About
Associated Faculty
Faculty navigation
Faculty |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Akiwumi's research takes a holistic approach to understanding resource utilization
in sectors such as water, minerals, and forests. Her ongoing research projects are
in Sierra Leone (environmental deterioration, sustainable livelihoods of women, and
water conflicts in mining areas). |
| (813) 974-2386 fakiwumi@cas.usf.edu |
| Associate Professor |
|---|
| Professor Alcantar is an expert in surface force measurements and FTIR spectroscopy.
Her research interests include interfacial phenomena and chemical characterization
of biometric membranes, micellar surfactants, green chemistry materials, nanoparticles,
and organic/inorganic thin films. |
| (813) 974-8009 alcantar@eng.usf.edu |
|
Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Water Policy |
|---|
| Professor Alsharif's research focuses on the interdisciplinary approach to the environmental
decision-making process and water policy. Furthermore, he is interested in the human
interactions with the environment and providing environmental benchmarks. |
| (813) 974-4939 kalshari@usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Baer's research interests include health and health disparities in Latin
America and the United States, with her recent work focusing on cancer and diabetes.
She was recently awarded an NSF grant to investigate cultural and class issues in
understandings of H1N1 in Mexico and the United States |
| (813) 974-0805 baer@cas.usf.edu |
| Research Associate |
|---|
| Mr. Barbeau's work focuses on the research and development of intelligent software
for mobile devices, especially GPS-enabled cell phones, to better understand and influence
travel behavior and the transportation environment. One project, the Travel Assistance
Device, uses cell phones to deliver personalized real-time navigation |
| (813) 974-7208 barbeau@cutr.usf.edu |
| Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies |
|---|
| Professor Basu's research explores the intersection of cultural issues and health
communication. It locates culture as organic and fundamental in the framing of communicative
patterns, and it examines how meanings are shared and health discourse is negotiated
in the global-local context of multiple cultural, political, economic, and development
agendas in marginalized spaces. |
| (813) 974-2145 abasu@cas.usf.edu |
| Associate Professor |
|---|
| Professor Breitbart's laboratory utilizes molecular biological techniques to study
viruses present in sewage, reclaimed water, and drinking water. Her research focuses
on identifying viruses that can be used as indicators of fecal contamination that
will in turn benefit sustainable communities. |
| (727) 553-3520 mya@marine.usf.edu |
| Associate Professor and Graduate Director |
|---|
| Professor Castañeda's research focuses on migrant and refugee health and its relationship
to transnational labor migration. She is also interested in issues of humanitarianism
and the role nongovernmental organizations play in providing aid. |
| (813) 974-0786 hcastaneda@usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Christensen's research focuses on energy efficiency of computer networks
- "green networks." He has made substantial contributions in technological innovation
to reduce the amount of energy used by information and communication technology. |
| (813) 974-4761 christen@cse.usf.edu |
| Associate Professor |
|---|
| Professor Collins' research focuses on weather and climate - in particular, hurricane
activity - where she examines the environmental factors influencing the interannual
variation of hurricane numbers. She also investigates relationships between hurricane
activity in the Atlantic versus part of the Northeast Pacific. |
| (813) 974-4242 jcollins@cas.usf.edu |
| Associate Professor |
|---|
| Professor Cunningham's research broadly deals with the behavior of chemicals in the
environment. This is manifested into several lines of research that fall under the
umbrella of sustainability. |
| (813) 974-9540 cunning@usf.edu |
| Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator |
|---|
| Professor Ergas conducts research in the field of environmental biotechnology, including
research on domestic and industrial wastewater treatment and reuse, low-impact development
technologies for stormwater management, biological drinking water treatment, bioremediation
systems, and biological air pollution control. |
| (813) 974-2386 sergas@eng.usf.edu |
| Professor Emeritus |
|---|
| Professor Fanning's research focuses on the mechanisms by which water-borne nutrients
are consumed, regenerated, and transported, with quantification of those mechanisms
being an ultimate goal. Water-borne nutrients are critical to both terrestrial and
coastal marine ecosystems. |
| (727) 553-1594 kaf@marine.usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Feldman's research focuses on the role that K-12 teachers and students can
have in authentic scientific and engineering research projects. Their participation
can serve several functions such as improving workforce development for professionals
in fields related to sustainability. |
| (813) 974-2386 sergas@eng.usf.edu |
| Director, Center for Entrepreneurship |
|---|
| Professor Fountain serves as the founding director of the University of South Florida's
Center for Entrepreneurship. His studies focus on technology entrepreneurship, green
and sustainable product innovation, and development of cost-effective delivery systems. |
| (813) 974-7900 fountain@usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Fung’s research focuses on world music preferences and pedagogy, music participation
and quality of life of older adults, and Asian philosophies of music education. His
studies align with the fields of social psychology, multicultural education, international
studies, and lifelong learning. He was a Fulbright researcher in Japan (2018). |
| (813) 974-2311 fung@usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Goswami has extensive experience in the areas of solar thermal power, solar
water desalination, solar photocatalytic detoxification and disinfection, distributed
generation, building energy systems, and energy security. |
| (813) 974-0956 goswami@usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Hallock Muller examines both the geologic record and modern coral reefs.
