School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability

This emphasis will prepare you to pursue research and educational opportunities that:

1) Advance knowledge in the critical areas for society of energy, natural resources and water, and natural hazards,
2) continue the cutting edge research currently being done on the Earth and Planets, and
3) apply this knowledge in areas that bridge between the geosciences and physics, chemistry, engineering, and biology.

The focus area in Earth and Planetary Systems will train and educate future leaders in areas of industry with growing demands (e.g., natural resources and energy), and in government agencies that require PhD-level researchers to inform policy decisions on some of the largest problems facing society.

The Climate and Landscape Change emphasis is designed to develop research and educational skills that:

1) advance new understandings of the natural climate variability,
2) improve projections of climate change and its impacts on ecosystems and their hydrological and geological underpinnings (i.e. the landscape), and
3) apply this knowledge to informing policy decisions about how best to manage natural resources under changing climate and related environmental stresses.

It combines the long-term perspective from geological archives with process-oriented investigations of today, with the goal of integrating a field-based understanding of natural systems into predictive models to support sustainable resource management in the face of climate change.

The goals of this emphasis are to develop research and educational skills that:

1) advance engineering analysis and applications relevant to sustainable development,
2) improve the efficiency and effectiveness of engineering processes, products, and education, and
3) understand and apply their knowledge in the sustainability contexts of economic viability, environmental compatibility and sustainability, societal impacts and policy development and implications.

The Engineering Sustainable Systems emphasis is designed for the engineer interested in an understanding of the economic, societal and environmental implications of engineering systems. You will have a strong background in engineering enhanced by understanding future sustainability of our environment, and will be prepared for careers in academia, industry, and governmental organizations.

Required for all emphases:

• ENV 555: Environmental Science/Policy Interface
• EES 605: Regional Topics in Earth and Environmental Science and Policy
• EES 606: Research Methods in Earth and Environmental Science        
• 2 classes selected by student and committee from:
  • Environmental law & policy
  • Public outreach & communications
  • Management & Business
  • Teaching practicum courses
  • Engineering
   
• 2 seminar courses (698) selected by student and committee
• 15 units of EES 799 for the research, writing, and oral defense of an approved dissertation
• Comprehensive Exam

Earth & Planetary Systems emphasis

(30 units chosen from the following):

• GLG 670 Advanced Hydrogeology
• GLG 516 Petrologic Phase Equilibria
• GLG 520 Volcanology
• GLG 542 Advanced Structural Geology
• GLG 560 Introduction to Applied Geophysics
• GLG 561 Regional Tectonics
• GLG 565 Introduction to Solid Earth Geophysics
• GLG 570 Geochemistry
• GLG 575 Geochemistry of Natural Waters
• GLG 612 Igneous Petrology
• GLG 615 Metamorphic Petrology
• GLG 617 Isotope Geology
• GLG 625 Siliciclastic & Carbonate Petrology
• GLG 627 Depositional Systems
• GLG 629 Evolution of Sedimentary Basins
• PHY 590 Physics of the Solar System

Climate and Landscape Change emphasis

(30 additional units chosen from the following classes excluding ENV 595 and ENV 540):

• ENV 595 Global environmental and climate change
• ENV 540 Conservation Biology
• ENV 530 Arid land geomorphology
• ENV 544 Landscape ecology
• ENV 550 Historical ecology: Reconstructing past ecosystems
• ENV 555 Environmental science-policy interface
• ENV 580 Atmospheric change
• ENV 591 Science and management of greenhouse gases
• ENV/GLG 596 Quaternary climate change
• GLG 537 Quaternary geology
• GLG 670 Advanced hydrogeology
• BIO 426 Plants and climate
• BIO 479 Ecosystems and climate change
• FOR 500 Ecosystem science and management principles

Engineering Sustainable Systems

(30 units chosen from the following):

