EOAS Staff Directory
Name & Postion
Email Address, Website
Social Media
Carrie Ferraro,
Costal Climate Risk & Resilience (C2r2) Associate Director
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Email
Campus: College Ave
School: Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy
Website
Clinton Andrews is a professor of urban planning, director of the Rutgers Center for Green Building, and associate dean for faculty at Rutgers University’s Bloustein School. He was educated at Brown and MIT in engineering and planning, and worked previously in the private sector and at Princeton University. He teaches environmental planning and quantitative methods courses, and performs research on how people use the built environment. He publishes both scholarly and popular articles and his books include Humble Analysis: The Practice of Joint fact-Finding, Regulating Regional Power Systems, and Industrial Ecology and Global Change. He is co-editor of the Journal of Planning Education and Research. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and a licensed Professional Engineer. Andrews is a Fellow of AAAS, a winner of IEEE’s 3rd Millennium Medal, a current distinguished lecturer for and past president of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology, and an avid experimenter with new methods for collecting field data in urban settings.
Email
Campus: Downtown New Brunswick
School: Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy
Dr. Herb’s research interests include: human-environmental interactions, environmental policy, participatory decision-making processes, & science and risk communication.
Email
Campus: Busch
School: Engineering
Dept. Affiliation: Civil & Environmental Engineering
Website
Dr. Wang’s research group is aimed at developing numerical models to connect big data and decision-making in coastal engineering systems. He and his students endeavor to create innovative methods to address two major challenges in this task. 1) Data-Model Interface: how to enrich the big data source and develop a transforming interface to improve model reliability and accuracy; and 2) Model-based Decision Making: how to inform decision making taking the advantage of the fast speed and high resolution of the model with large scale supercomputing. His lab has a wide spectrum of research topics, including coastal resilience, urban floods, renewable energy, aquaculture, and sediment transport.
Email
Campus: College Ave
School: Communication & Information
Dr. Schement is a Distinguished Professor and School Professor of Communication Policy and of Latino Studies in the School of Communication and Information (SC&I) at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. He previously served as Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion for Rutgers-New Brunswick and for Rutgers Biological and Health Sciences. He also served as Dean of SC&I, and chaired the Executive Planning Committee for Rutgers’ 250th Anniversary Commemoration. He was a Distinguished Professor, and cofounder of the Institute for Information Policy at Penn State University. Schement holds a PhD from Stanford University, and an MS from the University of Illinois. He is author of over 250 books, papers, and articles.
As Vice Chancellor, he formally established the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, organized the President’s Diversity Council, the Chancellor’s Pathways Council, as well as the first Diversity Forum and Diversity Almanac. He authored the diversity and inclusion passages for the Strategic Plan, oversaw the Civic Engagement Collaborative, and sponsored a University library portal for diversity-related materials. As Dean, he recruited and promoted women and minority faculty and staff to their highest numbers in the history of the School.
A Latino from South Texas, his research focuses on the social and policy implications of the production and consumption of information, especially as they relate to ethnic minorities. He conducted the first study of the impact of minority ownership in broadcasting, and conducted the original research that led to recognition of the Digital Divide. He introduced the idea of Universal Service as an evolving concept in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. His studies of minority ownership contributed to the Supreme Court’s decision in Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. F.C.C. et al. He has served on editorial boards of 18 academic journals, guest edited the Annual Review of Technology for the Aspen Institute, and is editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Communication and Information.
He served on President George W. Bush’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the Technology Advisory Committee for Governor Jerry Brown of California, and authored the telecommunications policy agenda for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He advised the FCC Transition Team for President Barack Obama. He is a founding member of the FCC Federal Advisory Committee on Diversity in the Digital Age. Schement served on the Transition Team for New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, and is a member of the Steering Committee for the Governor’s Diversity Council.
Schement has served on boards for the National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Centers for Disease Control, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Media Access Project, Libraries for the Future, Tomás Rivera Policy Institute, Center for Media Education, Internet Policy Institute, American Library Association, Minority Media Telecommunications Council, New Millennium Research Council, Open Society Institute, Advertising Council, Benton Foundation, Aspen Institute, MCI, Sprint, Verizon, Pew Project on Internet and American Life, and the Harwood Institute. He chaired the board of directors of TPRC Inc.
Dr. Schement’s primary interest regarding EOAS stems from his commitment to encourage diversity and inclusion within the academy, and in particular the sciences.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Marine & Coastal Sciences
Website
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Marine & Coastal Sciences
Website
Dr. Beaird’s research interests lie in high-latitude observational physical oceanography, including ocean-glacier interaction, buoyancy-driven flows, and water mass modification. These processes influence sea level rise, the production of global water masses, and large-scale thermohaline circulation. Much of his work relates to North Atlantic thermohaline circulation including both ‘overturning’ and ‘estuarine’ modes. Nicholas use a wide variety of observational tools to approach these research areas including AUVs, ships, moorings and geochemical tracers. He has worked to assess the mixing and modification of dense overflows at the ‘headwaters’ of the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. He’s broadly interested in understanding the influence of meltwater from Greenland on North Atlantic circulation, from fjord to basin scales, and have developed new tools to measure meltwater pathways in coastal waters. Much of his research crosses disciplinary boundaries, from bringing together oceanography and glaciology around Greenland, to the relationship between turbulence and biogeochemical cycling in the Pacific Arctic.
Nicholas is also very interested in the practical application of ocean observing technologies to societally relevant problems and is working to help train students as part of Rutgers’ Masters degree in integrated ocean observing.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Human Ecology
Website
Dr. Shwom conducts research that links sociology, psychology, engineering, economics, and public policy to investigate how social and political factors influence society’s responses to energy resource use and climate problems. More specifically, Rachael has studied public opinion on climate change, household behaviors to mitigate climate change, and NGO politics of energy and climate change in the U.S. and China.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Human Ecology
Website
Dr. Ramenzoni is an environmental anthropologist specialized in human behavioral ecology, coastal communities, and marine and coastal policies. Through a mixed methods approach, she studies how socio-ecological factors shape human adaptation, the impact of environmental uncertainty on decisions about resource use, and household nutrition in coastal environments. She has also worked on ecosystem services and indicator development.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Human Ecology
As a researcher and professor of science communication, the issues of communicating science are a factor that impacts all areas of science, but critically in science related to earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences. Dr. Nucci’s courses on science communication address these issues through the lens of climate change. As a researcher she has led a group of researchers that examined Rutgers students perceptions and behaviors related to climate change. Mary hopes to engage the disciplines represented in EOAS to collaborate in research and teaching on communicating science.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Human Ecology
Website
Dr. McElwee is an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist, with a joint Ph.D. in anthropology and forestry & environmental studies from Yale. Her research and teaching interests include adaptation to climate change and natural hazards; land-based climate change mitigation in developing countries (REDD+); globalization and natural resources use; ecosystem services; gender and the environment; biodiversity conservation; indigenous peoples; poverty, environment and development nexus; and environmental security and environmental impacts of war and conflict. She serves as a lead author for the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL) and as a lead author for the Global Assessment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Email
Campus: Livingston
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: Geography
Website
Dr. St. Martin’s research takes a critical social science approach to understanding the relationship between resource management and local economic development. He has led a number of research projects which engage fishing community members to assess their local ecological knowledge, economic contexts and potentials, and the challenges to producing management initiatives which foreground ecological and livelihood sustainability. Kevin’s research has made clear the links that exist between management decisions and the prospects for community-based economies, and it has shown how participatory research can inform and inspire communities to alter fishing practices and development new marketing strategies such that both community and environmental wellbeing are enhanced. His research and critical social science perspective have informed the development of ocean health and human wellbeing indicators, and it has contributed directly to fisheries management through participation on the New England Fisheries Management Council’s Science and Statistical Committee as well as Plan Development Teams. Kevin believes his interests and experience could make a valuable contribution to the EOAS program.
Email
Campus: Livingston
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: Geography
Website
Dr. Rhiney is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography, Rutgers University USA. His research is situated at the nexus of critical development studies, human-environment geography and political economy. Current research explores the socio-ecological and justice dimensions of global environmental change as well as the science-policy interface shaping climate change adaptation efforts in the Caribbean.
Email
Campus: Livingston
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: Geography
Website
Dr. Leichenko is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography and co-Director of the Rutgers Climate Institute. Her research intersects the fields of economic geography and human dimensions of global environmental change. Robin’s work examines how and why processes of global economic and environmental change differentially affect cities, regions and sectors, and the implications of these processes for questions of vulnerability, equity, and sustainability. Her forthcoming book, Climate and Society: Transforming the Future (with Karen O’Brien, Polity Press, 2019), explores social causes, consequences, and responses to climate change, and identifies openings and opportunities to create a more equitable and sustainable future. Her last book, Environmental Change and Globalization: Double Exposures (with Karen O’Brien, Oxford University Press, 2008), was awarded the 2009 Meridian Book Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work in Geography from the American Association of Geographers. Current and recent projects investigate three inter-related issues: economic vulnerability and resilience to climate change; economic and social equity implications of climate change impacts and adaptation; and the interplay between global change processes, housing markets, and urban spatial development. These projects are largely focused on urbanized coastal zones in New Jersey and New York, and she also has research interests in rural regions of the United States, South Asia, and southern Africa. Dr. Leichenko served as Review Editor for Working Group II of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, and serves on the editorial boards of Economic Geography, Growth and Change, Journal of Extreme Events, and Anthropocene.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Ecology, Evolution, & Natural Resources
Website
The Duffy lab is interested in the viral components of air, water and terrestrial environments, and how viral evolution shapes global ecology. One of the main foci of the lab is single-stranded DNA viruses, which are now recognized as ubiquitous on all continents and in bodies of water, but for most sequences they have no sense of their definitive hosts. While most of their work is computational, they maintain an active experimental evolution lab with RNA and ssDNA bacteriophages.
