Dr. Ian Brosnan
Program Manager, Wildland Fires
Dr. Ian G. Brosnan serves as Program Manager for the NASA Earth Action Wildland Fires program in the Earth Sciences Division at Headquarters in Washington D.C. In this role, he advances the use of Earth data and technology to improve understanding of wildland fires and support proactive fire management and operational response through collaboration with government, academia, and the private sector.
Dr. Brosnan was formerly the Principal Investigator of the NASA Earth Exchange, a team that combines state-of-the-art supercomputing, Earth system modeling, and NASA remote sensing data to address challenges facing science and society. He also managed Ames Research Center’s science, engineering, and technology contributions to the NASA Earth System Observatory.
He has previously worked in the NASA Earth Science Technology Office’s Advanced Information Systems Technology program and in an interagency technical liaison role with the U.S. Geological Survey.
His research has been published in a variety of technical and policy journals and has been anthologized in two books. His most recent publication, U.S. Space-Based Earth Observations in 21st-Century Science Diplomacy, can be found in the AAAS Science & Diplomacy journal.
Prior to joining NASA, Dr. Brosnan served in the U.S. Coast Guard. During that time, he spent four years at sea, including two years in command, worked as a Congressional liaison officer, and had the pleasure of twice having the Navy fire torpedoes at him. After coming ashore, he transferred into the Coast Guard Reserve, where he is Commanding Officer of Coast Guard Reserve Unit, U.S. Northern Command. Previously, he served as the Executive Officer of the Coast Guard Reserve Unit at the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
Dr. Brosnan received a Bachelor’s in Marine and Environmental Science (High Honors) from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2003, a Master’s of Marine Affairs from the University of Washington in 2010, and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University in 2014. He is a recipient of NASA’s Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal.