Curriculum Vitae

Benjamin M. Sleeter

bsleeter@gmail.com
Gig Harbor, WA 98332

Current Position

Supervisory Research Geographer
U.S. Geological Survey
Chief, Climate and Land Use Change Research Team
Western Geographic Science Center

Education

  • M.A. , 2003, California State University, East Bay, Hayward, CA, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies. Emphasis in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems.
  • B.S , 1998, California State University, East Bay, Hayward, CA, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies.

Work Experience

  • 2015-present, Supervisory Research Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey, Western Geographic Science Center, Chief, Land Use and Climate Change Team.
  • 2011-2015, Research Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey, Western Geographic Science Center
  • 2003-2011, Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey, Western Geographic Science Center
  • 1999-2003, Geographer (Student Career Experience Program), U.S. Geological Survey, Western Geographic Science Center

Key Research Publications

  • Daniel, C.D., Sleeter, B.M., L. Frid, M-J. Fortin, Integrating continuous stocks and flows into state-and-transition simulation models of landscape change, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.12952.
  • Sleeter, B.M., T.S. Wilson, E. Sharygin, J. Sherba, 2017, Future Scenarios of land change based on empirical data and demographic trends, Earth’s Future, DOI:10.1002/2017EF000560.
  • Wilson, T.S., B.M. Sleeter., and D.R. Cameron, 2017, Mediterranean California’s water use future under multiple scenarios of developed and agricultural land use change, PLOS One, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187181.
  • Sleeter, B.M., J. Liu, C. Daniel, T.J. Hawbaker, T.S. Wilson, L. Fortini, J. Jacobi, P.C. Selmants, C.P. Giardina, C.M. Litton, R. Flint Hughes, 2017, Chapter 8. Projected future carbon storage and carbon fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems of Hawaii resulting from changes in land use and disturbance, in Selmants, P.C., Giardina, C.P., Jacobi, J.D., and Zhu, Zhiliang, eds., in press, Baseline and projected future carbon storage and carbon fluxes in ecosystems of Hawaiʻi: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1834, http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/pp1834.
  • Sleeter, B.M., N.J. Wood, C.E. Soulard, T.S. Wilson, 2017, Projecting community changes in hazard exposure to support long-term risk reduction: a case study of tsunami hazards in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, doi: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2017.02.015.
  • Sleeter, R., B.M. Sleeter, B. Williams, D. Hogan, T. Hawbaker, Z. Zhu, 2017, A carbon balance model for the great dismal swamp ecosystem, Carbon Balance and Management, Vol. 12(2), doi: 10.1186/s13021-017-0070-4.
  • Daniel, C., L. Frid, B.M. Sleeter, M.J. Fortin, 2016, State-and-transition models: a framework for forecasting landscape dynamics, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Vol 7(11), p 1413-1423, doi: 10.1111/2041-210X.12597.
  • Wilson, T.S., B.M. Sleeter, D. Cameron, 2016, Future land-use related water demand in California, Environmental Research Letters, Vol 11(5), 054018, doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/11/5/054018.
  • Sleeter, B.M., J. Liu, C. Daniel, L. Frid, Z. Zhu, 2015, An integrated approach to modeling changes in land use, land cover, and disturbance and their impact on ecosystem carbon dynamics: a case study in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. AIMS Environmental Science, 2(3), 577-606. https://doi.org/10.3934/environsci.2015.2.577.
  • Sleeter, B.M., Sohl, T.L., Loveland, T.R., Auch, R.F., Acevedo, W., Drummond, M.A., Sayler, K.L., Stehman, S.V., 2013, Land-cover change in the conterminous United States from 1973-2000, Global Environmental Change, vol. 23, p. 733-748. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.03.006.
  • Sleeter, B.M., Sohl, T.L., Bouchard, M.A., Reker, R.R., Soulard, C.E., Acevedo, W., Griffith, G.E., Sleeter, R.R., Auch, R.F., Sayler, K.L., Prisley, S., Zhu, Z., 2012, Scenarios of Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Conterminous United States: Utilizing the Special Report on Emission Scenarios at Ecoregional Scales, Global Environmental Change, Vol. 22(4): pp. 896-914.  IP-030516. Director’s Approval January 31, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.03.008.
  • Sleeter, B.M., Wilson, T.S., Acevedo, W., (eds.), 2012, Status and trends of land change in the western United States – 1973 to 2000, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1794-A. Available at https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1794/a/
  • Sleeter, B.M., Wilson, T.S., Soulard, C.E., Liu, J., 2011, Estimation of late 20th Century landscape change in California, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Vol. 173, p. 251-266, doi:10.1007/s10661-010-1385-8.

