Jerry Franklin since 1986 has been Professor of Ecosystem Analysis at the College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle. Since 1993 he has also been Director of the Wind River Canopy Crane Research Facility.

Franklin specializes in the study of the structure and function of natural forest ecosystems, especially old-growth forests; in processes of ecosystem recovery after catastrophic disturbances; and in the effects of changing environmental conditions, such as climate change, on forest processes. His specialty fields also include application of ecological principles to management of natural resources, and the theory and practice of landscape ecology.

A participant in many major scientific and policy analyses of forest issues, Franklin is a past President of the Ecological Society of America (ESA), a member of the governing board of The Wilderness Society, and a member of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument Scientific Advisory Board. He has served on the board of Governors of The Nature Conservancy and has won numerous professional awards and honors.

Author or coauthor of more than 300 publications, Franklin is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of ESA, of the American Institut5e of Biological Sciences, of the British Ecological Society, of the Society of conservation Biology, and of the International Association of Landscape Ecologists.