His Doctoral research quantified bidirectional reflectance characteristics of agricultural crops. In 1986, Dr. Ranson joined the Biospheric Sciences Branch where he has developed remote sensing linkages to forest ecosystem models and conducted optical and radar research while leading several domestic and international NASA projects. He also served as the Deputy Project scientist and Project Scientist of the EOS Terra Mission, was the science lead on the DESDynI lidar concept. His current research is focused on active and passive remote sensing of ecosystem dynamics of the boreal forest, especially in Siberia. He has authored and co-authored over 100 peer reviewed journal articles and was awarded a NASA Leadership Medal, Goddard Exceptional Supervisor Award and numerous Goddard performance awards. He is a member of IEEE GRSS AGU, AAAS.