• CENE 502 Principles of Environmental Transport Processes
• CENE 540 Environmental Protection:  Today and Tomorrow
• CENE 543 Urban Transportation Planning
• CENE 550 Geotechnical Evaluation and Design
• CENE 551 Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering
• CENE 560 Classical Open Channel Flow
• CENE 562 Water Quality Monitoring
• ME 510 Finite Element Analysis
• ME 520 Applied Fluid Dynamics
• ME 525 Applied Computational Fluid Dynamics
• ME 530 Applied Thermal Analysis
• ME 535 Wind Energy Engineering
• ME 540 Combustion Energy Systems and Emissions
• ME 555 Manufacturing Systems & Management
• ME 560 Applied Solid Mechanics
• ME 570 Fracture Mechanics
• ME 575 Adaptive Materials and Systems
• ME 580 Composite Materials
• ME 698 Graduate Seminar
• EGR 501Topics in Sustainable Systems Engineering
• EGR 502 Topics in Advanced Engineering Design
• GLG 670 Advanced Hydrogeology

Nadine Barlow, Ph.D.
Impact Cratering and Planetary Surfaces
E-mail: Nadine.Barlow@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-5452

Ernest Duebendorfer, Ph.D.
Structural Geology
E-mail: Ernie.D@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-7510

Thomas Hoisch, Ph.D.
Metamorphic Petrology and Tectonics
E-mail: Thomas.Hoisch@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-1904

David Koerner, Ph.D.
Astrobiology
E-mail: David.Koerner@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-4562

Rod Parnell, Ph.D.
Aqueous Geochemistry
E-mail: Rod.Parnell@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-3329

Mary Reid, Ph.D.
Igneous Petrology and Isotope Geochemistry
E-mail: Mary.Reid@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-7200

Nancy Riggs, Ph.D.
Volcanology and Tectonics
E-mail: Nancy.Riggs@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-9362

James Sample, Ph.D.
Low-temperature Geochemistry and Structural Geology
E-mail: James.Sample@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-0881

David Trilling, Ph.D.
Planetary Sciences
E-mail: David.Trilling@nau.edu 

Paul Umhoefer, Ph.D.
Tectonics
E-mail: Paul.Umhoefer@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-6464

Scott Anderson, Ph.D.
Paleoclimate
E-mail: Scott.Anderson@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-5821

Brett Dickson, Ph.D.
Conservation Biology
E-mail: Brett.Dickson@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-3592

Deborah Huntzinger, Ph.D.
Climate Science and Solutions – new faculty
E-mail: Deborah.Huntzinger@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-1669

Nancy Johnson, Ph.D.
Soil Ecology
E-mail: Nancy.Johnson@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-6473

Darrell Kaufman, Ph.D.
Paleoclimate
E-mail: Darrell.Kaufman@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-7192

Robert L. Sanford, Jr., Ph.D.
Ecosystems biogeochemistry
Email: Robert.Sanford@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-1637

Thomas Sisk, Ph.D.
Conservation Biology
E-mail: Thomas.Sisk@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-7183

Abe Springer, Ph.D.
Ecohydrology and Sustainable Hydrogeology
E-mail: Abe.Springer@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-7198

Tom Acker, Ph.D.
Energy Systems and Renewable Energy
E-mail: Tom.Acker@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-8363

Bridget Bero, Ph.D.
Environmental Transport, Air Quality
E-mail: Bridget.Bero@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-2051

Constantin Ciocanel, Ph.D.
Engineering Mechanics and Advanced Materials
E-mail: Constantin.Ciocanel@nau.edu 

Rand Decker, Ph.D.
Snow and Avalanche Engineering
E-mail: Rand.Decker@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-6083

Heidi Feigenbaum, Ph.D.
Advanced Sustainable Materials
E-mail: Heidi.Feigenbaum@nau.edu 

Paul Flikkema, Ph.D.
Computational Ecological Systems
E-mail: Paul.Flikkema@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-6114

Joshua Hewes, Ph.D.
Sustainable Structural Engineering
E-mail: Joshua.Hewes@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-1478

Brent Nelson, Ph.D.
Energy, Renewable Energy, Thermal Processes
E-mail: Brent.Nelson@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-0862

Ernesto Penado, Ph.D.
Applications of Composite Sustainable Materials
E-mail: Ernesto.Penado@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-9453

John Tester, Ph.D.
Systems Engineering and Engineering Education
E-mail: John.Tester@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-0032

Peter Vadasz, Ph.D.
Energy Systems and General Sustainability
E-mail: Peter.Vadasz@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-5843

Niranjan Venkatraman, Ph.D.
Sustainable Electrical Engineering
E-mail: Niranjan.Venkatraman@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-0373