Department of Geosciences Faculty

The Department of Geosciences at Florida Atlantic University is housed on the Boca Raton campus and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in various subfields of the geosciences. The three main areas of focus in the department are earth systems science, human-environmental systems, and geo-information science. Phone: 561-297-3250


 

 

Dr. Anton Oleinik

 

Dr. Anton Oleinik
Associate Professor
Office: SE 464
E-mail:  aoleinik@fau.edu

 



  Research Interest:
Cenozoic stratigraphy, molluscan paleontology, paleobiogeography, and paleoclimates of high-latitude regions.  (Read More)
 

Dr. Caiyun Zhang

 

Dr. Caiyun Zhang
Professor
Office: SE 456A
E-mail: czhang3@fau.edu
Personal Web   Center for GIS

 

  Research Interest:
Hyperspectral and Lidar Remote Sensing, Coastal Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise and Hurricanes, Machine Learning Classification and Modeling, Object-Based Image Analysis.
(Read More)
 

Dr. Colin Polsky

 

Dr. Colin Polsky
Professor
Office: DW 312

E-mail: cpolsky@fau.edu

  About:
Professor Polsky is a geographer specializing in the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. He has completed four degrees with majors in four disciplines, plus a two-year postdoctoral training in a fifth field.
(Read More)
 

Dr. Erik Johanson

 

Dr. Erik Johanson
Assistant Professor 
Office: SE 473

E-mail: ejohanson@fau.edu
Environmental Lab website

  Research Interest:

Reconstructing past environments & environmental change, human-environment interaction across the Holocene, paleoclimatology, modern pollen and vegetation composition as related to climate patterns, fire histories and climate change.  (Read More)

 

Dr. Tara Root

 

Dr. Eric Prokocki
Assistant Professor 
Office: SE 452, DW 329

E-mail: eprokocki@fau.edu

  Research Interest:
Earth Surface Dynamics and Process Sedimentology

Emphasis On:
Fluvial, Deltaic, Estuarine, and Shallow to Deep Marine, Environments, Fluvial Geomorphology and Morphodynamics, Turbidity-Current Morphodynamics and Stratigraphy.  (Read More)

 

James Gammack-Clark

 

James Gammack-Clark
Senior Instructor
Office: SE 488

E-mail: jgammack@fau.edu

  About:
MA in Geography (Florida Atlantic University) 2001
BA in Geography (Florida Atlantic University) 2000
(Read More)
 

Dr. Maria Fadiman

 

Dr. Maria Fadiman
Professor 
Office: SE 454

E-mail: mfadiman@fau.edu
Personal web 

  Research Interest :
Ethnobotany, Latin America, World Cultures and Environments, Environmental Issues, Rain Forest Ecosystems
(Read More)
 

Dr. Russ Ivy

 

Dr. Russell Ivy
Senior Associate Provost
Office: ADM-10

E-mail: ivy@fau.edu

  About:
Russell Ivy serves as the Senior Associate Provost for Academic Affairs. In this capacity, he is responsible for providing leadership in formulating and administering university policies for student learning outcomes assessment
(Read More)
 

Dr. Scott Markwith

 

Dr. Scott Markwith
Professor 
Office: SE 450
E-mail: smarkwit@fau.edu
Biogeography Lab website
Project website

 

 

  Research Interest:
Ecological Biogeography, terrestrial, Wetland, and Nearshore Systems, Environmental Restoration, natural and Anthropogenic Disturbance, vegetation Dynamics, population and Conservation Genetics           
(Read More)
 

Dr. Tiffany Roberts Briggs

 

Dr. Tiffany Roberts Briggs
Chair & Associate Professor of Geosciences
Office: SE 470

E-mail: briggst@fau.edu
Coastal Lab website 

 

  Research Interest:
Coastal geomorphology, geology, and sedimentology; with emphasis on the beach, dune, and nearshore environments
(Read More)
 

Dr. Tobin Hindle

 

Dr. Tobin Hindle
Faculty & Grad Program Director 
Office: SE 462
E-mail: thindle@fau.edu

 

 

  Research Interest:
Human-Environmental Interactions, Ecological Regeneration, Strategies to integrate Science, Society, and Nature, Geographical Information Science, eLearning.
(Read More)
 

Dr. Weibo Liu

 

Dr. Weibo Liu
Associate Professor 
Office: SE 410

E-mail: liuw@fau.edu
Personal website 

  Research Interest :
Geographic Information Science, Spatiotemporal Data Modelling, Geocomputational Methods in GIS and WebGIS, GIS and RS Applications in Natural Hazards, Urbanization, and Coastal Environment. 
(Read More)
 

