Elsa Ordway

Elsa Ordway is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She co-directs the Center for Tropical Research and the Congo Basin Institute, and is affiliated with UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. Prior to joining UCLA in 2021, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Center for the Environment. She holds a PhD in Earth System Science from Stanford University (2018) and a Master’s in Conservation Biology from Columbia University (2013).

Her research focuses on social-ecological systems in tropical and Californian forested regions, addressing global challenges such as climate change and land-use pressures. Integrating remote sensing, field observations, and socioeconomic analyses, her work examines forest carbon dynamics, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable land management. Key projects include collaborations with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Congo Basin Institute to study canopy structure, seed dispersal mechanisms, and climate resilience in tropical forests.

Elsa’s research has advanced understanding of forest responses to environmental stressors, including drought and deforestation. She advises PhD students Anna Ongjoco (co-advised with UCSB’s Leander Anderegg) and Nidhi Vinod (studying climate-ecosystem interactions). Her work has been supported through initiatives like the PANGEA Scoping Study and NASA-funded global forest monitoring campaigns.

Her lab’s activities span field-based physiological studies in California oak ecosystems and tropical forests, alongside satellite and LiDAR remote sensing applications. She advocates for interdisciplinary approaches to address global environmental challenges, emphasizing policy-relevant science to inform sustainable development strategies.