Robert S. Chen is director of CIESIN, the Center for International Earth Science Information Network, a research unit of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He has managed the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC), part of NASA 's network of Earth science data centers, for more than two decades. Chen co-chairs the Thematic Research Network on Data and Statistics (TReNDS) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the Data Sharing Working Group of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). He also co-manages the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Data Distribution Center and co-leads the GEO Human Planet Initiative. He served on the UN Secretary General 's Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development in 2014. CIESIN has developed numerous interdisciplinary data resources, web mapping tools, and decision support systems for resource management, disaster risk assessment, and other sustainable development applications. Chen received his Ph.D. in geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.