Email
Campus: Busch
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: Earth & Planetary Sciences
Website
Dr. Turrin’s research interests are in geochronologic studies of Earth-Solar System processes and events such as; biological evolution, adaptive radiations, extinctions and recoveries, climate change, catastrophes, and a better understanding of how Earth-Solar System has evolved. Moreover, temporal relations are often at the core of causality arguments in Earth-Solar System history. Hence, he actively works on improving the precision and accuracy of the K-Ar (40Ar/39Ar) chronometer, leading to a better understanding of both the dates and rates of these processes.
Email
Campus: Busch
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: Earth & Planetary Sciences
Website
Dr. Mortlock’s research interests include:
-Isotope Geochemistry/Geochronology/Paleoceanography.
-Using U-series dated corals for reconstructing Late Pleistocene sea level and past changes in atmospheric radiocarbon.
-High resolution climate records obtained with stable isotopes in corals and speleothems.
Email
Campus: Douglass
School: Science and Politics Initiative
Dept. Affiliation: Eagleton Institute of Politics
Website
The Eagleton Science and Politics Initiative explores how science, technology, and politics intersect; the political systems that connect them; and how deeper understanding and clearer communication within and across these disciplines can benefit policymakers, scientists, and the larger public.
The Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences are a critical, pervasive and dynamic part of the political conversation on all levels of American government. Thus, through a variety of programs, the Initiative seeks to create opportunities for graduate students, post-docs and faculty to explore intersections between science and politics in order to increase their understanding of how politics affects this discipline, and how they can effectively engage with political and policymaking leaders and institutions.
Email
Campus: Douglass
School: Science and Politics Initiative
Dept. Affiliation: Eagleton Institute of Politics
Website
The Eagleton Science and Politics Initiative explores how science, technology, and politics intersect; the political systems that connect them; and how deeper understanding and clearer communication within and across these disciplines can benefit policymakers, scientists, and the larger public.
The Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences are a critical, pervasive and dynamic part of the political conversation on all levels of American government. Thus, through a variety of programs, the Initiative seeks to create opportunities for graduate students, post-docs and faculty to explore intersections between science and politics in order to increase their understanding of how politics affects this discipline, and how they can effectively engage with political and policymaking leaders and institutions.
Email
Campus: Newark, New Brunswick
School: Rutgers Business School
Dept. Affiliation: Supply Chain Management
Website | RBS Public Private Community Partnership Program
Dr. Lyons’ research interests include:
– The integration of supply chain and climate risks and resilience
– Multi-sector and multi-industry supply chains and their environmental impacts (product supply chain climate impacts, air emissions, etc.)
– The connection of global supply chain and water impacts (local, to international waters).
Email
Campus: Busch
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: Computer Science
Website
Sustainable computing and computing for sustainability are two of Dr. Nguyen’s primary research interests. In addition, he is very interested in exploring infrastructural support, both hardware and software, for big data applications in domain sciences. Finally, Thu is interested in fostering collaborations between computer science and other disciplines such as Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science.
Email
Campus: Busch
School: Engineering
Dept. Affiliation: Civil & Environmental Engineering
Website | View CV
Dr. Gong’s research interests include:
-Costal Community Resilience
-Remote Sensing
-Geo-Spatial Big Data
-Artificial Intelligence for Diaster Science
-Multi-Hazard Vulnerability Assessment
Email
Campus: Busch
School: Engineering
Dept. Affiliation: Civil & Environmental Engineering
Website
Dr. Fahrenfeld is an environmental engineer working on water and sediment quality issues through applied organic chemistry and microbiology. Previous research projects include (1) remediation of oil, solvent, and explosives contaminated aquifer sediments, (2) fate and transport of microplastics in freshwater environments, (3) microbial source tracking in mixed land use watersheds, (4) water quality impacts of wastewater from unconventional oil and gas development, and (5) antibiotic resistance in agricultural, reclaimed water, and urban water systems.
Dr. Kustka’s research focuses on the physiology and ecology of phytoplankton which collectively serve as the cornerstone of most coastal and open ocean marine ecosystems and a major driver of global climate. Although phytoplankton are responsible for ~40% of global CO2 fixation, this process is limited by iron (Fe) availability in about 30% of the World Ocean. We still don’t understand how different species compete for this scarce nutrient or how they minimize their Fe demand in Fe poor waters. In other regions of the ocean where Fe is not limiting, phytoplankton exert energy to concentrate CO2 from seawater, yet we have a poor understanding of the mechanism(s) employed, which groups use which mechanisms or how a CO2 rich world may affect the relative fitness of these groups.
Understanding fundamentals of Fe or C metabolism directly impacts our ability to predict the outcomes of rising atmospheric CO2 and land use changes. In this regard, my lab’s work, while mechanistically oriented, has global implications.
His lab combines emergent genome- enabled methods with classic physiological and kinetic approaches in the lab and field. An exciting era is upon us where the environmental physiology and underlying biochemistry of just about any organism can be studied in unprecedented ways due to advances in –omics and reverse genetics. His lab is increasingly utilizing the power of proteomics to better understand phytoplankton physiology and ecology.
Email
Campus: Busch
School: EPS
Dept. Affiliation: EPS
Website
Dr. Godfrey’s Research Interests Include:
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Eco, Evol, & Nat Res
View Website
Dr. Bonachela is a theoretical biologist interested in different ecological and evolutionary patterns that emerge in biological systems across spatial and temporal scales. He is especially interested in the relationship between these patterns and the presence of ecological transitions, for example what the patterns mean for the robustness and resilience of the ecosystem to environmental change. Some of Juan’s main foci of research are marine phytoplankton, bacteria, and viruses, specifically how phenotypic plasticity affects evolution and vice versa.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Bidle’s research explores the impact of marine microorganisms on the ocean. Marine microbes (i.e., phytoplankton, bacteria, viruses) account for >95% of all oceanic biomass and their dynamic activities drive oceanic biogeochemical cycles. Yet, we are faced with fundamental open questions about their activity, molecular diversity, and evolution. As a molecular ecologist, he is particularly interested in how specific classes of microbial genes influence the ocean’s ecology and dictate the fate of organic matter in the oceans. It is the genetic imprint of marine microbes and their interaction with the environment that shape how the ocean works and determine its response to environmental change. His research links the activity, diversity, and evolution of microbial genes to ocean ecology and biogeochemistry. By merging physiology, biochemistry, and genome-enabled molecular biology approaches, Kay’s work aims to elucidate cellular strategies by which marine phytoplankton, bacteria, and viruses interact and respond to environmental change (e.g. blooms, nutrient stress, viral infection) and, in turn, shape ecosystem dynamics and microbial evolution in the upper ocean.
Email
Campus: NB, Director, Marine Field Station, Tuckerton, NJ
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Able’s long term interests are focused on the life history and ecology of fishes from the edge of the continental shelf to the intertidal marshes of estuaries. In the last decade there have been two interdisciplinary thrusts along the east coast of the US and into the Gulf of Mexico. The first is a collaborative effort (including colleagues at NMFS, NERRs and academic institutions) to determine the patterns of fish larval supply to estuaries from Maine to South Carolina in order to determine patterns of recruitment for economically and ecologically important species. The second is designed to determine the habitat ecology of fishes and crabs in natural (Mullica River – Great Bay estuary, 25+ years of regular sampling) and altered (New York Harbor, 20 years; Delaware Bay, 9+ years; Louisiana marshes as part of a broader program evaluating the effects of the BP oil spill) estuaries. All of these funded activities have involved teaching and training of postdocs, graduate students, undergraduate students, interns and technicians over a 37 year career at Rutgers University.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Plant Biology & IFNH
Website
Agriculture, and the food it produces, is the foundation of a stable and healthy society and its importance cannot be understated. Agriculture and food systems use land and water resources and impacts the planet on many levels. While we currently produce and harvest sufficient food globally, food insecurity still impacts over 780 million people including over 15 million Americans. In early 2017, an estimated 20 million people – over twice the population of New Jersey– were experiencing severe food shortages and potential famine in Africa. Addressing food insecurity now is important but we must also prepare for the larger challenges facing us. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, global food demand is predicted to increase by 60 percent between 2006 and 2050. Also during this time period, the world is likely to experience rapid urbanization and population growth, aging farmer populations resulting in labor shortages, urban income growth, changing consumer demand, as well as continued greenhouse gas emissions, soil degradation, fresh water limitation, fluctuating farm incomes, food safety concerns, and weather extremes. How will we meet this growing demand for food while at the same time move toward sustainability and resiliency as advocated by the Sustainability Development Goals?
Dr. Morin take a systems approach to studying local, regional and global food systems. She is interested in identifying what research, innovations, investments, education, management practices, policies, and social adaptations, we need to develop in order to feed the world with reduced environmental impact, and with increased biodiversity, sustainability, resiliency, economic viability, and health for all as our goals.
