Karen Seto

Karen Seto is the Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science at the Yale School of the Environment. She is one of the world’s leading experts on urbanization and its impacts on the planet, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and food systems. A geography and urban scientist,  she integrates remote sensing, field interviews, and modeling methods to focus on four research themes: 1) measuring and characterizing urban land-use; 2) modeling and understanding the drivers of urban land-use change; 3) forecasting urban expansion; and 4) assessing the environmental consequences of urban expansion. She is an expert in satellite remote sensing analysis and has pioneered methods to reconstruct historical urban land-use. Her research developed the first forecasts of urban land expansion globally. She has extensive fieldwork experience in Asia, especially China and India, where she has conducted research for over 20 and 10 years, respectively.  

Professor Seto serves on numerous national and international scientific bodies. She is chair of the Policy and Global Affairs Division of the U.S. National Academies as well as co-chair of the U.S. National Academies Climate Security Roundtable, established by the direction of Congress to help better understand and anticipate the ways climate change affects U.S. national security interests. She is also co-chair of the U.S. National Academies Subcommittee on U.S.-China Scientific Engagement. She was the Coordinating Lead Author for two UN climate reports, the IPCC 5th (2014) and 6th (2022) Assessment Reports, where she co-led the chapters on how cities can mitigate climate change. 

Professor Seto is committed to improving public understanding of an urbanizing planet. She was the Executive Producer of “10,000 Shovels: Rapid Urban Growth in China,” a documentary film that integrates satellite imagery, historical photographs, and contemporary film footage to highlight the urban changes occurring in China. Her book, City Unseen, co-authored with Meredith Reba (YSE MEM ‘14), uses satellite imagery to show how cities shape landscapes and how landscapes shape cities. 

Professor Seto has received many awards for her scientific contributions, including the Outstanding Contributions to Remote Sensing Research Award from the American Association of Geographers.  She is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. She is also an elected lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She holds a PhD in Geography from Boston University.