09/30/2025
We're excited to welcome Professor Bryan Pijanowski into Voiijer's Heroes of the Planet cohort! Bryan is a Professor and University Faculty Scholar in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources and Director of Purdue University's Center for Global Soundscapes. His research interests include the use of soundscapes and AI to assess animal biodiversity around the world. The professor celebrates Earth’s acoustic heritage through his work and wants to share his adventures of discovery with the Voiijer community, “come join our mission and listen with us!”.
Professor Pijanowski has amassed over 6,000,000 hours of soundscape recordings totaling over 1.2 PB of data from far-flung locations such as the paleotropical forests of Borneo, glaciers in Patagonia, expansive grasslands of Mongolia, the paramos of Andres mountains, the boreal forests of Finland, the Miombo woodlands of Tanzania, kelp forests of Channel Islands, coral reefs of Puerto Rica, and the mixed temperate forests of Wisconsin. Along the way he’s produced an IMAX film, released the book (‘Principles of Soundscape Ecology: discovering our sonic world’), authored over 200 peer reviewed articles, and graced many a stage and screen sharing his research and vision.
He is well known for his ‘Mission to Record the Earth’ project: a goal of conducting a soundscape study at all of Earth’s 32 major ecosystems. He’s completed 28 and has four more to go!
Prof. Pijanowski and his team travel the globe listening and asking questions through the lens of sound. Rhythms of nature are unique to each ecosystem, and they tell us a story about its acoustic heritage and its health. THEY ASK QUESTIONS LIKE: What does a desert sound like and what are its important rhythms that underpin the structure and order of these ecosystems? How do these rhythms differ from those in coral reefs? What can the sounds of a river and the wind through the trees tell us about climate? What keynote sounds are important to monitor that tell scientists that a place is being threatened? Can we monitor the changes in glaciers using sound and what are the sonic signals that we have to pay attention to? How do the sounds of nature heal us?
