John Stanturf holds Masters and Doctoral degrees in Forest Soils from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York USA and received a Doctorem Honoris Causa from the Estonian University of Life Sciences. He has held faculty positions at the Technion, Cornell, and The Pennsylvania State Universities and the University of Pittsburgh as well as adjunct positions at Auburn and Mississippi State Universities. He was Group Leader, Pine Silviculture Research for Union Camp Corp., Savannah, Georgia and Researcher Forester, Hammermill Paper Company, Warren, Pennsylvania. He joined the US Forest Service in 1992 as Project Leader, Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research in Stoneville, Mississippi and in 2000 at the Center for Forest Disturbance Science in Athens, Georgia.
For the last 25+ years, his focus has been on forest restoration, climate change adaptation, and bioenergy. His research and teaching has taken him to temperate and tropical forests in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Short-term consultancies with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have focused on REDD+ and climate change vulnerability in Africa. John has held several leadership positions in the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) and currently serves as Coordinator for the Research Group on Restoration of Degraded Sites and Deputy Coordinator of the Task Force on Forest Adaptation and Restoration under Global Change. Since 2012 he has been a Senior Scientist with the US Forest Service and resides in Rochester, NY.