Robert O. Vos, Ph.D. is a professional cellist and a member of the Pacific Symphony in Orange County, California. He has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician, appearing at renowned festivals such as the Yale Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and the Music Academy of the West, where he held the prestigious Gabor Rejto Cello Scholarship. A former member of the New World Symphony from 1995 to 1998, Vos toured internationally and recorded with Argo Decca and BMG Records.

He is a winner of numerous solo competitions, including the Mu Phi Epsilon National String Jury First Prize and the American String Teachers Association Competition (College Division). Since returning to Southern California, he has given recitals across the region, including performances on KUSC FM’s Sundays Live and Pasadena’s Classics Become Eclectic series. Trained at the University of Southern California under Eleanor Schoenfeld, he is also a dedicated teacher with extensive training in Suzuki pedagogy and maintains a private cello studio. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking and nature photography.

In addition to his musical career, Dr. Vos is an Associate Professor (Teaching) of Spatial Sciences at the USC Spatial Sciences Institute, where he bridges environmental sustainability with geospatial science. His research in industrial ecology includes regional materials flow analysis, eco-industrial park planning, lifecycle assessment, and sustainability indicators. He is known for using GIS tools to improve environmental impact metrics such as carbon and water footprints.

His article “The Spatially Explicit Water Footprint of Blue Jeans” received the 2019 Case Studies in the Environment Prize, and his co-edited book Flashpoints in Environmental Policymaking earned the Lynton K. Caldwell Prize from the American Political Science Association. He also received the 2010 Sustainability Award from Disney Consumer Products.

At USC, he teaches in both the undergraduate and graduate programs, including courses on sustainability science, industrial ecology, and geospatial project management. He advises students in the M.S. in GIST and Ph.D. in Population, Health and Place programs. Dr. Vos is a certified Geographic Information Science Professional (GISP) and currently serves on the GISCI Board of Directors as the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) representative.

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