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 Ph.D. (1988) in Geography, all from the University of California at 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 (2000-2005), and Associate Editor of Journal of Vegetation Science (1999-2006). She is currently a Board Member of Ecology and Diversity & Distributions. She has published more than 80 refereed book chapters and papers in journals Ecological Applications, Ecological Modelling, Journal of Vegetation Science, Ecology, Diversity & Distributions, 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.