Her research interests include cell biology, coral reef ecology, environmental management,
global environmental change, evolution, and paleoceanography. |
| (727) 553-1567 pmuller@marine.usf.edu |
| Instructor |
|---|
| Professor Hanna-West is the Exide Distinguished Lecturer of Ethics and Sustainability
in the Department of Management and Organization in the College of Business. Her work
focuses on engaging key stakeholders in the process of positive change and facilitating
a shared strategic vision among business leaders. |
| (813) 974-6893 shanna@usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Hine's research addresses the response of coastal and shelf depositional systems to sea-level fluctuations, climate, western boundary currents, antecedent topography, and sediment supply, including the geologic origin and evolution of submerged paleoshorelines, reefs, shelf sand bodies, open marine marsh systems, barrier islands, and back-burner environments and how they might have interacted with each other in the past. |
| (727) 553-1161 hine@marine.usf.edu |
| Director of Florida Institute of Oceanography and Professor of Marine Science |
|---|
| Professor Hogarth's administrative and research experience has focused on a wide range
of environmental, scientific, and marine policy issues. He has held leadership positions
with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Marine
Fisheries Service. |
| (727) 553-3542 billhogarth@usf.edu |
| Associate Professor |
|---|
| Professor Hollander's research focuses on evaluating the influence that anthropogenic
and natural climate and environmental change have on the biogeochemical cycling of
carbon, nitrogen, and other biolimiting elements in both modern and ancient lacustrine
and marine settings. |
| (727) 553-1019 davidh@marine.usf.edu |
| Associate Professor |
|---|
|
Professor Hooker's primary research focuses on supply chain management. This includes sustainability and reverse logistics—re-manufacturing, reuse, recycling, and repair. He also examines open innovation strategies for new product development, high-velocity omni-channel supply chains, and supply chain resilience in the face of disaster. |
| (813) 974-6178 rhooker@usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Hu's research is focused on addressing coastal ocean problems using primarily
optics. These topics include river-ocean interactions (transport and transform of
particulate and dissolved matters), carbon cycling, algai blooms, coral reef environmental
health and ecosystem connectivity, climate change, and anthropogenic influence on
coastal/estuarine water quality. |
| (727) 553-3987 hu@marine.usf.edu |
| Associate Professor |
|---|
| Dr. Izurieta is an expert in tropical and infectious diseases. He specializes in vector-borne
and water-borne diseases as well as ecological changes and emerging diseases. His
research focuses on improving water and sanitation in rural areas to prevent and control
water-borne diseases and gastrointestinal infections. |
| (813) 974-8913 rizuriet@health.usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Jacobson's research focuses on areas related to immigration and citizenship,
international institutions and law, human rights, and women's status in global conflict.
