Helen Rowe holds a split appointment as an associate research professor in the School of Earth and Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, and the director of Parsons Field Institute, McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, Scottsdale, Arizona.  She engages citizen scientists, research partners, and students to improve ecological restoration and invasive species management techniques in arid environments and to conduct long-term monitoring to detect changes caused by urbanization and climate change. Dr. Rowe also co-chairs the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Sonoran Desert Plant Species Specialist Group. This IUCN group is responsible for assessing the extinction risk of the almost 4,000 plant species in the Sonoran Desert and initiating conservation planning for the most threatened species.