Diana is the Director of the University of Arizona School of Geography, Development and Environment. The Institute promotes interdisciplinary research, teaching and outreach on the environment at The University of Arizona. Her career has focused on the human dimensions of global environmental change and her main research interests include climate impacts, vulnerability and adaptation, and climate policy and mitigation especially in the developing world. She also works on the political economy and political ecology of environmental management in the Americas, especially in Mexico.
She has been an active member of national and international advisory committees on global change including the US NAS Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change and the Inter American Institute (IAI) for Global Change Research. She was a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on America’s Climate Choices which advised the US government on responses to climate change. She has also been the chair of the scientific advisory committee for the Global Environmental Change and Food Systems (GECAFS) program and member of the Earth System Governance scientific steering committee (2009-2014). She has worked closely with several arts and cultural organizations on climate change issues. A lead author for the IPCC 1.5C report and review editor for the IPCC 6th Assessment, she is a member of the Earth Commission.