Environmental Studies Faculty

Director

Associate Director

Tiffany Knight, Assistant Professor (Biology), Ph.D., University of Pittsburg.  Effects of interspecific interactions, in particular herbivory and pollination, on the population dynamics of rare and invasive plants.

Professors

Richard Axelbaum, Associate Professor (Environmental Engineering), Ph.D., University of California, Davis. Gas-phase synthesis of advanced materials, soot formation in flames, fundamental flame studies

Pratim Briswas, Stifel and Quinette Jens Professor of Environmental Engineering, Ph.D., California Institute of Technology.  Teaching and research interests include aerosol science and engineering; nanoparticle technology; air quality engineering;combustion; materials processing for environmental technologies, environmentally benign processing, environmental nanotechnology, and the thermal sciences.

Jon M. Chase, Associate Professor (Biology), Ph.D., University of Chicago.  Diversity, distribution, and abundance of animal and plant species from the population/community/ecosystem perspective and the patterns and processes that develop at the interface between local and regional spatial scales.

Geoff Childs, Assistant Professor (Anthropology), Ph.D., Indiana University.  Synthesis of Anthropology and Demography in studying Tibetan societies.

Robert E. Criss, Professor (Earth and Planetary Sciences), Ph.D., California Institute of Technology.  Stable isotope geochemistry, hydrothermal systems and ore deposits, river and groundwater hydrology, granitic batholiths, and mathematical modeling.

Ellen Damschen, Assistant Professor (Biology), Ph.D., North Carolina State University. Spatial and environmental controls over plant community composition and diversity. How human-induced changes like habitat fragmentation and climate changes alter plant communities. Current field sites include a landscape experiment in Aiken, SC, the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains in southwestern Oregon, Ozark glades across Missouri, and the Tyson Research Center. Teaches Bio/EnSt 381 - Intro to Ecology.

Willem Dickhoff, Professor (Physics), Ph.D., Free University, Amsterdam.  Team-teaches Physics 171/EnSt 272: Physics and Society, an introduction to physics, its goals, methods, and relevance for society. Topics include energy as a unifying principle of physics and society's use of energy; nuclear energy; global climate change; science and government; and bad and pseudo-science.

 Milorad (Mike) Dudukovic, Laura and William Jens Professor (Chemical Engineering), Ph.D., IIT, Chicago.  Chemical reaction engineering involving kinetic-transport interactions in multiphase systems.

Bob Dymek, Professor (Earth and Planetary Sciences), Ph.D., California Institute of Technology.  Professor Dymek utilizes field, chemical, and phase petrology in the study of igneous and metamorphic processes. More recently, he has begun to examine trace elements in sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks as recorders of crustal evolution.  He has carried out extensive field studies in West Greenland investigating high-grade Archaean gneisses, and in the Grenville Province of Canada investigating Proterozoic massif anorthosites and related rocks.  Dr. Dymek is especially interested in geological problems that have a fundamental bearing on Precambrian Earth history.

J. Claude Evans, Professor (Philosophy), Ph.D., SUNY-Stony Brook.  Teaches Phil 235 Introduction to Environmental Ethics and occasionally an advanced course on topics in the philosophy of the environment. The introduction deals with issues such as animal rights, anthropocentrism vs. biocentrism, Aldo Leopold's "land ethic," wilderness, deep ecology, biodiversity, sustainability, environmental economics, and corporate responsibility.

Bruce Fegley, Professor (Earth and Planetary Sciences), Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Paleo-environmental questions such as the effects of large asteroidal and cometary impact on the terrestrial biosphere at the time of the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary and the connection between impacts on the early Earth and the origin of life. Currently teaching Thermo and Phase Equilibria, Earth System Science and Planetary Geochemistry.

Dan Giammar, Assistant Professor (Environmental Engineering), Ph.D., California Institute of Technology.  Aquatic chemistry in natural and engineered systems, chemical reactions at the solid-water interface, engineering for water quality control, fate and transport of inorganic contaminants in the environment.

T. R. Kidder, Professor (Anthropology), Ph.D., Harvard University.  North American archaeology, geoarchaeology, ceramic analysis, humans and climate change, plant domestication; Mississippi River, southeastern United States.

Maxine Lipeles, Professor (Engineering and Policy), J.D., Harvard University.  Environmental policy and regulation, particularly hazardous waste and water pollution.

William R. Lowry, Professor (Political Science), Ph.D., Stanford University.  Environmental policy, regulation, and public lands management.

F. Beth Martin, Engineering and Science Director, Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic, M.S. (Environmental Engineering) Washington University.  Environmental Policy and its interaction with science and engineering.

