A hub for land system innovations

The Global Land Programme strengthens U.S. capacity to address land-related challenges affecting agriculture, water resources, wildfire risk, infrastructure, energy development, and rural economies. Using satellite data, artificial intelligence, and advanced mapping technologies, the project develops practical tools for tracking changes in farmland, forests, water systems, and built environments while training a new generation of scientists and professionals equipped to apply these technologies in real-world settings. The project supports flexible, workforce-oriented training pathways that connect research, technology development, entrepreneurship, and applied problem solving, helping students and early-career professionals gain skills that are increasingly important across industry, government, and research sectors. By coordinating expertise across universities, innovation hubs, and practitioner networks, the project strengthens U.S. leadership in land intelligence, expands the nation’s scientific and technical workforce, and supports more resilient and economically competitive land-use systems. The Programme advances land system science by integrating geospatial analysis, remote sensing, artificial intelligence, modeling, and synthesis approaches to better understand how land-use dynamics shape environmental and economic outcomes across scales. As a U.S.-hosted scientific coordination infrastructure, the project accelerates the development and application of methods for monitoring land-use change, assessing resource pressures, evaluating land-use tradeoffs, and improving decision support for agriculture, natural resource management, and infrastructure resilience. The project will also expand workforce development through modular training, mentoring, and entrepreneurial engagement models that prepare scientists to move fluidly between research, technology, and applied sectors while strengthening U.S. scientific leadership in land system science. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.