Jain studies the interaction between land and climate, which is impacted by human activities such as deforestation and agriculture intensification. His team has developed a global model-data integration framework that uses satellite and ground-based observations to study how those interactions modify the net fluxes of greenhouse gases and surface fluxes of water and energy. He contributes to major assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the AGU and is included on the Reuters list of top climate scientists. He is also affiliated with the U. of I. Center for Global Studies, the Center for South Asian and Middle East Studies and the Discovery Partners Institute.