Charles Cannon

Senior Scientist, The Morton Arboretum

As the inaugural Director of the Center for Tree Science at The Morton Arboretum, Dr. Cannon led the development of research, strategy, and mentorship programs for 8.5 years and supervised a team of seven scientists and their research staff. Having stepped down recently, he has returned his focus to his own research projects as a Senior Scientist in Ecological Evolution at the Arboretum. Most recently, he is a founding member of a finalist team in the global X-Prize Rainforest competition, where six teams compete to autonomously collect biodiversity data in 24 hours and generate results and insight within 2 days. With the finals to be held near Manaus, Brazil in July 2024, the team of engineers, roboticist experts, data scientists, and biologists are working hard to finalize their hardware and streamline their analytical models, much of which involves AI techniques. Prior to joining Morton, he was a professor at Texas Tech University and in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He’s worked with the Nature Conservancy and several smaller conservation organizations. With over 35 years of experience working on forest conservation and ecological issues globally and a deep understanding of the issues facing trees across the spectrum of old-growth forests of tropical Asia to the built environment of Chicago, Shanghai, he brings unique insight into how AI can be used for the good of safeguarding and managing forests for the benefit of Nature and people.