School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability

A select group of outstanding teaching and research professionals, drawn from the larger campus, make up the School's core faculty. All core professors engage in cutting-edge research in their respective fields, and most work in both environmental sciences and another university department simultaneously.

• Diana Elder Anderson, PhD, Associate Professor. Geomorphology, Atmospheric science (on leave, Fall 2011)
• Scott Anderson, PhD, Environmental Sciences Program Coordinator and Professor. Paleoecology, Forest history
• Michael Cline, PhD, Visiting Assistant Professor, Environmental Geography, Geomorphology
• Brett G. Dickson, PhD, Assistant Research Professor, Wildlife and Landscape Ecology
• Ron Hiebert, PhD, Director, Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CPCESU), Northern Arizona University
• Deborah Huntzinger, PhD, Assistant Professor, Climate Science
• Nancy Collins Johnson, PhD, Professor of Ecology and Director of Undergraduate Research Mentoring (on sabbatical, 2011-2012) 
• Darrell Kaufman, PhD, Quaternary geology and Climate Science (on sabbatical, 2011-2012) 
• Angela Moline, PhD, Aquatic ecosystem conservation and management
• Erik Nielsen, PhD, Environmental Studies, Policy and Management. Director MS Environmental Sciences & Policy program
• Michael Ort, PhD, Recent Volcanology, Isotope Geochemistry
• Rod Parnell, PhD,  Hydrogeochemistry, Biogeochemistry
• Robert L. Sanford, Jr. (Buck) PhD, Director, School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability
• Thomas Sisk, PhD, Ecology, Conservation Biology
• Abe Springer, PhD, Hydrogeology
• Jacqueline Vaughn, PhD, Environmental Policy and Law.  Environmental Studies Program Coordinator (on sabbatical, 2011-2012)

Adjunct faculty

Our large adjunct faculty is drawn from the local professional community, including employees of the National Park Service, the Forest Service, the US Geological Survey, and other agencies.

• Ethan Aumack, MS Environmental Sciences & Policy, NAU.  Landscape Conservation and Ecosystem Restoration, Grand Canyon Trust.
• Bernardo Aguilar, PhD, Cultural and Regional Studies, Prescott College
• Randy Bangert, PhD, Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, Trinidad State Junior College 
• Judy Bischoff, PhD, Research Coordinator, Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit, National Park Service
• Bala Chaudhary, PhD, Ecology of mycorrhizal fungi in natural and managed ecosystems, NAU Biology
• Kenneth Cole, PhD, Research Ecologist, USGS Southwest Biological Science Center
• Timothy Crews, PhD, Professor of Agroecology, Prescott College
• Mark Elson, PhD, Prehistoric Archaeology, settlement pattern analysis, ethnographic studies
• Ron Hiebert, PhD, part-time faculty, Restoration Ecology and Invasive Species, Northern Arizona University
• Vera Markgraf, PhD, South American and Southern Hemisphere paleoclimates and inter-hemispheric paleoclimate correlations. Late Quaternary palynology
• David Mattson, PhD, Research Wildlife Biologist, USGS Southwest Biological Science Center, Rocky Mountain Research Station
• Mark Miller, PhD, Ecologist, USGS Southwest Biological Science Center
• Dave Ostergren, PhD, Director, Environmental Education Graduate Program Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center, Goshen College
• Lisa Thomas, MS, Program Manager, Southern Colorado Plateau Inventory & Monitoring Program, National Park Service
• Yaguang Xu, PhD, Remote Sensing and GIS Specialist, Geospatial Database Manager at Research and Innovation Technology Administration, USDOT

Affiliated faculty members

We also have a group of professors who are formally allied with environmental programs and lend their expertise in the classroom.

• Thomas Acker, PhD, Director, NAU's Sustainable Energy Solutions Group, NAU Engineering
• William Auberle, PhD, Physical and Environmental Engineering
• Rom Coles, PhD, McAllister Chair in Community, Culture & Environment, NAU
• Peter Friederici, MS Environmental Education with focus in Environmental Writing, Science and Environmental Stories and Journalism, NAU School of Communications
• Julie M. Mueller, PhD, Environmental Economics and Econometrics, NAU Franke College of Business
• Marin Robinson, PhD, Physical and atmospheric chemistry, NAU Chemistry Chair
• Shelley Silbert, Chair NAU Environmental Caucus, Director Strategic Environmental Initiatives
• Zachary Smith, PhD, Environmental policy, NAU Politics and International Affairs
• Tad Theimer, PhD, Vertebrate Ecology, NAU Biology

• Carrie Brugger-Schorr, Lecturer, Geoscience Education, Volcanology
• David Brumbaugh, Professor, Geophysics
• Ernest Duebendorfer, Professor, Structural Geology
• David Elliott, Professor, Vertebrate Paleontology
• Thomas Hoisch, Professor, Metamorphic Petrology
• Darrell Kaufman, Professor, Quaternary Geology, Paleoclimatology (on sabbatical, 2011-2012)
• Peter Koehler, Instructor, Paleoecology
• Larry Middleton, Associate Professor, Sedimentology
• Michael Ort, Professor, Volcanology, Igneous Petrology, and Geochemistry
• Roderic Parnell, Jr., Professor, Geochemistry
• Mary Reid, Professor, Program Chair, Igneous Petrology, Isotope Geochemistry
• Nancy Riggs, Professor, Volcanology
• Jim Sample, Professor, Low-temperature Geochemistry
• Robert L. Sanford, Jr. (Buck), Professor, Biogeochemistry, Paleoecology
• Lisa Skinner, Lecturer, Geoscience Education, GIS
• Abe Springer, Professor, Hydrogeology
• Paul Umhoefer, Professor Graduate Coordinator, Tectonics
• James Wittke, Geologic Materials Analyst, Igneous Petrology

Emeritus faculty

• Larry D. Agenbroad, Professor Emeritus, Quaternary Paleontology
• Charles W. Barnes, Professor Emeritus, Structural Geology
• David M. Best, Professor Emeritus, Geophysics
• Stanley S. Beus, Professor Emeritus, Paleontology
• Ronald Blakey, Professor Emeritus, Stratigraphy and sedimentation
• Augustus S. Cotera, Professor Emeritus
• Richard F. Holm, Associate Professor Emeritus, Volcanology/Petrology
• James Mead, Professor Emeritus, Quaternary Paleontology
• Paul Morgan, Professor Emeritus, Geophysics
• J. Dale Nations, Regents Professor Emeritus, Paleontology

Adjunct faculty

• Diana Anderson, Geomorphology 
• R. Scott Anderson, Paleoecology
• Darrell Kaufman, Quaternary Climate Change
• Michael Ort, Volcanology
• Tom Sisk, Ecology 

Adjunct faculty

• Ken Cole, Paleobotony  
• Mark Elson, Archaeology 
• Vera Markgraf, Palynology
• Francis Smiley, Archaeology 

Research staff

• Katherine Sides, Amino Acid Geochronology Lab 
• Darrell Kaufman or Katherine Sides, Sedimentary Records of Environmental Change Lab 
• Susan Smith, Laboratory of Paleoecology 
• Joe Hazel, Research Associate, Sand Bar Studies Lab 
• Matt Kaplisnki, Research Associate, Sand Bar Studies Lab