Ingrid “Indy” Burke is the Carl W Knobloch, Jr Dean and Professor of Ecosystem Ecology at Yale School of the Environment. William K Lauenroth is a Professor in the Practice at Yale School of the Environment. They spoke about their careers in environmental studies. Ingrid Burke is an ecosystem ecologist whose research has focused on carbon and nitrogen cycling in dryland ecosystems. She received her B.S. in Biology from Middlebury College and her Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Wyoming, and has taught at Colorado State University and the University of Wyoming.  Her work with graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and colleagues has addressed how drylands are influenced by land use management, climatic variability, and regional variability. William K Lauenroth studies ecosystems in dry areas. His past work has focused largely on grasslands and his current research concentrates on questions associated with mixtures of grasses and shrubs or on ecosystems dominated by shrubs. His specific research interests include: plant population and community ecology; ecohydrology, ecosystem ecology, and the effects of projected climate change on plant communities and ecosystems.