of Mobility.

Richard H. Lawrence, Jr., is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Overlook Investments Group, an independent fund management company that invests US$ 7 billion in a concentrated portfolio of public equities throughout Asia, excluding Japan. Overlook has compounded investors’ capital at close to 14% per year for 29 years.Richard grew up outside New York City and graduated from South Kent School in 1974, and Brown University in 1978 with a degree in Economics. In 1986, he became the second Chartered Financial Analyst in Asia, before founding Overlook in 1991. In 2004 Richard and his wife, Dee, founded Proyecto Mirador Foundation, a non-profit organization that has built over 200,000 fuel-efficient stoves in rural communities across Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. In 2016 the Lawrences founded Cool Effect, a non-profit online platform that enables individuals, SMEs and Fortune 500 companies to offset their carbon emissions through the highest quality carbon reduction projects worldwide. In 2017 they established High Tide Foundation, a non-profit organization involved in the fight against climate change. Richard is a member of the Board of Directors of The National Audubon Society. He currently lives in San Francisco, California, with his wife and two adult children.

Jorn Herner is Chief of the Research Planning and Emission Mitigation Branch in the Research Division at the California Air Resources Board. He oversees the Division’s extramural research program, the implementation of state’s greenhouse gas monitoring network, the vehicle emissions research program, and the use of new sensors and measurement methods to quantify pollutant exposure. Dr. Herner has a B.A. and M.S. from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Davis.

Elizabeth Scheehle is the Research Division Chief at the California Air Resources Board (CARB).  She has over 20 years of experience in air quality and climate programs and over 13 years at CARB with experience in oil and gas, carbon capture and sequestration, cap and trade, and field measurements. In her current position, she oversees research planning and implementation for the agency as well as health impact analysis, indoor air quality, and regulations on high global warming potential gases.  Before joining CARB, Elizabeth was a senior analyst in USEPA’s Climate Change Division where she served as an expert for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  In that role, she earned recognition for her contribution to the IPCC’s Nobel Prize.

She holds a Masters degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and an undergraduate degree in Earth & Atmospheric Sciences from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Jeff Guido is the Director of Special Projects at Planet Labs where he coordinates R&D programs while onboarding new missions to the Planet strategic roadmap. Prior to his current role, Jeff has been a program manager, satellite operator and developer for Planet, Google and the US Air Force touching all life stages of a space program including inception, source selection, development, test, launch, early operations and sustainment. Jeff received his BS in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and his MS in Electrical Engineering from University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

Alana Ayasse is a Research Scientist for Carbon Mapper and the University of Arizona. She completed her PhD at the University of California, Santa Barbara where she studied remote sensing and specialized in using remote sensing data to map methane emissions. Alana’s current research interests include understanding the role of satellites in a global carbon monitoring system and using airborne remote sensing data to further understand trends in methane and CO2 emissions.

Marisa de Belloy is High Tide Foundation’s Executive Director and leads the foundation’s strategy and team. She oversees all grantmaking and works to promote collaboration in the field. Marisa’s background includes investment banking, strategy consulting and human rights work. Marisa was previously COO of Made in a Free World, a SaaS solution for human trafficking. Before that, she created and ran a highly successful media & technology practice at investment banking firm Michel Dyens & Co., based in Paris, and co-founded and ran Fotango, an online photo sharing site funded by leading European venture capitalists that was later sold to Canon, Inc. She has worked at Goldman Sachs and the LEK Partnership and taught finance at a French university. Marisa speaks French and English and has spent over 15 years working in Europe. She serves on several boards in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she resides with her husband and four children. Marisa received her MBA from Stanford University and her BA from Yale.