Dr. Wilkin’s research interests include:
• High-resolution coastal ocean modeling for applications related to ocean dynamics and coupled physical/ecosystem/bio-optical processes
• Real-time ocean forecast system development
• Applications of satellite radar altimetry in coastal regions
• Variational methods for assimilating coastal observing system data in models, and observing system design
• Estuary and coastal ocean carbon and nitrogen cycling
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Thamatrakoln’s research interests are in understanding the molecular, physiological, and biochemical strategies that have contributed to the ecological success of eukaryotic marine phytoplankton. Marine phytoplankton contribute nearly 50% of global primary productivity and play a role in nearly every major biogeochemical cycle including carbon, nitrogen, and silicon, yet comprise <1% of Earth’s biomass. Her research combines molecular, biochemical, and biophysical techniques with large scale genomic and transcriptomic studies to answer fundamental questions about the physiology and functional ecology of this globally important group of organisms. She is specifically interested in the physiological response of phytoplankton to both abiotic (e.g. nutrient and light availability) and biotic (e.g. viral infection) stress and how those responses impact biogeochemical cycling.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Taghon is a Professor and the Marine Sciences Undergraduate Director at Rutgers DMCS. His research area is marine benthic ecology; he studies how the distribution and abundance of animals living on the seafloor are affected by physical, chemical, and biological oceanographic processes. This is actually a two-way street, in that benthic animals also influence sediment chemical and physical properties, such as organic matter cycling and sediment transport. Recent research has focused on the role of benthic animals in bioremediation of contaminated sediments, the role of sedimentary microbial food webs in recycling of organic matter in sediments, and response of benthic animals to marsh restoration efforts. Presently, Gary is investigating how benthic community structure in Barnegat Bay is affected by natural stressors, such as storm events, and potential anthropogenic stressors, such as excessive nutrient inputs.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Sikes’ general research area is paleoceanography. Within this broader field, she employs isotopic and organic geochemical techniques to the questions of sea surface temperature and global circulation change. She has maintained a long-term focus on improving paleo-sea surface temperature (SST) estimates using biomarkers, in conjunction with foraminiferally based estimates. Her studies on deep water ventilation, employing isotopic tools (primarily radiocarbon) are elucidating Southern Ocean influence on carbon cycling during climate driven circulation changes in the past. These concordant studies investigate the interplay between ocean circulation and glacial/interglacial regimes.
The unifying theme in Elisabeth’s work is carbon cycling. These paleoclimate studies are complimented by work on sediment trap and coastal studies investigating sources, pathways, and sinks of both terrestrial and marine carbon in modern environments. Presently she is implementing work to further integrate my biomarker and isotopic studies by employing compound-specific stable and radiocarbon isotopic studies to improve the assessment of carbon partitioning (marine, terrestrial, organic inorganic) and the influences of climate change on carbon pathways over multi-million, millennial, and decadal time scales.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Severmann often describes her research interests as being stuck between a rock and a wet place: her starting point are the sediments at the interface between the water column above and the geological archive below. She wants to understand how geochemical proxies are formed and preserved, and how we can read and interpret them – think CSI Terra Oceana. She wants to know what goes into the sediments, but also how macro and micronutrients get recycled back into the water column, feeding the surface ocean from deep below. Oxygen is often the gate keeper of these nutrient fluxes in and out of the sediments. Generally speaking, the amount of oxygen present is regulated by biology and by the physical environment, especially temperature. Transition metals and their isotopes are particularly well suited to track changes in the amount of oxygen in the environment because their solubility is a function of ambient oxygen concentrations. She is researching to see how changes in the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and metals are affected by—or have an effect on—the biological evolution and on changes in the physical environment, including the climate.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website | View CV
Dr. Schofield has worked throughout the world to better understand how the ocean drives the Earth’s climate and chemistry to support productive ecosystems of unprecedented diversity. His motivation is based on, that despite centuries of exploration of the oceans they remain relatively unexplored with many of the most basic and fundamental questions unanswered. This reflects the difficulty in collecting data in a harsh and dangerous ocean; therefore throughout Oscar’s career he has focused on developing new approaches that can collect data over ecologically relevant time and space scales. His efforts have spanned developing remote sensing algorithms to map biological patterns in the ocean from space, using the world’s first science electro-optical seafloor to study coastal biogeochemistry, to the design of new biological sensors and development of new undersea robotic systems. These technologies are resulting in the deployment of ocean observing networks throughout the world, which represents the largest investments in ocean science infrastructure this century and Oscar has been, and is, central to ongoing efforts of the United States Navy, National Science Foundation, NASA, and NOAA. These academic interests fit well within many of the research and teaching efforts of IEOAS.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Saba initiates diverse, multidisciplinary projects in order to address both small-scale (individual organism) and large-scale (whole ecosystem) questions with ecological, physiological, and biogeochemical implications. Her broad research interests are in the fields of coastal marine organismal ecology and physiology, with emphasis on how organisms interact with their environment (physical-biological coupling) and other organisms (food web dynamics and predator-prey interactions), how physiological processes impact biogeochemistry (nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration), and how climate change (i.e., ocean acidification, warming) impacts these processes. She applies multiple techniques and collaborates with physical/biological/chemical oceanographers and physiologists, molecular ecologists, fisheries scientists, ocean observers, and climate modelers. She employs an integrative, mechanistic approach and has strong laboratory and field components in her research.
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Campus: Sandy Hook NJ Agricultural Experiment Station — Highlands, NJ
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: NJAES
View CV
Norbert P. Psuty is Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University. He is a coastal geomorphologist whose research encompasses the dynamics of the coastal zone, incorporating process-response studies of beaches, coastal dune processes and morphology, sediment budget studies, barrier island dynamics, estuarine sedimentation, and sea-level rise. His research has been conducted primarily in various portions of coastal New Jersey and it has both a basic science component as well as an applied side. He has been doing research at Sandy Hook since around 1970 and is regarded to have the best long-term data set on the geomorphological evolution of Sandy Hook.
He has been and continues to be consultant to the National Park Service on shoreline dynamics and change in the coastal parks. He has been Vice-Chair and Chair of the Coastal Commission of the International Geographical Union, President of The Coastal Society, and President of the New Jersey Academy of Sciences. He has received the Rutgers University Presidential Award for Public Service, the Honors Award from the Association of American Geographers, the Richard J. Russell Award from the Coastal and Marine Specialty Group of the Association of American He has received the Rutgers University Presidential Award for Public Service, the Honors Award from the Association of American Geographers, the Richard J. Russell Award from the Coastal and Marine Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers, and the Melvin Marcus Distinguished Career Award from the Geomorphology Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. He has received the National Park Service Director’s Award for Natural Resource Research in the National Parks. He has received the North Atlantic Region’s award for Natural Resource Research. He has received a Fulbright Senior Scientist Award to Liverpool Hope University.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Nordstrom’s research interests include: Earth surface processes and landforms (especially in coastal and estuarine environments), human-altered coasts, natural hazards, natural and human responses to sea level rise, social implications of changes to beaches and dunes, and environmental restoration.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Munroe is a research professor relating to the Ecology of Marine Food Production Systems at the Rutgers Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory in Port Norris, NJ. Increasing pressures on marine ecosystems, including climate change, resource exploitation, ocean acidification, and pollution threaten to create imbalances that will drive ecological change in the ocean. Sustainability of coastal and marine ecosystems, including both natural and social resilience, relies on understanding, predicting and adapting to these changes. To achieve sustainability we must first understand how ecosystems change: this is the motivation of my research. Her research aims to further understanding of the biological and ecological processes of larval dispersal, recruitment and population connectivity to address anthropogenic uses and environmental and climatic changes in coastal and marine ecosystems. Collectively, Daphne’s research strives to provide important foundations for social goals concerning coastal resource management and sustainability, goals that can only be achieved through synthesis of sound science, society and education.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Jim Miller’s research is on global climate change with a particular emphasis on the hydrologic cycle, how it affects the climate system, and how it might change in the future in response to increasing greenhouse gases. His recent focus has been on the role of climate feedbacks on enhanced warming rates at high latitudes and high altitudes, including snow/albedo, water vapor, and cloud feedbacks. The regional focus has been on analysis of climate feedbacks in the Arctic region and in two high altitude regions—the Tibetan Plateau and the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado. Combined with another focus on the impact of climate change on river flow, this work has implications for future water resources which are likely to be one of the major stressors on human civilization during the 21st century. Jim also teaches multiple courses at Rutgers including physical oceanography, remote sensing, a Byrne Seminar on water resources and climate change, and a SEBS Jr/Sr Colloquium on climate change.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Miles is a physical oceanographer interested in understanding how the atmosphere, cryosphere, earth, and ecosystems connect through the ocean across a broad range of temporal and spatial scales. To understand these connections he uses and develops ocean observation networks that sample across spatial and temporal scales in combination with process oriented numerical modeling. Travis is involved with an array of multi-disciplinary projects that involve: 1) Rapid response Teledyne-Webb Slocum glider deployments ahead of coastal storms; 2) investigation of the ice-ocean interactions in the Amundsen Sea and 3) development of novel satellite products in support of wind resource estimates for coastal New Jersey.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Youth Development & DMCS
Website
Dr. McDonnell’s interests are in the development and implementation of high quality education and outreach programs that communicate science research to public audiences. As part of her role with the Department of Youth Development, she manages a broad range of educational programs and develops learning materials for informal and formal STEM teaching environments. She also consults with and supports faculty in the development of Broader Impact statements for NSF and education programs for NASA and NOAA funded research.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Lutz is the current Director of the Rutgers Center for Deep-Sea Ecology and Biotechnology at Rutgers DMCS. His primary research interests include deep-sea ecology and biotechnology, molluscan ecology, and the larval ecology of marine invertebrates.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Levin’s research interests include:
• Basin scale and regional modeling of ocean systems
• Analysis of oceanic processes using variational data assimilation
• Development of real-time regional ocean forecasting systems
• Designing automated quality control algorithms for in-situ and satellite observations
• Evaluation of observation impact in ocean modeling
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website | View CV
Physical processes in the coastal ocean are highly variable in space and time and play a critical role in coupled biological and chemical processes. From events lasting several hours to days on through inter-annual and decadal scales, the variability in the fluid itself structures marine ecological systems. His approach is to apply ocean observing technologies that now sample across these important time and space scales to better understand the physical ocean that structures marine ecosystems. Consequently, this new knowledge has relevancy to broader stakeholder communities with interests in the coastal ocean. Working through partnerships across these stakeholder groups, Josh’s research is collaborative and supports both science and application. Through these partnerships he is able to frame relevant scientific hypotheses and efficiently translate the output to better management and monitoring.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
The purpose of Dr. Kerkhof’s research is to elucidate the active microbes in a variety of complex environments, and to understand the mechanisms driving this microbial diversity and biogeochemical processes. Specifically, he uses a variety of nucleic acid based analyses to identify those microorganisms (prokaryotic, archaeal, and eukaryotic) that are making ribosomes or incorporating C and N into their genomes. These microbes are by definition “active” and are controlling the biogeochemistry of the habitats in which they are found. These research efforts have focused on active bacteria in aeolian systems, in aquatic systems, in association with eukaryotic hosts, and in sediments/soils. Additionally, Lee and his group’s research spans a continuum from studies of pure cultures, to engineered systems, to field measurements. He believes that understanding the biological forces shaping microbial communities and their activity will lead to better predictions regarding the biogeochemical processes that sustain life on this planet.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Kennish’s interests are in Marine Ecology, Marine Geology, Anthropogenic Impacts on Estuarine and Coastal Marine Environments. His research focuses on integrative ecosystem assessment, particularly investigations of the impairment and remediation of impacted estuarine and coastal marine waters. These studies include determination of the natural and anthropogenic drivers of change in these coastal ecosystems, and the dynamics of environmental forcing factors that generate imbalances in their biotic community structure and ecosystem function. The research is multidisciplinary in scope and employs key water quality and biotic indicators of environmental condition to develop new measures of ecological assessment and to delineate the overall ecological health of these waters. He is also engaged in the study of climate change effects on these coastal systems.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Jensen’s primary research interest is the study of fisheries and aquatic ecosystems – including marine, estuarine, and freshwater environments. Much of his work focuses on understanding the status and trends of harvested fish and invertebrate populations and the fishery management strategies that provide the best tradeoff between harvest and conservation within a dynamic aquatic environment. His methods range from field and laboratory studies of individual fish populations and their prey in New Jersey, Louisiana, Mexico, and Mongolia to global meta-analysis using large fishery databases.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Horton’s research concerns sea-level and environmental change. His aim is to understand and integrate the external and internal mechanisms that have determined sea-level changes in the past, and which will shape such changes in the future. Fundamental to this aim is bridging the gap between short-term instrumental records and long-term geological reconstructions and geophysical predications. One of the factors that led to Ben’s involvement in EOAS is that the study of sea-level change involves interactions between Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric scientists as they strive to better understand the external (such as climate change, earthquakes and tsunamis) and internal mechanisms (including the sediment compaction) of the sea-level changes they observe and reconstruct.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Dr. Haidvogel’s collaborative research integrates the fields of atmosphere/ocean dynamics, numerical modeling and marine biology to understand the coupling of marine ecosystems with the physical environment, and to anticipate their response to future variability and change in the Earth’s climate system.
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Campus: Rutgers Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory — Port Norris, NJ
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
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Dr. Guo is a Professor at the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory, Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University. His primary research interests are the biology, genetics, and evolution of marine mollusks, and marine aquaculture. He is interested in genetic and genomic research that advances our understanding of molluscan biology and evolution, as well as studies that may lead to the development of superior stocks for molluscan aquaculture.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
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Dr. Grothues is interested in the abundance and distribution of fishes as responses to physical factors. These responses include those that could be considered involuntary, such as distribution of larvae by ocean currents and mortality or loss of reproductive capacity in unsuitable environments, and voluntary behavioral responses, such as migration, ranging, and sheltering (including burial). The physical forces that he investigates as impacts include natural and anthropogenic perturbations such as restoration efforts, urbanization of water fronts, seasonal and inter-annual water quality fluctuations and ocean structure. In the last 10 years Thomas has worked extensively with adult stages on movement, migration, and habitat choice. In doing so, he developed an interest in furthering technologies and strategies to meet the challenges of studying highly mobile fish in the ocean, including sablefish in deep Alaskan waters, sturgeon, flounder, and other sport fishes along the East and Gulf coasts of the US, and pelagic thresher sharks in the Visayan Sea. The development of tools such as payload-controlled autonomous underwater vehicles for fish tracking and imaging, and related processing algorithms for sonar image classification and decision making, can be revealing but require understanding of natural history and behavior in order to be effective in implementation. Theses investigations are therefore truly cross-disciplinary and involve collaborations with other biologists, phyisical and geological oceanographers, commercial fishers, and mechanical, electrical, computer, and acoustical engineers, as well as interaction with Federal, State, municipal, and private-sector resource managers.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website | View CV
Dr. Glenn’s research interests include: Coastal Ocean Processes, Storms Hurricanes & Typhoons, Air-Sea Interactions, Ocean-Sediment Interactions, Ocean Modeling and Forecasting, Turbulent Closure, Ocean Observing Technology Development, Marine Education
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Fuch’s research focuses on three main themes: mechanistic interactions between planktonic invertebrate larvae and small-scale physics, impacts of small-scale biophysical interactions on large-scale movements and settlement patterns, and predator-prey interactions and their effects on planktonic ecosystem dynamics. These problems are fundamentally interdisciplinary, and her work integrates empirical and theoretical approaches from fluid mechanics, physical oceanography, and quantitative spatial and community ecology to work on advancing research on these themes.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Jennifer Francis is a research professor with Rutgers DMCS. Her research interests include a host of topics including: Global and Arctic climate change, Arctic/mid-latitude linkages, sea ice, extreme weather and its connections to climate change, satellite remote sensing, cloud physics, large-scale atmospheric dynamics, jet streams, extra-tropical storm systems, as well as general atmospheric sciences.
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Campuses: Cook, Tuckerton, Cape May
Schools: SEBS and NJAES
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS/Marine Outreach
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Mike De Luca is the Senior Associate Director for the Office of Research at Rutgers University where he leads integrated programs of research, education and outreach for the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve, Aquaculture Innovation Center and the Coastal Exploration Center. Other key duties include management of major external research, science education and service programs, government relations, and marine and coastal science policy.
He directs Rutgers efforts to support the development, growth and prosperity of aquaculture in New Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic region, oversees operation of major field facilities, serves as Chair of the Rutgers Dive Control Board, and leads efforts to capitalize on environmental sampling and sensing networks to inform coastal management and enrich K-12 science education. He also directs efforts to restore the ecological integrity of coastal systems and communities in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, develops science-based strategies to enhance resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems, and conducts research to advance management of marine protected areas. His experience includes service as the President of the National Estuarine Research Reserve Association (NERRA), Chair of the Science and Technical Advisory Committee for the Barnegat Bay National Estuary Program, Chair of the Public Policy Committee for the National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML) and member of the Heinz Center Panel on Innovations in Coastal Zone Management. He is currently the Chair of the Legislative Affairs Committee for NERRA and President of NAML.
Email
Campus: Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: NJAES/DMCS/HSRL
Website
Dr. Bushek’s research concerns the ecological impact of molluscan shellfish, particularly oysters, at the population, community and ecosystem levels. He is particularly interested in host-parasite interactions and the factors that influence transmission dynamics. These factors occur from molecular to climate levels and are influenced by physical, chemical and biological processes. A comprehensive understanding of earth, ocean, and atmospheric sciences facilitates a comprehensive understanding of these dynamics. The complexity of these interactions and the breadth of knowledge necessary require collaborative relationships with experts across these fields. David hopes membership in EOAS will help him fulfill his academic interests.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS
Website
Dr. Brodie is a meteorologist and physical oceanographer with a primary interest in the modeling of the complex coastal environment. His research focuses on using modeling tools to study climate change and working with these tools to further society’s use of renewable energy technologies to reduce its climatic influence. He uses a variety of observations (including lidar, sodar, underwater gliders, and conventional meteorological masts and oceanographic buoys) to study the dynamic coastal environment, with the goal of using these observations to improve modeling. These improved models are used to study and improve the prediction of coastal and atmosphere/ocean processes, such as sea breezes and tropical storms, in addition to better informing the development of offshore wind energy.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Landscape Architecture
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Jean Marie Hartman received her Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Connecticut, after first earning her M.S. in Landscape Architecture and B.S. in Botany from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Dr. Hartman’s lab group has conducted research on population dynamics and evolution of both rare and invasive plant species, on field methods for evaluating wetlands, and on plant succession in abandoned fields and restoration sites. Her current research focus is on systems functions within watersheds. For example a current grant concerns the role of forests in watershed management, in which she is investigating the relationship between soil erodibility and urban forest composition and structure. She is also consulting on a tamarack bog restoration at the Bath Nature Preserve, in Bath, Ohio. In the past, Dr. Hartman conducted site analysis, consulted on freshwater and tidal wetland restoration design, and conducted post restoration monitoring in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Within this framework, several research projects produced useful insights into the restoration process and facilitated improvements in restoration outcomes. In addition, Dr. Hartman initiated a study of how initial conditions can influence the plant community dynamics of old field succession. Her work demonstrated difference in rates of warm season grass establishment related to soil pH changes that have proven useful in successful meadow design. The same project demonstrated differences in woody species establishment and growth that can be used to facilitate vegetation changes.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Human Ecology
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Cymie Payne is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Ecology-SEBS and affiliated with Rutgers Law. Her primary research interests are governance and protection of global commons, particularly the oceans and climate change. As a legal scholar, she is interested in the evolution of international law in the Anthropocene and the use of scientific information, particularly through institutions like international courts and tribunals; treaties and customary international law; and transnational processes. She has appeared as counsel before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in its deep seabed mining and fisheries advisory opinion cases. Currently, she is legal advisor to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) delegation to preparatory meetings for an international agreement on biodiversity in the high seas. She is Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law Specialist Group for Oceans, Coasts, and Coral Reefs.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Human Ecology
Website
Dr. Lipoti’s research interests include: Sustainability, Food, Energy, Water Nexus, United Nations Sustainable Development goals, Plastics in the Ocean, Storm water management, Green infrastructure, and Radioactivity in the environment
Email
Campus: Livingston
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: Geography
Website
Dr. Schneider’s research focuses on human-environment relations affecting patterns and processes of land-use land-cover change in the tropics. Her specific research interests are monitoring and modeling land transformation, biophysical remote sensing and understanding the effect of environmental disturbances (hurricanes, fires, droughts) on tropical forest resilience.
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Campus: Livingston
School: SAS, SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Geography and Office of the NJ State Climatologist
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Dr. Robinson’s primary research interests include climate and climate change; in particular, state and regional climate and climate change issues, hemispheric and regional snow cover dynamics, interactions of snow cover with other climate elements, the dynamics of solar and terrestrial radiative fluxes at and close to the surface of the earth, and the collection and archiving of accurate climatic data. These interests translate into his service endeavors as the NJ State Climatologist and as a contributor to national and international climate assessments, which includes helping to solve a myriad of problems working with various stakeholders and interacting with individuals within the physical and social sciences. David’s academic interests in the classroom include teaching courses such as Earth Systems, The Global Climate System and Global and Regional Climate Change.
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Campus: Livingston
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: Geography
Website
Dr. Rennermalm’s research interests are in hydrology, glaciology and climate change in Polar regions, which falls within the umbrella of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. Her current work focuses on the Greenland ice sheet hydrology and mass balance to better understand how much melt water escapes into the ocean where it affects marine environments and raise global sea levels. Her work involves analysis of data from computer models, satellite remote sensing and geophysical field work.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Env Sci
Website | View CV
Dr. Young is an environmental microbiologist and has worked on biodegradation processes that occur in soils and sediments in both freshwater and marine environments. Her first major research focus is anaerobic biodegradation of aromatic compounds, both natural and anthropogenic, including lignoaromatic compounds, BTX, alkanes, PAHs, their mechanisms of degradation, the microorganisms involved and their role in Carbon turnover, especially in light of global warming. This also has relevance to petroleum formations and their origins and diagenesis.
Her second major focus is microbial reduction and oxidation of metals and metal sulfides in the environment, especially arsenic (III & V), and microbial effects of the formation and the dissolution of metal sulfides. This also has implications for mineral formations. For example, to our knowledge, we published the first description of microbial formation of alacranite (As8S9) (2013) which is typically considered to be formed under hydrothermal conditions.
She has collaborated across campus with faculty in other departments including chemical and biochemical engineering, biochemistry and microbiology, marine and coastal sciences, plant biology, earth and planetary sciences. Being a member of EOAS provides her with additional opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Env Sci
Website
Dr. Strom’s research has focused on the microbial ecology of the biological treatment of wastes. This has included work on activated sludge and rotating biological contactors (RBCs) for wastewaters; nitrification in wastewater treatment; enhanced biological phosphorus removal; composting of municipal solid waste, sludges, and yard wastes; bioremediation of oil, creosote, polychlorinated biphenyl, and trichloroethylene contaminated soils; biofiltration to remove contaminants (including ammonia, ethylene, and methane) from gas streams; and the rational application of genetic engineering in waste treatment (field application vectors). He has also worked on surface water pollution issues, including total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), especially relating to nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), and stormwater characterization, especially from outdoor recycling facilities. In addition to introductory level courses for majors (11:375:201 Biological Principles of Environmental Science) and non-majors (11:375:101 Intro to Environmental Science), Peter currently teaches advanced courses in Biological Waste Treatment (16:375:531) and Hazardous Waste Management (11:375:430 and 16:375:530).
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Env Sci
Website | View CV
Dr. Rodenburg specializes in the fate of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). She’s interested in sewers and the complex microbiology and chemistry occurring there. Lisa an expert in factor analysis (Positive Matrix Factorization) and as a result I have experience in handling large data sets, and has done numerous consulting projects, including several for the NY Academy of Sciences. She is an expert on PCBs in pigments and how they are dispersed into the environment via their use in consumer products. A lot of her work involves using data sets that involve entire watersheds to understand the sources and fate of POPs, including the microbial dehalogenation of POPs occurring in sewers, groundwater, and landfills.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Env Sci
Website
Dr. Alan Robock is a Distinguished Professor of climate science in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1970 with a B.A. in Meteorology, and from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with an S.M. in 1974 and Ph.D. in 1977, both in Meteorology. Before graduate school, he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines. He was a professor at the University of Maryland, 1977-1997, and the State Climatologist of Maryland, 1991-1997, before coming to Rutgers. Prof. Robock has published more than 370 articles on his research in the area of climate change, including more than 220 peer-reviewed papers, with a Google h-index of 71. His areas of expertise include geoengineering, climatic effects of nuclear war, effects of volcanic eruptions on climate, and soil moisture. He serves as Editor of Reviews of Geophysics, the most highly-cited journal in the Earth Sciences. His honors include being a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society (AMS), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and recipient of the AMS Jule Charney Award. Prof. Robock was a Lead Author of the 2013 Working Group 1 Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007). He recently served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, which operates the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Env Sci
Website | View CV
Dr. Reinfelder’s research addresses the biogeochemical cycling of major and trace elements in marine and terrestrial aquatic ecosystems including the accumulation, limitation, and trophic transfer of elements in aquatic food webs, cycling and air-sea and land-air exchange of mercury in terrestrial, estuarine, and oceanic waters, subsurface biogeochemistry of sulfur-bearing minerals and associated trace elements, and the physiological ecology of carbon assimilation in marine phytoplankton. John teaches a graduate course in aquatic chemistry, an undergraduate course in environmental chemistry, and a freshman seminar on estuaries.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Env Sci
Former EOAS Director
Website | View CV
Mark is a research professor in Rutgers Department of Environmental Sciences and is the former EOAS Director. Comprehensive data sets and a thorough understanding of Global Climate Model process-level physics are the tools used in Dr. Miller’s research group to interpret regional climate change. Radiation throughput within the Earth’s cloud systems is a particular focus. They investigate cloud systems ranging from the marine stratocumulus and trade wind cumulus that are present over the world’s oceans to the deep convection that is observed in continental tropical areas such as the West African Sahel and the Amazon Rainforest. Each of the Earth’s cloud systems responds to a different balance of forcing mechanisms and is thus expected to produce different feedbacks within a changing climate system. Clouds such as marine stratocumulus are thought to be susceptible to the concentration of anthropogenic aerosols (pollution), which serve as Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN). When significant concentrations of anthropogenic CCN are present and background meteorological conditions are favorable, clouds embedded within a polluted air mass may become brighter, precipitate less, and have a longer life cycle. And many of the Earth’s cloud systems are also linked to the biosphere. The Earth’s surface may absorb or reflect more incoming sunlight depending on the nature of the land surface and its plants. Plants conducting photosynthesis uptake water from the soil and release it into the atmosphere where it may be carried aloft in thermals and enhance cloudiness. This enhanced cloudiness increases the reflection of incoming sunlight that would otherwise have reached the Earth’s surface and in so doing establishes a feedback loop between the atmosphere and the biosphere. The exact nature of the cloud feedbacks within the Earth’s cloud systems is still uncertain, which is our grand research challenge.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Env Sci
Website
Dr. Lintner is an associate professor as well as the Atmospheric Sciences Graduate Program Director in the Rutgers Environmental Sciences department. His primary research interests are tropical climate dynamics and land-atmosphere interactions.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Env Sci
Website
Donna E. Fennell is an environmental engineer/environmental microbiologist who studies biological processes in natural and engineered systems. Her work seeks to discover novel activities of microorganisms in Earth’s atmosphere; understand factors controlling the activity, makeup and efficiency of microbial consortia in the waste to energy process, anaerobic digestion; and harness the power of microorganisms to treat contaminated groundwater and sediments. Her group uses interdisciplinary approaches, modeling and cutting-edge molecular and chemical tools to characterize diverse microbial environments.
