David Saah, PhD, is Managing Principal and Co-founder of Spatial Informatics Group, Professor and Director of the Geospatial Analysis Lab at the University of San Francisco, and Chair of the NASA Applied Sciences Advisory Committee. Broadly trained as an environmental scientist, David is recognized as a global leader in geospatial analysis, remote sensing, wildfire science, and natural hazard modeling. He has authored dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports, and is dedicated to the broad dissemination of his research through presentations, publications, and workshops.

David uses integrated geospatial science for multiscale landscape mapping, monitoring, and modeling. He has played a central role in the advancement of land monitoring and remote sensing projects with global reach, including SERVIR—a joint project of NASA and USAID that helps developing countries use remote sensing data—and Collect Earth Online, an open-source platform for interpreting satellite imagery. He is also Principal Investigator of Pyregence, a consortium of researchers and technologists providing free and open-source access to the next generation of wildfire models, and transforming our approach to wildfire mitigation and adaptation. In the vanguard of wildfire science, David’s contributions span from foundational research to the development of innovative tools that address the multifaceted challenges of wildfire management and climate adaptation. He is a driving force behind several pioneering projects, including Planscape, a wildfire resilience planning tool designed to optimize landscape treatments for fire risk mitigation and ecological sustainability. His work with the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, in collaboration with federal and state entities, has led to the creation of a comprehensive geodatabase that supports strategic forest health treatments across California’s diverse landscapes.

David holds a doctorate in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from UC Berkeley.