Faculty
Our faculty lead research across earth sciences, climate, ecology, water, and environmental policy, and mentor the next generation of scientists and sustainability leaders.
Suzanne Affinati
Expert in metamorphic petrology and tectonics research with significant contributions to understanding Jurassic retroarc processes in the North American Cordillera.
Metamorphic Petrology Tectonics Petrochronology
Francisco Apen
Geochemist reconstructing how Earth's earliest continents formed and evolved, using high-precision geochronology and deep-crustal xenoliths from cratons around the world.
Petrology Geochemistry Geochronology
Clare Aslan
Leading expert in solutions-oriented conservation research, mutualism disruption, and social-ecological resilience.
Restoration Ecology Conservation Biology Social-Ecological Systems
Rebecca Best
Leading expert in aquatic biodiversity and conservation, climate effects on connectivity, and riparian tree ecology.
Aquatic Ecology Community Ecology Evolutionary Ecology
John Fegyveresi
Expert in ice core and polar ice sheet analysis, paleoclimate reconstruction, and polar environmental conditions.
Glaciology Ice Core Analysis Polar Ice Sheets
James Gaherty
Leading expert in seismological investigations of crust and mantle dynamics, continental rifting, and lithospheric plate evolution.
Geophysics Earthquake Seismology Upper Mantle Structure
Debbie Huntzinger
Leading expert in carbon cycle science, terrestrial biospheric modeling, and greenhouse gas management.
Climate Science Carbon Cycle Terrestrial Biosphere
Taylor Joyal
Expert in fluvial geomorphology and hydrology with extensive research on watershed restoration, dam removal, and post-fire flood processes.
Fluvial Geomorphology Hydrology Watershed Processes
Darrell Kaufman
Leading expert in paleoclimatology using lake sediments, geochronology, and proxy climate syntheses to study Earth's response to natural and human-driven forcings.
Paleoclimatology Climate Change Quaternary Science
Rosemary Logan
Sustainability educator specializing in transformative and community-based learning, from first-year seminars to graduate work in sustainable communities and food systems.
Sustainability Education Transformative Learning Community-based Learning
Nicholas McKay
Expert in paleoclimate data analysis, climate informatics, and the development of tools for analyzing large paleoclimate datasets.
Paleoclimatology Data Science Climate Informatics
Erik Nielsen
Leader in sustainability initiatives, environmental policy, and community-based conservation with extensive international experience.
Environmental Policy Conservation Social Science Sustainability
Erika Nowak
Expert in herpetofauna conservation, particularly federally threatened gartersnakes and venomous reptiles, with over 30 years of field research experience.
Herpetology Conservation Biology Ecology
Denielle Perry
Expert in water resource geography, Colorado River Basin management, free-flowing river conservation, and political ecology of water governance.
Water Resource Geography Political Ecology River Conservation
Ryan Porter
Expert in lithospheric structure analysis, subduction zone processes, monogenetic volcanism, and geomorphic processes with focus on the North and South American Cordillera.
Seismology Geophysics Tectonics
Lucero Radonic
Applied environmental anthropologist studying water governance, urban infrastructure, and climate adaptation with communities in Latin America and the U.S. Southwest.
Environmental Anthropology Water Governance Urban Political Ecology
Pranay Ranjan
Expert in institutional analysis, environmental policy, conservation behavior, and action research with focus on sustainable agriculture and water systems.
Environmental Social Science Water Governance Agricultural Conservation
Christine Regalla
Field geologist investigating fault processes, crustal deformation, and landscape responses to tectonic activity using multidisciplinary approaches.
Structural Geology Active Tectonics Earthquake Geology
Cody Routson
Paleoclimatologist studying drought, hydroclimate, and natural climate variability, using networks of proxy records to put modern change in the context of the past 12,000 years.
Paleoclimatology Hydroclimate Drought Research
Helen Rowe
Expert in arid environment ecology, invasive grass management, long-term ecological monitoring, and desert plant conservation with over 20 years of field experience.
Ecological Restoration Invasive Species Management Desert Ecology
Temuulen Sankey
Remote sensing scientist using satellites, drones, and lidar to monitor dryland ecosystems: forest thinning and snowpack, evapotranspiration, post-fire recovery, and vegetation change across the Southwest.
Remote Sensing UAV Technology Dryland Ecosystems
Donna Shillington
Expert in marine and continental geophysics, active-source seismology, and plate boundary deformation with extensive oceanographic research experience.
Marine Geophysics Seismology Plate Tectonics
Michael Smith
Expert in sedimentary geology, geochronology, and provenance with a focus on Eocene greenhouse climates and modern submarine canyon geomorphology.
Sedimentary Geology Eocene Paleoclimatology Geochronology of Terrestrial Basins
Bridget Smith-Konter
Expert in fault system modeling, earthquake mechanics, and computational geophysics with extensive research on the San Andreas Fault System and planetary tectonics.
Geophysics Tectonics Earthquake Modeling
Sara Souther
Expert in conservation ecology, collaborative resource management, and demographic modeling with focus on endangered plant species in southwestern ecosystems.
Conservation Biology Plant Ecology Population Ecology
Abraham Springer
Expert in springs ecosystems, groundwater-surface water interactions, and the role of springs as climate refugia for biodiversity conservation.
Hydrogeology Ecohydrology Springs Ecology
Diana Stuart
Environmental sociologist investigating drivers of environmental problems, climate solutions, degrowth alternatives, and pathways for positive social change.
Environmental Sociology Climate Change Sustainability
Casey Tierney
Expert in volcanic and magmatic systems, continental crust development, and integration of volcanology, mineralogy, and geochemistry.
Volcanology Petrology Geochemistry