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Campus: Cook
Schools: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DES
Website
Dr. Dawson works at the interface of geomicrobiology and organic geochemistry. She uses techniques including microscopy, microbial culturing, lipid extraction and analysis, and stable isotope geochemistry with H, C, N and S to study microbial ecology, microbial transformation of organic molecules, and the molecular and isotopic imprints microbes leave behind in the geologic record.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Env Sci
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Dr. Curchister is an associate professor in the Rutgers Dept. of Environmental Sciences. His primary research interests include ocean circulation and its role in the climate system, dynamics of boundary currents and shelf circulation, physical-biological interactions, development of coupled Earth System Models, and multi-scale climate dynamics and numerical modeling.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Env Sci
Website
Dr. Broccoli is a professor and serves as chair of the Rutgers Department of Environmental Sciences. His research focuses on the dynamics of the climate system, with a specific emphasis on understanding the fundamental mechanisms that are involved in changes in climate, both past and future. The simulation of past climates, such as the climate of the last ice age or the response of climate to changes in the earth’s orbit, can lead to a better understanding of the key feedbacks and processes that determine how the climate system responds to external forcing. Similar mechanisms may also be instrumental in potential future changes in climate. Many of the mechanisms of greatest interest involve interactions among the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, land, and biosphere.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Env Sci
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Dr. Both’s research interests focus primarily on two main cores: the design and operation of greenhouse structures, and energy systems for agricultural applications. Both these areas incorporate environmental inputs and impacts. For example, greenhouse production systems are highly impacted by outdoor temperature and radiation conditions, and energy systems impact the outdoor environment through their emissions. Thus, the measurement of environmental parameters is an important component of his research. He often works as a member of multidisciplinary teams that try to solve practical challenges that impact both the production systems as well as the environment in which they operate. He hopes that his membership in this institute will create opportunities to explore new collaborations with other members as well as with colleagues outside Rutgers.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Entomology, Center for Vector Biology
Website
Some of the adaptation strategies to climate change and sea level rise such as restoration of salt marshes through thin-layer application of dredge spoil will greatly affect salt marsh mosquito production. In a collaboration with Richard Lathrop (CRSSA), local mosquito control agencies, and other land management partners Dr. Fonseca is using DNA-based tools to survey and eventually design and implement a marsh research program that informs future mosquito control management actions. Furthermore, they are examining how southern native mosquitoes as well as some invasive species are moving north changing local epidemiological risk but, surprisingly, also providing opportunities to obtain information on reclusive vertebrates, some endangered, that become sources of blood.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Ecol, Evol, and Nat Res
Website
Dr. Xu is an associate professor of Ecological modeling at the Rutgers Grant F. Walton Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis and Rutgers DEENR. His current research interests are in climate change, ecosystem processes and their interactions with atmosphere, global change ecology, biodiversity, and ecosystem services and modeling.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Ecol, Evol, and Nat Res
Website
Members of the Winfree lab work to understand the ecology of pollinators and the pollination function they provide in the context of global change. Our field data are collected at large spatial and temporal scales, and used with a variety of analytical approaches to test and extend ecological theory, and to guide ecosystem management. A current research focus is using pollinators and pollination as a model system for testing ideas about the relationships among global environmental change, biodiversity, and ecosystem function. Other research projects range from the community ecology of plant-pollinator networks to testing the effectiveness of alternative strategies for pollinator restoration.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Ecol, Evol and Nat Res
Website
Dr. Wiedenmann is a fisheries biologist, focusing on the population dynamics and management of marine species. Connections between the oceans and the atmosphere have broad implications for fisheries management, and the social institutions that depend on them. He was formerly a member of IMCS, and found it a great resource for fostering ideas and collaborations with people who worked in the marine environment. Members of EOAS will have even broader areas of academic interest, and John is happy to be a part of this new Institute.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Ecol, Evol, and Nat Res
Website
Dr. Struwe is an associate professor in Rutgers DEENR, as well as Director of the Chrysler Herbarium (CHRM). She works primarily in plant diversity and evolution with a wide variety of topics, such as: The evolutionary and ecological responses in weedy plants to high natural and artificial selection due to urbanization, climate, and human activities at scales from the global to the local and especially within urban microhabitats; Evolution and biogeography of plant biodiversity in the Neotropics, historical and contemporary, including geological and paleoclimatological inferences for biodiversity evolution; and The evaluation of climate- and geoscience-based ecological niches of species and evolutionary clades in a phylogenetic context within plants and fungi (Spatial Evolutionary and Ecological Vicariance Analysis, SEEVA
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Ecol, Evol, and Nat Res
Website
Dr. Pinsky is an ecologist with a strong interest in marine communities and molecular tools. Much of his research strives to integrate theory, population genetics, and field ecology to understand the population dynamics of coastal marine species. How are we as a society impacted by and impacting marine species? What choices can we make to alter these impacts and benefits? What will the oceans look like in a decade or a century? A key goal of his research is to aid in the conservation of marine ecosystems, both by pushing the boundaries of research and through training highly skilled scientists and communicators. Malin’s projects have included studies examining adaptation to climate change in temperate marine fish and fisheries, larval dispersal in coral reef fish to inform marine reserve design, and seal population dynamics in response to climate change and hunting.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Eco, Evol, & Nat Res
Website | View CV
Dr. Morin has 4 core areas of research interest:
1) Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning
Much of our recent research has focused on relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in natural and model communities. Dr. Morin’s laboratory uses microcosms containing microbes to test basic ideas about the role of different species in driving community and ecosystem processes. These studies include explorations of links between diversity and ecosystem predictability, and studies of effects of biodiversity on responses of ecosystems to gradual environmental change. Other studies have used assemblages of amphibians to directly examine the extent of functional equivalence in temporary pond communities.
2) Ecological Networks
Past research in his group has explored the consequences of food web structure for the population dynamics of component species, relations between productivity and food chain length, and effects of different top predators on food web composition. Current research is exploring the impacts of non-native species on the structure and functioning of terrestrial food webs.
3) Inducible Trophic Polymorphisms
New work in Peter’s group is examining the role of inducible trophic polymorphisms and intraguild predation in generating alternate community states. Related work is examining the population dynamics of protist species with inducible trophic polymorphisms, to understand how environmental variation is related to their expression, and to experimentally demonstrate the adaptive significance of these spectacular examples of phenotypic plasticity.
4) Community Ecology
He is generally interested in the roles of interspecific interactions and abiotic factors in producing patterns of species diversity and community composition. Peter’s textbook Community Ecology 2e summarizes current views about the factors that structure communities. Topics of particular interest include the interactive effects of competition, predation, and the history of community assembly on patterns of species abundance in organisms including protists, insects, and amphibians. Other work is exploring the process of community assembly and the potential consequences of irreversible community changes for ecological restoration efforts.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Ecol, Evol, and Nat Res
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Dr. Meixler, a professor at Rutgers DEENR, has two current projects with members of the CURE (Center for Urban Restoration and Ecology) group at Rutgers and with Eric Sanderson (Wildlife Conservation Society) to study resilience and restoration of Jamaica Bay, New York. She is also working with Mike Kennish on the study of plant community characteristics and their changes in response to climate change and anthropologic alterations in the Tuckerton Peninsula, New Jersey. Her background is in aquatic ecology and I have published in the areas of wetland ecology, watershed impairment, landscape ecology, water quality and restoration/vulnerability.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DEENR
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Dr. Maslo received a doctorate in Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and is experienced in creating and enhancing wildlife habitat through ecological restoration and scientific research. She has focused on the effective translation of scientific research into practical habitat restoration directives, specifically for the benefit of threatened and endangered beach-nesting shorebirds along the Atlantic Coast. Dr. Maslo is also actively involved conducting research on the survival and conservation of bat species, particularly those affected by White Nose Syndrome.
She has a strong relationship with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife Endangered and Nongame Species Program and has partnered with them in carrying out conservation initiatives for several endangered species and species of special concern. With her undergraduate training and professional experience as a biological resources engineer, she has been an integral part of several large-scale engineering projects. She has also played a significant role in the restoration of degraded landscapes throughout North America. In addition to her credentials as an applied wildlife ecologist, Dr. Maslo also serves as the managing editor of the peer-reviewed scientific journal Ecological Restoration and teaches at the university level in wildlife ecology and conservation, restoration ecology, and animal behavior.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Ecol, Evol, & Nat Res
Website
Dr. Lockwood is interested in participating in interdisciplinary research associated with coastal ecosystems, and in supporting the graduate education mission of the Institute. Her research has included a substantial amount of time considering the conservation of coastal systems, including the management of threatened species and the prevention and impact of coastal marine invaders. Julie’s commitment to graduate education stems from her service as the graduate program director of the Ecology and Evolution Program, including submitting several training grants to provide fellowships for graduate students.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Ecol, Evol, and Nat Res
Website | View CV
Dr. Rick Lathrop is the Director of the Grant F. Walton Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis at Rutgers. His primary research interests include causes and consequences of land use/land cover change, modeling of ecosystem processes (carbon flux, biogeochemical cycling, water) and community dynamics, quantification and valuation of ecosystem services, and place-based decision support systems for environmental planning and natural resource management.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Human Ecol, and Ecol, Evol and Nat Res
Website
Dr. Rebecca Jordan received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst under the advisement of Francis Juanes. Her dissertation research investigated the visually guided mating behavior of Lake Malawi cichlid fish. Rebecca took a post-doctoral position as a Science and Technology Council Fellow with James Gould at Princeton University. There she expanded her interests to animal learning in general and incorporated work with undergraduate science learning. After two years at Princeton, Rebecca took a Visiting Assistant Professor position at Elizabeth City State University as part of a partnership with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In Elizabeth City, Rebecca continued her work with fishes in the capacity of providing undergraduates with research experience. Also in Elizabeth City, Rebecca broadened her study of science learning to incorporate informal audiences. Rebecca is currently Professor of Environmental Education and Citizen Science in the Departments of Human Ecology and Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. Here she works with graduate students and undergraduates in the study of behavior in Lake Malawi cichlids. As director of the Program in Science Learning, however, she he devotes most of her research effort to investigating public learning of science through environmental education and citizen science.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Ecol, Evol, and Nat Res
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Professor Handel is a restoration ecologist studying the potential for improvement of habitats, biodiversity, and ecoservices in urban and coastal areas. His scientific background is in plant population ecology and plant-animal interactions. He has collaborated with landscape architects on the application of ecology to the design of urban parks and coastal habitats, and spoken about these issues internationally. For example, in 2013, he was selected for the “Rebuild By Design” HUD competition to develop new ecological approaches to secure the NJ Shore. He is exploring ways of retaining ecological structure and services in the fringing habitats of Jamaica Bay, NY, for the U.S. National Park Service. His students and staff explore many aspects of restoration ecology, with an emphasis on plant communities. Handel is also Editor of the academic journal Ecological Restoration, whose editorial office is on College Farm Road.
