Dr. Sanchirico received his Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California at Davis in 1998. After working nine years at Resources for the Future in Washington D.C. (an independent, non-profit environmental policy think-tank), he returned to UC Davis where he is currently a Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy.

His main research interests include the economic analysis of policy design, implementation, and evaluation for marine and terrestrial species conservation, the development of economic-ecological models for forecasting the effects of resource management policies, and the control and prevention of invasive species. Twice his research has been honored with Quality of Research Discovery awards from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association. In 2012, he was the 38th recipient of the Rosenstiel Award for Oceanographic Sciences, which honors scientists who, in the past decade, have made significant and growing impacts in their field.

He is currently an associate editor of the Journal of Theoretical Ecology, Associate Director of the Coastal and Marine Science Institute at UC Davis, and Master Advisor for the environmental policy undergraduate major.  Past public service includes a National Research Council (NRC) committee evaluating the effectiveness of the fish stock rebuilding requirements in the 2006 Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act, six years on NOAA's Science Advisory Board, the editorial board of Ecology Letters, and an NRC committee to review the U.S. Ocean Acidification Research Plan. In 2014, he received the Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award for outstanding public service contributions from the UC Davis Academic Senate.