[5] McPhearson is known for his interdisciplinary research on the interacting social-ecological-technological processes that drive urban system dynamics and impact human well-being.
In 2008, he finished his Postdoctoral research in Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology (E3B) from the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
[17][18][19] McPhearson has been an adviser at the World Resources Institute, Ross Center for Sustainable Cities since 2020, an inaugural member of the World Economic Forum (WEF)'s Global Commission on BiodiverCities since 2021, and member of The New School's Zolberg Institute's Cities and Human Mobility Research Collaborative since 2020 and Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School since 2016.
McPhearson contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) first global assessment as a contributing author from 2018 to 2020, and a lead author for Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)[3] Sixth Assessment Report (AR6).
[12][14] In 2021, McPhearson became a faculty affiliate at the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics,[24] Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.