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Campus: Cook/Camden
School:
Dept. Affiliation: Ecol, Evol, & Nat Res/ Biology (Camden)
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Dr. John Dighton is interested in forest soil ecology and has spent many years investigating nutrient requirements of plantation forests, especially fast growing trees and interactions of forest trees with mycorrhizal fungi. After the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, he became interested in the role of fungi in radionuclide acquisition and impacts of radionuclides on fungi. He has continued these lines of investigation and expanded my interests in the role of fungi in ecosystem processes since starting at Rutgers.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS/SAS
Dept. Affiliation: Environmental Sciences, Earth & Planetary Sciences
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Dr. Yee’s academic interests are in the fields of geochemistry and geomicrobiology. The goal of his research is to understand the impact of microorganisms on the geochemical cycling of inorganic elements. He employs microscopic, spectroscopic, and genetic techniques to investigate microbe-mineral interactions and the biotransformation of anthropogenic contaminants. The principal area of Nathan’s current work is focused on understanding molecular pathways of microbial-catalyzed redox reactions.
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Campus: Busch
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: EPS
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Dr. Tikoo utilizes paleomagnetism and rock magnetism as tools with which to explore the evolution of terrestrial planets from core to crust. Applications of this research extend to processes including plate tectonics, the evolution of planetary dynamos and more.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS, SAS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS, EPS
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Dr. Sherrell and his laboratory group studies the biogeochemistry of trace metals in the modern ocean and uses this understanding to develop new geochemical paleo-records of past ocean conditions. They are helping to increase the general knowledge of the distribution and dynamics of trace metals and isotopes in the ocean through the international GEOTRACES program, and recently completed GEOTRACES cruises in the tropical South Pacific and in the Arctic Ocean. They are very interested in metals that act as micro-nutrients for phytoplankton, and have active research programs exploring the mechanisms of natural Fe fertilization of ocean productivity in two shelf regions off west Antarctica. In addition, they are developing new geochemical paleo-proxies in tropical and deep-sea corals and are using these to develop histories of nutrients and the carbonate system of the past ocean. Part of this work involves long-term culturing studies with slow-growing deep corals to determine coral skeleton chemistry as a function of tightly controlled seawater chemistry; this work is being carried out in Barcelona. They are also pursuing high-resolution paleo-climate results by determining minor elements and isotopes in an 83,000 year old stalagmite from a cave on the SW Pacific island of Niue, with the goal of reconstructing rainfall at this site and unraveling its relationship to polar and global climate variations. Periodically, they make measurements of iridium and other platinum group metals in sediment sections that cross major extinction events in earth’s history, as part of an effort to determine the role of major extraterrestrial impacts. They are very active in developing analytical techniques using plasma source mass spectrometry, which are applied to all of these research endeavors.
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Campus: Busch
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: EPS
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Dr. Sheridan has studied the Eastern North American Margin (ENAM) for the last 50 years. As a marine geophysicist, he is interested in all aspects of the margin and its resources and environment that can be studied with geophysics, and all documentation of the geophysics by direct geological sampling.
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Campus: Busch
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: EPS
Website
Dr. Schlische’s research interests include: Tectonics and structural geology, experimental modeling of geologic structures, rift basins and passive margins, geomorphic expression of tectonic features, energy and mineral resources, and improving students’ spatial visualization skills
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS, SAS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS, EPS
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The overarching motivation for Dr. Rosenthal’s research is to document the history of, and understand mechanisms of climate change. As the ocean plays a key role in climate, a full understanding of the complexity of past climate change requires thorough knowledge of variations in ocean hydrography (e.g., seawater temperature, salinity and heat content) and circulation through time. Throughout his career, he has endeavored to develop new geochemical proxies that offer quantitative information of past ocean properties and thus the possibility for rigorous paleoceanographic reconstructions in a similar manner to that conducted with modern data.
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Campus: Busch, Cook
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: EPS, Env Sci
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Dr. Ying Fan Reinfelder is a professor and researcher in the Rutgers EPS. Her primary research interests include the global water cycle, climate dynamics, terrestrial environmental change, and terrestrial biogeochemical cycles.
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Campus: Busch
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: EPS
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Dr. Mountain’s research is at the intersection of geophysics and geology, using marine seismic reflection data to map stratal patterns correlated to core samples. His main interests are documenting the record of Cenozoic sea-level change, the transport of sediments across shelves and slopes, and the control of deep-sea sedimentation by abyssal currents. Understanding these processes illuminates the impact of global climate change on the Earth system at a wide range of scales in both time and space.
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Campus: Busch
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: EPS
Website
Dr. Ken Miller is a stratigrapher and micropaleontologist interested in climate and sea-level changes over the past 180 million years. Our mid-Atlantic coastal plain and nearshore drilling project (Ocean Drilling Program Legs 150 AX, 174AX and integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 313) has returned a records of sea-level changes from 100-10 million years ago. His efforts have provided exceptional records of some of the greatest hits of Earth history: the Cenonmanian-Turonian Ocean Anoxic event (ca. 93 Ma), the Cretaceous/Paleogene (ca. 66 Ma) mass extinction, the Paleocene/Eocene thermal maximum (56 Ma), the coming of the Icehouse (34 Ma), the development of a permanent Antarctic ice sheet (15-13 Ma), and the great melting of the Pliocene (ca. 3 Ma).
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Campus: Busch
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: EPS
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Dr. McGhee’s work in the field of paleontology is concentrated on the analysis of ancient ecosystems, and the evolution of life through time within this ecological context. For several years his research has involved both the empirical analysis of Late Devonian marine ecosystems, and the theoretical consideration of the ecology of multispecies evolution and extinction patterns. More recently he has been involved in testing various hypotheses of mass extinction: the ecology of massive ecosystem collapse. These hypotheses have included the hypothesis that global ecosystem collapse can be triggered by extraterrestrial causes (chiefly, asteroidal impact).
A second active field of George’s research concerns the analysis of the evolution and adaptive significance of organic form in nature using the analytic techniques of “theoretical morphology.” In theoretical morphology, the adaptive landscape concept is put into actual practice by creating hyperdimensional theoretical morphospaces that contain the spectrum of both real and nonexistent animal and plant morphologies. Within this geometric continuum of possible morphologies he poses the question: “Why has nature produced these morphologies and not those other, entirely possible but nevertheless nonexistent, morphologies?”, an analytic technique that allows him to unravel why life has evolved the way that it has.
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Campus: Busch
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: Earth & Planetary Sciences
Website
For the part of our planet that is beyond direct sampling (which is most of it) seismic waves offer an insight into the present day state of the interior. They can illuminate shapes of objects at depths, reveal changes in the state of the material, and offer clues about its texture. In Dr. Levin’s research he uses observations of seismic waves to probe the interior structure of the Earth. His studies yield information about the speed of different seismic waves: how it changes with depth, and from place to place; whether these changes are smooth or abrupt; whether there is any dependence on the direction in which seismic waves travel. While the means of his research has to do with elastic wave propagation and time series analysis, the motivation and goals are those of geological history and present-day tectonic activity. On the basis of inferences about seismic wave speed inside the Earth he tries to understand what is happening there now, or has happened in the past.
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Campus: Busch
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: EPS, REI
EOAS Director
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Dr. Kopp’s research focuses on using statistical approaches, primarily Bayesian in nature, to understand the record of past environmental changes and apply it to test and improve models of future global change. Complementing these geohistorical investigations, his research group also explores how humanity’s uncertain climate impacts can be incorporated into climate change mitigation and adaptation decision-making. One major area of research spanning these domains is the reconstruction of past sea-level changes, the projection of future changes, and the assessment of their implications for coastal resilience.
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Campus: Busch
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: EPS
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Dr. Dennis Kent is a professor of Geological Sciences in Rutgers EPS. His primary research relates to paleomagnetism, geomagnetism and rock magnetism, and their application to geologic problems. His current research interests also include Cenozoic and Mesozoic magnetostratigraphy and geomagnetic polarity time scales; paleogeography, paleoclimatology, and the long-term carbon cycle; paleointensity of the ancient geomagnetic field; magnetic recording properties of sediments, oceanic basalts, and polar ice.
Dr. Gross’ academic interests in the EOAS stems from her research that focuses on understanding the formation history and geochemical evolution of differentiated celestial bodies including Earth. This research is of fundamental importance in planetary sciences as it helps us understand our place in the universe and, more specifically, as it helps us better understand our own planet Earth. Specifically, she investigates the mineralogy, petrology, and geochemistry of planetary samples using field techniques for terrestrial analogues and microanalytical techniques such as Electron Microprobe (EPMA), Cathodoluminescence (CL), and Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Dr. Gross combines these with experimental techniques, such as 1 atm gas mixing furnace and Laser Irradiation Space Weathering experiments, in order to learn about crustal and mantle evolution of planetary bodies. Being part of EOAS will enable Juliane to expand my research focus, bridge the gap between Earth Sciences and Planetary Sciences and initiate fruitful collaborations between faculty and students.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS, SAS
Dept. Affiliation: REI, EPS, DMCS
Website
As the lead principle investigator for Rutgers DMCS’ Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology Laboratory, Dr. Falkowski’s research interests include many topics that fall under this category, including biogeochemical cycles, photosynthesis, biological oceanography, molecular biology, biochemistry and biophysics, physiological adaptation, plant physiology, evolution, mathematical modeling, and symbiosis. Paul also has specific energy interests in optimizing the production of algal feedstocks for biofuels and secondary metabolites, designing and optimizing biologically inspired catalyzers for hydrogen production and nitrogen fixation, and analyses of long term changes in technology that increase energy efficiency.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS, EPS
Website
Most of Dr. Bemis’ active research projects cross-cut several disciplinary boundaries with strong relevance to Earth and Ocean sciences, Scientific Visualization and minor relevance to Biological Sciences. She works on a variety of projects related to hydrothermal systems, including such topics as heat transfer into the ocean, plume dynamics, and diffuse flow distribution, which address the interplay of geologic, oceanographic and biological processes at mid-oceanic spreading centers. Much of the data used in this work is collected by instruments on the NEPTUNE underwater cabled observatory managed by Ocean Networks Canada including the COVIS (Cabled Observatory Vent Imaging Sonar), a system developed through a Rutgers-UW collaboration, a variety of thermistors, and a seismometer. Additionally, she studies how the dynamics of explosive volcanic eruptions and their tectonic setting influence the growth history of small monogenetic volcanoes known as scoria or cinder cones. This work involves both the compilation of historical observations of active volcanoes and the statistical studies of volcanic fields through the interpretation of topographic data and satellite imagery.
