Director, Biosphere 2

The Director of Biosphere 2 is a proven global leader who provides executive, scientific, and strategic leadership for the University of Arizona's Biosphere 2 facility, the world's largest controlled Earth-systems science laboratory encompassing integrated biomes including the iconic tropical rainforest, ocean, desert, and savanna. The Director advances Biosphere 2 as a globally recognized center for interdisciplinary research, immersive education, public engagement, and mission-aligned visitor and retreat experiences in support of the University's research mission and land-grant responsibilities.

A central responsibility and focus of the Director will be to grow the extramural grant funded portfolio of the Biosphere 2 and to elevate its scientific standing and international reputation. The Director, in consultation with U of A faculty and external national and international leading scientists, will drive the development of a new scientific strategy for the Biosphere 2 that will help meet these goals over the short to mid-term.

The Director holds a faculty appointment with associated research and teaching responsibilities and exercises broad authority and independent judgment in setting scientific priorities, guiding institutional strategy, cultivating philanthropic and research partnerships, and stewarding Biosphere 2's financial, human, and physical resources. The Director provides leadership to the Biosphere 2 executive and scientific team, including the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Research Directors.

The Director will hold a tenured or tenure-eligible faculty appointment in an appropriate academic unit, with corresponding expectations.

Outstanding U of A benefits include health, dental, and vision insurance plans; life insurance and disability programs; paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays; U of A/ASU/NAU tuition reduction for the employee and qualified family members; retirement plans; access to U of A recreation and cultural activities; and more!

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Scientific
Vision, Credibility, and Research Leadership:

• Establish and communicate a compelling scientific
  vision and strategic roadmap that positions Biosphere 2 as a trusted,
  world class platform for rigorous, hypothesis driven, and externally
  validated Earth systems research, building on its evolution from experimental
  curiosity to credible, peer reviewed science.
• Lead development of a growing and coherent research
  portfolio that leverages Biosphere 2's mesoscale, closed and semi-closed
  biomes-including the tropical rain forest-to address critical questions in
  ecosystem resilience, water and carbon cycling, and environmental futures.
• Maintain an active, externally funded research
  program aligned with Biosphere 2's capabilities, publish in high impact
  peer reviewed venues, and elevate the scholarly visibility and credibility
  of Biosphere 2 and the University of Arizona.
• Catalyze large, multi-investigator, and
  multi-institutional research campaigns (e.g., ecosystem scale drought and
  rewetting experiments in the tropical rain forest) that results in
  significant increases in extramural grant funding from federal, philanthropic,
  and other sources. These campaigns will fully exploit Biosphere 2's
  ability to integrate instrumentation, modelling, and field style
  experimentation at ecosystem scale.
• Foster robust collaborations across U of A colleges and
  with national and international partners, federal agencies, national
  laboratories, industry, Philanthropies, and nonprofits to secure major
  grants, shared infrastructure investments, and long term research
  programs. Leverage the capabilities of this unique facility to create
  novel research programs outside the current
  emphasis and scope of Biosphere 2 that will grow its scale and impact.

Faculty
Role, Education, and Talent Development:

• Hold a faculty appointment with expectations for a
  strong research portfolio and contributions to graduate and undergraduate
  education, including mentoring of students, postdoctoral scholars, and
  early career researchers who use Biosphere 2 as a living laboratory.
• Design and support interdisciplinary educational
  programs, field courses, and research experiences that connect campus to
  Biosphere 2, including intensive research camps in the biomes. This should
  be done in collaboration with the Office of Research & Partnership's
  Museums and External Engagement leadership.
• Build pipelines for talent by partnering with
  departments and centers to recruit and support faculty whose work can
  leverage Biosphere 2's unique infrastructure (e.g., ecology, hydrology,
  atmospheric sciences, environmental engineering, data science).
• Champion training and participation, integrating
  community engagement, citizen science, and workforce development into
  Biosphere 2's research and education mission. This should be done in
  collaboration with the Office of Research & Partnership's Museums and
  External Engagement leadership.

Visitor
Experience, Public Engagement, and Retreat Strategy:

• Co-lead, in partnership with the Museum/Visitor
  Experience Executive Director and relevant U of A units, a unified strategy
  for world class visitor experiences that integrate storytelling about
  cutting edge research, such as tropical rain forest drought and carbon
  cycle experiments, into tours, exhibits, and digital content.
• Align public programming, exhibitions, and
  interpretation with active research campaigns, ensuring that visitors
  encounter authentic, up-to-date science and understand Biosphere 2's role
  in addressing global environmental challenges.
• Elevate and expand Biosphere 2's retreat and
  conference facilities as a distinctive venue for scientific workshops,
  leadership retreats, student programs, and mission aligned external
  events, integrating the setting and biomes into curated educational and
  experiential offerings.
• Serve as a visible public ambassador for Biosphere 2,
  representing the facility to the media, policymakers, community partners,
  and the broader public, and ensuring messaging reinforces scientific
  credibility and institutional reputation.
• Use visitor and retreat operations as platforms for
  learning-piloting innovative engagement models, gathering data on visitor
  impacts, and iteratively improving programs based on evaluation and
  research insights.

