Dr. Virginia Burkett Dr. Virginia Burkett is Chief Scientist for Climate and Land Use Change at the United States Geological Survey. She has published roughly 100 journal articles, book chapters and reports that focus on wetlands, global change, and low-lying coastal systems. Burkett was a Lead Author of the IPCC Third, Fourth and Fifth Assessment Reports, the IPCC Technical Paper on Water, and the First, Second and Third US National Climate Assessments. Burkett has served as USGS Associate Director and Chair of the $2.4 billion US Global Change Research Program. Prior to leading USGS climate science, Burkett was Wetlands Ecology Branch Chief at the USGS National Wetlands Research Center. Before working at USGS, Burkett was Secretary/Director of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, where she formerly served as Deputy Secretary. Dr. Burkett has been appointed to over 70 Commissions, Committees, Science Panels and Boards. She is a U.S. delegate to the international Group on Earth Observations and is Co-Chair of GEO’s Climate Change Working Group. She is a member of the Louisiana Governor’s Climate Initiatives Task Force and Co-Chair of the Science Advisory Group to the Task Force. She Co-Chairs the International Activities Working Group of the U.S. Group on Earth Observations.