Recent Talks & Presentations

  • Sleeter, B.M., J. Liu, Z. Zhu, C. Barnes, J. Sherba, Recent and future anthropogenic land-cover change in the United States and its impact on climate forcing, Abstract B33B-0472 presented at 2013 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 9-13 Dec.
  • Sleeter, B.M., J. Liu, Z. Zhu, T. Hawbaker, Land-use impacts on the terrestrial carbon cycle: an integrative tool for resource assessment and planning, Abstract B42A-04 presented at 2014 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 15-19 Dec.
  • Sleeter, B.M., 2015, Land-use impacts on the terrestrial carbon cycle: an integrative tool for resource assessment and management, IALE World Congress Meeting, Portland, OR, July 9, 2015
  • Sleeter, B.M., Z. Zhu, 2015, Integrated modeling of the effects of land change and climate change on terrestrial carbon stocks for the State of Hawaii, 23rd Hawaii Conservation Conference, August 4, 2015.
  • Sleeter, B.M., Liu, J. Selmants, P, The LUCAS model: an integrated multiscale approach for projecting land change impacts on ecosystem carbon dynamics, Koa symposium 2016, October 5, 2016, University of Hawaii, Hilo.
  • Sleeter, B.M., Liu, J., The importance of land use data in modeling changes in carbon storage and flux in the Pacific Northwest, Pacific Northwest Climate Conference, November 14-16, 2016. Skamania, WA.
  • Daniel, C.J., Sleeter, B.M., Frid, L., Fortin, M-J., Integrating ecosystem carbon dynamics into state-and-transition simulation models of land use/land cover change, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 12-16, 2016, Abstract B13E-0652.
  • Sleeter, B.M., Rayfield, B., Liu, J., Sherba, J., Daniel, C., Frid, L., Wilson, T.S., Zhu, Z., Estimating ecosystem carbon change in the Conterminous United States based on 40 years of land-use change and disturbance. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 12-16, 2016, Abstract GC24C-06.
  • Sleeter, B.M., Land use projections to support California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment, 2017 California Climate Change Symposium, January 25-26, 2017, Sacramento, California.

Professional Service

  • Served as a peer reviewer for Nature Sustainability, PLOS-One, Geophysical Research Letters, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Ecological Applications, Land, Journal of American Water Resources Association, International Journal of Health Geographics, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, Journal of Environmental Informatics, Remote Sensing, Forests.
  • USGS Climate and Land Use R&D Program Council (2015 – present). I am currently one of 6 members of the CLU R&D Program Council. Our responsibilities include reviewing and providing guidance on all research activities within the program.
  • Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) Chapter Lead (2016 – present). I am the chapter lead for the national sectoral chapter on Land Use and Land Cover Change for NCA4. Initial draft chapters were submitted for interagency review on June 16, 2017.
  • California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment (2016 – present). I led a research activity to develop alternative future projections of land change based on demographic projections. Results were used as key inputs into a set of wildfire modeling scenarios done by LeRoy Westerling. Land change projections are currently being used to assess ecosystem carbon dynamics for the state’s natural and working lands.
  • Snowmass Workshops: CCI/IA (2014). I was an invited speaker to the annual Snomass Climate Change Impacts and Integrated Assessment workshop sponsored by the Energy Modeling Forum at Stanford University. I gave a presentation describing my research downscaling land change projections from Integrated Assessment Models.
  • U.S. Department of Interior (2015). I was asked to participate in a press release event with Sally Jewell, Director of the Department of Interior, to announce the release of the USGS Biological Carbon Sequestration for the Eastern United States (June 25, 2014).
  • Interagency Land Carbon Working Team (2013). I was selected to an interagency working group charged with developing guidance for implementing the President’s Climate Action Plan Enhancing Capacity to Project Future GHG Emissions from Land-use, Land-use Change and Forestry.
  • Third National Climate Assessment (2013). I was an invited speaker and representative of the U.S. Geological Survey at a workshop focusing on land-use and land-cover change. I presented work on the development of historical assessments from the USGS Land Cover Trends research project and the development of downscaled scenarios based on the IPCC’s Special Report on Emission Scenarios.
  • I presented findings of the USGS Biological Carbon Sequestration Assessment for the Western United States with Director Marcia McNutt at an exclusive press release at the 2012 American Geophysical Union annual meeting.

Memberships in Professional Societies

  • American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • American Geophysical Union (AGU)

updated December 17, 2017