Dr. Xavier Comas

 

Dr. Xavier Comas
Professor
Office: SE 460, DW 330

E-mail: xcomas@fau.edu
Geophysics Lab website  

  Research Interest:
Hydrogeophysics: use of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), terrain conductivity, electrical resistivity and induced polarization (IP) for environmental applications with emphasis on wetlands and karst environments... 
(Read More)
 

Dr. Xiaolang Zhang

 

Dr. Xiaolang Zhang
Assistant Professor
Office: SE 474

E-mail: 
xiaolangzhang@fau.edu

  Research Interest:
Hydrogeology, Hydro-geochemistry, Groundwater numerical modelling, Surface water-groundwater interactions... 
(Read More)
 

Dr. Zhixiao Xie

 

Dr. Zhixiao Xie
Associate Dean for Graduate Studies & Professor
Office: SE 424

E-mail: xie@fau.edu

  Research Interest:
GIS, Remote Sensing, Spatial Data Analysis & Modeling
(Read More)
 

Dr. Yijie Zhu

 

Dr. Yijie Zhu
Assistant Professor
Office: SE 408
E-mail:
 yijiezhu@fau.edu

  Research Interest:
Tropical Cyclone, Climate Change, Natural Hazard, Evacuation
(Read More)

Adjunct Faculty

  
Dr. Cindy M Shaw
Email:  cshaw12@fau.edu
Dr. Sara Denka
Email: sdenka2016@fau.edu   
Dr. April A Watson
Email:  awatso21@fau.edu
Dr. Felicia D Survis
Email: fsurvis@fau.edu

Robert Depalma
Email: rdepalma@fau.edu

 

Affiliate Research Faculty

  
Dr. Ann-Margaret Esnard
Email:  aesnard@fau.edu
Dr. Allan Popak
Email: apopak@fau.edu
Dr. Chandra S. Pathak
Email:  cpathak@fau.edu
Dr. Christopher Kelble
Email: ckelble@fau.edu
Dr. David Palandro
Email:  dpalandr@fau.edu
Dr. David Sumner
Email: sumnerd@fau.edu
Deepak Mishra Cisneros
Email:  dmishra@uga.edu
Derek Manzello
Email: derek.manzello@ngraa.gov
Dr. Eric Swain
Email:  swaine@fau.edu
Dr. Felicia Rein
Email:  frein@fau.edu
Dr. Gillian K Bloise
Email:  gbreary@fau.edu
Dr. Graham Tobin
Email: gtobin@fau.edu
Dr. Huseyin Baki Iz
Email:  hiz@fau.edu
Dr. Jayantha Obeysekera
Email:  jobeysek@fau.edu
Dr. Josiah Strauss
Email:  jstraus2@fau.edu
Dr. Julio de Souza
Email: desouzaj@fau.edu
Goldenberg Joelle
Email:  jgoldenberg2015@fau.edu
Liu Jing
Email:  jliu2016@fau.edu
Dr. Kenneth Banks
Email: kbanks2@fau.edu
Dr. Kevin Cunningham
Email: kcunni23@fau.edu
Dr. Marc Minno
Email: gesch@usgs.gov
Dr. Michael Duever
Email:  mduever@fau.edu
Michael Bardunias
Email: 
Paulette McFadden
Email:  pmcfadden@fau.edu
Dr. Mingshun Jiang
Email: 
Dr. Rebecca Jo Walter
Email: rwalte11@fau.edu
Dr. Richard Appeldoorn
Email: rappeldo@fau.edu
Richard Mortlock
Email: rmortloc@eps.rutgers.edu
Dr. Robert Brinkman
Email: rbrinkma@fau.edu
Dr. Sanford Porter
Email:  porters@fau.edu
Dr. Sharon Ewe
Email:  sewe@fau.edu
Dr. Zhikang Chen
Email: zchen6@fau.edu

Emeritus Faculty

  
Dr. Charles Roberts
Email: crobertsl@fau.edu
 
Dr. Charles Finkl
Email:  cfinkl@fau.edu
Dr. David Lee
Email: dlee@fau.edu          
Dr. Edward Petuch
Email:  epetuch@fau.edu
Dr. Howard Hanson
Email: hphanson@fau.edu
Dr. Jorge Restrepo
Email:  restrepo@fau.edu
Dr. Leonard Berry
Email: berry@fau.edu
Dr. Ronald Schultz
Email: schultzr@fau.edu
Dr. Tata Robert
Email: