Dr. Aaron Grade is the Staff Scientist on the National Climate Assessment, where he serves as point of contact for multiple chapter teams for the Fifth National Climate Assessment; provides public engagement and outreach support; and provides technical expertise in urban ecology, biodiversity conservation, coupled human–natural systems, and global land-use change. Prior to this role, he was placed as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science in the Biological and Environmental Research Program’s Environmental System Sciences Division. As an AAAS Fellow he was a part-time staffer for USGCRP’s National Coordination Office.

Aaron is trained as an urban ecologist and wildlife conservation biologist. He was previously a Postdoctoral Researcher at Clark University Department of Geography and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. He holds a Ph.D. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a M.S. in Interdisciplinary Ecology from the University of Florida Gainesville, and a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Connecticut Storrs.