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Campus: Rutgers Newark
School: Newark College of Arts and Sciences, SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DMCS, Earth & Environmental Sciences
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Dr. Gao’s research interests are in the fields of atmospheric chemistry, air-sea chemical exchange and air pollution. The goals of her research are to understand the processes affecting the atmospheric composition and its impact on the ocean biogeochemical cycles and the quality of human environment. Her research has spanned many regions, from the Asian coast to the US East Coast, and from the Arctic Ocean to the Southern Ocean. Dr. Gao applies integrated approaches that combine field measurements, laboratory experiments and numerical modeling to characterize the properties of atmospheric substances and better understand the land-atmosphere-ocean interactions. Her current research projects focus on the near and far, from how urban air quality impacts human health around the metropolitan area (New York City-Newark in New Jersey) to studying the atmospheric dust and iron deposition to the Arctic Ocean, Southern Ocean and Antarctica.
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Campus: Busch
School: Engineering
Dept. Affiliation: Civil & Environmental Engineering
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Dr. Guo is a research professor in Rutgers Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His primary research interests include:
-Urban Stormwater and Flood Management
-Inland and Coastal Water Environment Restoration
-Hydraulics, Hydrology and Water Quality
-Water Resources and Environmental Engineering
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Campus: Rutgers Newark
School: Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Dept. Affiliation: Biological Sciences
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Dr. Schäfer’s primary research interests lie in the realm of global change and its effects on terrestrial ecosystems. To this point, her research has focused on refining carbon budgets of forest ecosystems through sapflow based canopy conductance. In her current project she is adapting and re-parameterizing the Canopy Conductance Constrained Assimilation model (4CA) which she originally developed for a pine ecosystem at Duke. Once the model has been parameterized and validated at a specific site, climate change scenarios can be tested by using predicted values and implementing into the model predicting the outcome for that scenario for that site.
In addition, Karina is working in urban ecology through eddy-covariance measurements in the Meadowlands of New Jersey assessing CO2 and CH4 fluxes. Restoration of wetlands may or may not help in the carbon sequestration potential of wetlands and whether they will be able to keep up with sea level rise. Expanding the knowledge along the terrestrial – aquatic interface will enable predictions of resilience for these ecosystems.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: Biochem and Microbio
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Dr. Vetriani along with his laboratory group studies the physiology, ecology and evolution of prokaryotes that inhabit geothermal environments. The overarching objective of their research revolves on the question: “how did microbial metabolism co-evolved with the Earth?” Extant thermophilic, anaerobic, chemolithoautotrophic Bacteria and Archaea that conserve energy and fix carbon using inorganic compounds associated with volcanic activity (e.g., H2, H2S, S0 and CO2) are completely disconnected from photosynthetic processes. While these deep-branching anaerobic thermophiles are modern organisms that co-evolved with our planet, they inhabit deep-sea hydrothermal vents and other geothermal habitats that can be considered relic environments similar to the early Earth. Hence, these microorganisms carry both ancestral and more recently acquired traits (genes and enzymes) and can be used as models to reconstruct early metabolism. To this end, in their laboratory they devote a considerable effort to “domesticate” some of the most fascinating organisms on our planet, and to use them as models to understand their physiology, ecology and their evolution and adaptations to environments that resemble the early Earth.
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Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DBM
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Dr. Häggblom’s research interests are in microbial ecology, environmental biotechnology, and in the bioexploration, cultivation and characterization of novel microbes. A common theme is the “unusual appetites” of bacteria, whether in the biodegradation and detoxification of new xenobiotic chemicals or natural products, respiration of relatively rare metalloids such as Se and As, or life in the cold.
Email
Campus: Cook
School: SEBS
Dept. Affiliation: DEENR, DMCS, DBM
Website
Work in Dr. Bhattacharya’s lab relevant to EOAS goals addresses a key aspect of ocean science: the origin and evolution of phytoplankton. He and his lab group use a variety of techniques ranging from algal culture and physiology, standard and single cell genomics, and functional genomics to study topics such as how algae gained and orchestrate the functions of their photosynthetic organelle, the plastid. The group also studies the capacity of algae to adapt to changing environmental conditions, for example how the green alga Picochlorum can grow nearly equally well in freshwater as in medium containing 1.6M NaCL. These latter taxa are targets for biofuel and other applied uses. They have also worked with collaborators at Rutgers to elucidate the origins of redox enzymes in deep time and to provide a framework for understanding how energy was transduced in the first cells. As the leader of the SEBS Genome Cooperative, Debashish has been the PI or has collaborated on a wide variety of projects that address topics in marine genomics. These include funded as well as pending projects on coral genomics, development, and biomineralization (with Paul Falkowski), haptophyte biodiversity and algal-virus interactions (with Kay Bidle), ice metagenomics (with John Reinfelder), and studying the basis of phenotypic plasticity in sea urchins (with Diane Adams). Future training efforts will focus on building a PhD program in genetic information transfer in the ocean with DMCS (and other) colleagues, and in developing bioinformatics training at the SEBS campus so that Rutgers can lead in this area of genome-enabled marine science.
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Campus: Cook
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: Anthropology, DEENR
Website
Dr. Vogel is a biological anthropologist and evolutionary ecologist. Her research is focused on how primates acquire and assimilate food resources, particularly in the face of variable environments. She believes that an integrated understanding of how and why primates feed under varying ecological conditions can be instructive for interpreting the adaptive milestones of human evolution. At its core, Erin’s research focuses on the question: How does ecological variation influence the feeding behavior, physiology, and morphology of nonhuman primates? Studies of primate feeding adaptations have revealed great variation in primate behavioral, physiological, and morphological strategies to meet energetic needs, but how these adaptations vary in response to changing environmental conditions and their potential impacts on individual health and fitness remain unclear. Within this overall theme, her research activities focus on two main categories of adaptations: 1) the factors that influence diet selection (e.g. nutrition, availability, food competition, morphology); and, 2) the effects of food availability and nutritional intake on the energetic state, health, reproduction, and behavior of wild primates. Her recent and current projects are cross-disciplinary, bridging the fields of biological anthropology, evolutionary biology, physiology, immunology, ecology, animal behavior, and functional morphology.
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Campus: Busch
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: EPS
Website
Dr. Ashley is a distinguished professor of geology with over 40 years of experience with all modern sedimentological studies in the coastal, fluvial, lacustrine, glacial and soil environments. Her primary research interests include modern climate and interpretation of the paleoclimate from deep time records, as well as physical processes, hydrology and sedimentary records of modern and ancient continental environments (dry lands, rivers, lakes and wetlands).
Email
Campus: Douglass
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: Anthropology
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Dr. Cabanes’ research aims to understand the association between environment and human cognitive and cultural evolution. He investigates biological, social, and economic changes using microarchaeological remains in three critical periods in human history: the emergence of the genus Homo in Africa, the transition from the Middle to Upper Paleolithic in Europe, and the evolution of the urban centers in the Levant.
Dan is a phytolith and FTIR expert, with a formation background in archaeobotany and geoarcheology. He has completed research in sites from the Lower Paleolithic to the Iron Age, and he also has lead ground breaking research on phytolith preservation and collaborated in the development of a fast method of phytolith analyses.
Currently, he is studying the role of fire technology in the demise of Neanderthals and the arrival of Modern Humans into Europe. His research interests also include the deep roots of the Anthropocene and the impact of human activities in the fossil sedimentary record, which has implications beyond the field of Human Evolution, and can contribute to other exciting topics such as the current climatic change and its effects on migrations and health.
Email
Campus: Busch/Douglass
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: EPS, Anthropology
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Dr. Feibel is a stratigrapher and sedimentologist specializing in the reconstruction of ancient environments as they pertain to the evolutionary record of early humans, the African savanna community, and the Afro-Arabian Rift System. He uses outcrop and core records to document environmental character and change using a multi-proxy approach, including sedimentary and biological markers.
– Assessing the needs of coastal decision makers and assembling training opportunities through JC NERR’s Coastal Training Program.
– Informing decision makers through the use of science-based applied research, visualization tools and best practices
– Primary areas of interest have coastal community vulnerability and resilience as they relate to current and future coastal hazards.
– Collaborative work with a variety of partners and stakeholders to develop tools and protocols to help communities understand their risks, plan for those risks and put resiliency, mitigation and adaptation measures into place.
– Combining natural and social science aspects of the coastal decision making process.
Email
Campus: Busch
School: SAS
Dept. Affiliation: EPS
Website
Dr. Marie-Pierre Aubry is a Distinguished Professor of geological sciences. A specialist in coccolithophores her interests include Cenozoic stratigraphy and geochronology, major extinction events in the Cenozoic, and the evolution of the marine plankton. She is the author of a multi-volume atlas on Cenozoic Coccolithophores in which she explores the paleobiology of the group. She has been involved in interdisciplinary studies on the late Neogene emergence of the Isthmus of Panama and in geoarcheological studies on the West Bank of the Nile at Thebes (Luxor, Egypt). She serves on the North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature, the International Subcommission on Neogene Stratigraphy and the International Commission on Stratigraphic Classification. She was Chairman of the ICS Working Group on the Paleocene/Eocene boundary and President of International Geological Correlation Project 308.