Strategic
Partnerships, Philanthropy, and Revenue Innovation:

• Partner with University Advancement to cultivate,
  steward, and grow philanthropic relationships that support research
  infrastructure (e.g., advanced instrumentation in the rain forest, ocean,
  and other biomes), endowed positions, educational programs, and capital
  improvements.
• Develop and steward strategic partnerships with
  foundations, corporations, and governmental and international
  organizations that align with Biosphere 2's scientific and public mission.
• Advance diversified, mission consistent growing
  revenue streams-including sponsored research, philanthropic investments,
  educational programs, and high-quality visitor and retreat offerings-to
  support long-term financial resilience.
• Ensure that revenue generating activities reinforce,
  rather than dilute, scientific excellence and credibility, using clear
  principles to balance research access, public access, and facility use.

Organizational, Facilities, and Infrastructure Leadership:

• Provide executive leadership for Biosphere 2's
  organizational structure, culture, and governance, ensuring an environment
  of excellence, collaboration, safety, respect, and inclusion across
  research, operations, visitor services, and retreat functions.
• Lead and mentor the senior leadership team, including
  the Chief Operating Officer and key research and visitor experience
  leaders, setting clear expectations, shared priorities, and mechanisms for
  cross-functional planning and decision making.
• Oversee long-term facilities and infrastructure
  strategy so that Biosphere 2's biomes, laboratories, and retreat/meeting
  spaces are modern, reliable, and optimized for current and future research
  campaigns and visitor use, while delegating day-to-day operations to the
  COO.
• Advance data, cyberinfrastructure, and
  instrumentation capabilities (e.g., integrated ecosystem monitoring in the
  biomes) to enable high resolution, open, and interoperable datasets that
  increase the global research value of Biosphere 2.
• Ensure compliance with university, state, and federal
  requirements, risk management best practices, and environmental and
  cultural stewardship expectations associated with operating a high-profile
  scientific facility and visitor destination.

• Terminal degree in a relevant field such as ecology, Earth and environmental sciences, atmospheric sciences, hydrology, geosciences, environmental engineering, systems engineering, data/computational sciences, or a closely related discipline.
• Scholarly accomplishments, national or international reputation, and academic credentials sufficient for appointment as a tenured associate or full professor at the University of Arizona.
• Record of externally funded research and scholarship consistent with a mature and internationally recognized program in areas relevant to Biosphere 2 (e.g., Earthsystems science, climate and ecosystem dynamics, biogeochemistry, water and carbon cycling, environmental futures, or spaceanalog research).
• Demonstrated success leading interdisciplinary and crosssector research collaborations, including development of largescale proposals, centers, institutes, teamscience campaigns, or other complex multiinvestigator initiatives that leverage shared infrastructure.
• Experience working effectively with faculty, department heads, deans, center and museum/visitorexperience directors, and senior university leadership to align facility strategy with institutional priorities.
• Administrative leadership experience that includes strategic planning, personnel supervision, budget oversight, and organizational management in a researchintensive and/or complex operational environment.
• Demonstrated ability to build trust, foster collaboration, and create value across colleges, disciplines, and organizational boundaries, including integration of research, visitor experience, and retreat/conference activities.
• Demonstrated commitment to faculty leadership, shared governance, and a respectful, inclusive academic and workplace environment.

• Experience leading or helping shape a research institute, field station, observatory, large laboratory facility, museum/science center, department, division, or similarly complex academic or scientific enterprise that integrates research and public engagement.
• Demonstrated success translating Earthsystems or environmental research into sustained external funding, strategic partnerships, public value, and/or policy or societal impact (e.g., climate resilience, water sustainability, ecosystem management).
• Experience aligning facility and research strategy with institutional and campuswide priorities in a large public research university, including integration with educational, outreach, and extension missions.
• Demonstrated ability to identify emerging scientific and societal opportunities, organize highperforming interdisciplinary teams, and move initiatives from concept through design, implementation, evaluation, and impact.
• Experience engaging industry, government, tribal, community, nonprofit, or philanthropic partners in support of environmental science, sustainability, climate, or related research and innovation.
• Knowledge of largescale environmental research infrastructure (e.g., mesocosms, longterm ecological experiments, observatories, or analogous platforms) and the opportunities created by integrated research architectures that connect physical facilities, data systems, and public/educational programs.