Steve Running, Regents Professor, Forest Ecology, College of Forestry & Conservation at the University of Montana, and Director of the Numerical Terradynamics Simulation Group, is responsible for developing the earth observing-oriented algorithms used by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s satellites, Terra and Aqua. He continues to be the lead investigator on this project. Running's MOD17 algorithms are used to provide accurate and continuous global monitoring of the terrestrial biosphere, [1] specifically, generating near-real-time data sets for repeated monitoring of vegetation primary production on vegetated land at 1-km resolution at 8-day intervals.[2] These datasets are unique in that they provide global data on primary productivity and span a decade.
A recognized expert in global ecosystem monitoring, Running was invited to serve on the board of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and in this role was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.[3] The IPCC received the award "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change".[4]
Running made the following statement to the Missoulian about winning the prize:
I never thought my name would be linked in any way, shape or form to something like this,” Running added. “I can almost certainly say that I won't write anything else the rest of my career that will have this type of impact. We've got to get past all the petty bickering and get to work. This is about a big transition for society over the next 50 years. The path we are on is unsustainable. What the Nobel committee is saying is that we've got to wake up. We've got to change the course of the whole world.[5]