Ken Olsen, Assistant Professor (Biology). Dr. Olsen studies the genetic basis of evolution in plants and how the genetic variation within a species is shaped by natural selection, population history, and other evolutionary forces.

John Orrock, Assistant Professor (Biology), Ph.D., Iowa State University. How behavior mediates the spatial dynamics of plant-consumer and predator-prey interactions, with emphasis on conservation and restoration. Research sites include the grasslands of California, oldfields in South Carolina, Missouri oak forests, and the Channel Islands off the California coast. Teaches Bio/EnSt 372 - Behavioral Ecology.

Clare Palmer, Associate Professor (Philosophy), Ph.D., Oxford University.  Environmental philosophy and ethics, feminist ethics, Continental philosophy, Whitehead and process philosophy.  Professor Palmer's books include Environmental Ethics and Process Thinking (Oxford, 1998) and forthcoming co-edited books Killing Animals (University of Illinois Press, 2005), and Critical Concepts in Philosophy: Environmental Philosophy (5 vols.) (Routledge, November 2004).

Jill Pasteris, Professor (Earth and Planetary Sciences), Ph.D., Yale University.  Traditional mineralogic-geologic approach to non-traditional materials.  Application of vibrational spectroscopy, laser scanning confocal microscopy, microthermometry, and more traditional geochemical analysis techniques to: fluid inclusions in minerals and glasses, nanocrystalline precipitates and skeletal minerals in bacteria and humans, CO2 introduced onto the ocean floor.

Bruce Petersen, Associate Professor (Economics), Ph.D., Harvard University.  Teaches EnSt/Econ 453 Environmental Economics. The course considers the reasons why economies may generate excessive levels of pollution, what economists mean by "optimal" pollution levels and "efficient" pollution abatement, and how such outcomes can be achieved. The course also examines the practice of pollution control in the United States, including water pollution and various types of local, regional, and global air pollution.

Robert Pollak, Professor (Economics), Ph.D., MIT.  Teaches EnSt/Econ 453 Environmental Economics. The course considers the reasons why economies may generate excessive levels of pollution, what economists mean by "optimal" pollution levels and "efficient" pollution abatement, and how such outcomes can be achieved. The course also examines the practice of pollution control in the United States, including water pollution and various types of local, regional, and global air pollution.

D. Tab Rasmussen, Professor (Anthropology), Ph.D., Duke University.  Evolution of early primates; biology of living prosimian primates; changes in mammalian communities during the Cenozoic (last 60 million years); extinctions of primates and birds in Madagascar; paleontological field work in Africa and North America; courses taught include Primate Biology, Primate Evolution, Paleontological Laboratory Methods and Analysis.

Barbara A. Schaal, Professor (Biology), Ph.D., Yale University.  Conservation biology of plants; studying the genetic consequence of habitat fragmentation and management practices in several native plant species.

Jennifer R. Smith, Assistant Professor (Earth and Planetary Sciences), Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania.  Use of geologic and archaeological tools to study the relations between ancient humans and their environment.

Glenn Stone, Professor (Anthropology), Ph.D., University of Arizona.  Cultural and political ecology; indigenous agriculture; population; settlement patterns; ethnoarchaeology.

Robert W. Sussman, Professor (Anthropology), Ph.D., Duke University.  Primate evolution and ecology; conservation strategies and policies in tropical environments, such as Madagascar, Costa Rica, Guyana, and the Indian Ocean Islands.

Alan R. Templeton, Professor (Biology), Ph.D., University of Michigan.  Applies molecular genetic techniques to problems arising in conservation biology, including management of captive populations of endangered species, management of natural populations of endangered species, management of natural populations, reintroduction of endangered species to restored habitats, and inferring taxonomic status of endangered groups.

Jay R. Turner, Associate Professor (Engineering and Policy, Chemical Engineering), D. Sc., Washington University.  Environmental reaction engineering with emphasis on air pollution characterization and control. Policy and technical aspects of transportation / air quality issues.

Jane Wolff, Assistant Professor (Architecture), MLA, Harvard University. Prof. Wolff has practiced landscape and urban design in the Bay Area, and before her appointment at Washington University, she taught at the California College of Arts and Crafts and the Ohio State University.  She is the author of Delta Primer, a book designed to educate diverse audiences about the contested landscape of the California Delta.   Her research interests deal with the hybrid landscapes produced by natural process and cultural intervention. Her study topics have included the architecture of the Finnish railway system, the history of land reclamation in the Netherlands, and the cultural landscapes of the Tennessee Valley Authority, and her work has been supported by two Fulbright Scholarships, a Charles Eliot Traveling Fellowship, and a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts.