An ecosystem ecologist at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory and associate dean for academic affairs in the Warner College for Natural Resources, Conant focuses on understanding how land use and land management practices impact carbon and nitrogen cycling in agricultural and grassland ecosystems.

Conant is involved in efforts to develop indicators of ecological condition for ecosystems close to home and contributes to state, national and international efforts to develop tools to accurately quantify human impacts on the carbon cycle. He is affiliated with several professional organizations, including the Ecological Society of America, the American Geophysical Union and the American Society of Agronomy.

Conant received his B.A. in environmental biology from the University of Colorado in 1990. He earned his Ph.D. in botany from Arizona State University in 1997.