Faculty
Jeffrey G. Agnew | Senior Professor of Practice, Department Associate Chair
Ph.D., Louisiana State University, 2008
Email: jagnew@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Geoscience Education, Paleobiology, Paleoecology, Taphonomy, Taxonomy
Mead A. Allison | Professor
Ph.D., State University of New York, Stony Brook, 1993
Email: meadallison@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Sedimentary Processes of Continental Margin Environments
Nancye H. Dawers | Associate Professor
Ph.D., Columbia University, 1997
Email: ndawers@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Structural Geology, Neotectonics, Fault Growth and Interaction Using Scaling Relations in Evolving Fault Populations
Thomas DeCarlo | Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2017
Email: tdecarlo@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Coral reefs, Anthropogenic Climate Change, Ocean Dynamics, Coastal Biogeochemistry, Ocean Acidification
Cynthia J. Ebinger | Professor and Marshall-Heape Chair in Geology
Ph.D., MIT-WHOI Joint Program, 1988
Email: cebinger@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Solid-Earth Geophysics, Earthquake and Volcano Seismology, Crustal Dynamics
Daniel Friess | Cochran Family Professor
Ph.D., University of Cambridge, 2009
Email: dfriess@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Blue carbon, mangroves, seagrasses, natural climate solutions, ecosystem services, habitat restoration.
Nicole M. Gasparini | Professor
Currently serving as a Rotating Program Manager at the National Science Foundation
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003
Email: ngaspari@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Fluvial Geomorphology, Landscape Evolution, Sediment Delivery from Hillslopes to Rivers, Interactions between Climate and Tectonics Through Erosion, Impacts of Climate Change on River Networks
Colin Jackson | Assistant Professor
On leave until July 2025
Ph.D., Brown University, 2014
Email: cjackson2@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Solid Earth geochemistry and petrology, High temperature and pressure synthesis, Planetary Science
Keena Kareem | Professor of Practice
Ph.D., Louisiana State University, 2005
Email: kkareem@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, Low and High Temperature Geochemistry, Chemistry of the Archean Mantle, Volcanology, and Petroleum Geology
Jamiat Nanteza | Professor of Practice
Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 2016
Email: jnanteza@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Hydrology, The Water cycle in a changing climate, GRACE satellites, Land surface modelling, Groundwater sustainability, Drought, Water security and community adaptation, Sub-Saharan Africa
Kyle M. Straub | Professor, Department Chair
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007
Email: kmstraub@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Sediment transport from land through the ocean into the stratigraphic record, Continental Slope Morphodynamics, Submarine Morphodynamics
Torbjörn E. Törnqvist | Vokes Geology Professor
On sabbatical until August 2025
Ph.D., Utrecht University, 1993
Email: tor@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Quaternary geology, Sea-level change, Coastal sustainability, Fluvial and deltaic sedimentology, Sequence stratigraphy, Applied geochronology, Paleoclimatology
Yi Wang | Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2020
Email: ywang145@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Marine Biogeochemistry, Paleoclimatology, Paleoceanography, Trace Metal Cycling, and Isotope Geochemistry
Yanxu Zhang | Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of Washington, 2013
Email: yzhang127@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Environmental Biogeochemistry, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Earth System Modeling, Global Change, Mercury Cycle, Plastic Pollution, Emerging Contaminants, Environmental Risk Assessment
Emeritus Faculty
George C. Flowers | Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1979
Email: flowers@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Theoretical Geochemistry, Sedimentary Geochemistry, Environmental Geochemistry of Estuarine Sediments
Stephen A. Nelson | Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1979
Email: snelson@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Igneous Petrology, Volcanology, Relationship Between Volcanism and Tectonism, Particularly in Mexico, Mechanisms of Explosive Volcanism, Natural Disasters
Ronald L. Parsley | Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., University of Cincinnati, 1969
Email: parsley@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Phylogenetics, Functional Morphology, Paleoecology, Mode and Tempo of Evolution of Lower Paleozoic primitive Echinodermata, Paleobiology and Paleoecology of Lower Paleozoic Faunas
Adjunct Faculty
Barry Kohl | Adjunct Professor
Ph.D., Tulane University, 1980
Email: bkohl40@cs.com
Research Interests: Tertiary Foraminiferal Biostratigraphy, Applied Micropaleontology, Global Sea Level change
Jennifer Whitten | Adjunct Professor
Ph.D., Brown University, 2014
Email: jwhitten1@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Planetary Science, Volcanism, Impact Cratering, Geomorphology, and Radar
Postdoctoral Scholars
Lukas Lamb-Wotton | Postdoctoral Scholar
Ph.D., Florida International University, 2024
Email: llambwotton@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Mangroves and Marshes, Climate Change, Ecosystem Functioning, Biogeochemistry, GIS & Remote Sensing
Chenliang “Chen” Wu | Postdoctoral Scholar
Ph.D., Rice University, 2020
Email: cwu21@tulane.edu
Research Interests: Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Surface Processes, Geomorphology
Zhen Zhang | Postdoctoral Scholar
Ph.D., Xiamen University, 2023
Email: zzhang58@tulane.edu
Staff
Amanda Sloss | Senior Administrative Program Coordinator
Email: asloss1@tulane.edu
CK Keckley | Administrative Program Coordinator
Phone: 504-862-3220
Email: ckeckley@tulane.edu
David Maag | Computer Operations Core
Phone: 504-988-3825
Email: dmaag@tulane.edu