His work concerns sustainability in two areas: the sustainability of communities in
the context of social change and the implications of climate change for human institutions. |
| (813) 974-2893 djacobso@usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Jermier's interests are focused on the role of business in the environmental
movement. Many believe business can play the leading role in the contemporary environmental
movement - voluntarily changing practices to move from villain to hero. Professor
Jermier's research is aimed at determining what business has and can accomplish with
respect to protecting and restoring the natural environment. |
| (813) 974-1752 jjermier@coba.usf.edu |
| Assistant Professor of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering |
|---|
| Professor Kuhn's interests pertain to examining forms of fuels and chemicals from
renewable sources and electrochemical conversion of hydrogen and alcohols. His approach
is to design materials for these specific applications. The purpose of this merger
is to use the morphological control obtained by synthetic chemistry to demonstrate
catalytic phenomena by reducing the polydisperity of active sites. |
| (813) 974-6498 jnkuhn@usf.edu |
| Associate Professor |
|---|
| Dr. La Trecchia is a media and cultural studies scholar who studies food systems,
culinary culture, and environmental studies. Her interests include sustainable food
movement, eco-food cinema, food justice, migration, globalization, food security,
and food waste. She is currently working on a book on the sustainable food movement
and visual representations of environmental resistance and activism in the food system
entitled Foodscapes of Resistance: Eco-Food Cinema and Sustainability in Italy. She
has been teaching food culture courses for the past decade (e.g. “Food Culture in the Mediterranean”). She is a TED speaker on food waste. |
| patrizia@usf.edu |
| Professor of School of Geosciences and Director of USF Water Institute |
|---|
| My research contains a balance of academic and applied research, technical transfer
services and community engagement. I often address issues related to water, wetlands,
urban forest and land cover change. There are several themes that infuse my research:
the spatial and temporal dynamics of human-environmental interactions, environmental
equity, water resource management and policy, applied geospatial technology and online
public education and decision support systems. |
| (813) 974-4590 landry@usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Levy is a historian and historical archaeologist whose research and teaching
focus on historical landscapes, the stories they tell, and how we work to preserve
them. His current work looks at the Virginia farmstead where George Washington came
of age and charts out its story from early settlement to its nearly becoming a paved
over shopping plaza. He is also involved in numbers of other museum and historical
preservation projects. |
| (813)-974-7642 plevy@usf.edu |
| Professor and Director of the School of Architecture and Community Design |
|---|
| Professor MacLeod's interests lie in exploring urbanism in the post-war American city.
This constitutes the "unfinished" project of the post-industrial city, the city of
sprawl. He is also interested in the emergence of the Asian Mega-City, he emergent
building types, public space issues, and ecological concerns. |
| (813) 974-4031 rmacleod@arch.usf.edu |
| Program Director of the Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System |
|---|
| Professor Merz's research focuses on providing advance severe weather warning to coastal
regions through close interaction with local and regional offices of emergency management
divisions. His research interests include a better understanding of the water/energy
nexus and enhancing the technical knowledge and application of renewable energy and
water purification techniques to isolated regions. |
| (727) 553-3729 cmerz@marine.usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Mihelcic's research focuses on the impact of global stressors (e.g., population,
urbanization, land use, water scarcity, and climate) on issues of water, sanitation,
and health. He studies how regional and global stressors impact sustainable solutions.
He directs a master's international program that allows students to combine overseas
research with service in the Peace Corps. |
| (813) 974-2011 jm41@eng.usf.edu |
| College of Marine Science and Director, International Ocean Institute |
|---|
| Frank E. Muller-Karger is a biological oceanographer (Professor) at the College of
Marine Science, University of South Florida, where he directs the International Ocean
Institute-USA (IOI-USA)and the Institute for Marine Remote Sensing (IMaRS). Muller-Karger
conducts oceanographic research using satellite remote sensing, large data sets, networking,
and high-speed computing. This research helps in the location and monitoring of large-scale
phenomena, understanding climate control and climate change, and in the interpretation
of numerical models of the ocean. |
| (727) 553-3335 carib@marine.usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Nolas conducts research that examines how the world will meet its future
energy needs in an environmentally responsible manner. His laboratory is involved
in the synthesis and physical properties investigations of new and novel materials
for energy-related technologies, including thermoelectrics and photovoltaics. |
| (813) 974-2233 gnolas@cas.usf.edu |
| Research Faculty and Instructor |
|---|
| Dr. Ozkul's research focuses on logistics modeling and optimization, freight movement
analysis, logistics site criteria analysis/optimization, and operations research.
He specializes in optimizing criteria for successful logistics activity center development,
modeling supply chains to optimize/minimize logistics-related costs, and determining
the economic impact of logistics and its integration with land use. |
| (813) 974-2530 sozkul@usf.edu |
| Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs |
|---|
| Dr. Yash Pathak is a nationally recognized scholar, researcher and educator in the areas of Nanotechnology, Drug Delivery Systems and Nutraceuticals. He received his M Pharm , PhD from Nagpur University India his Executive MBA, and Masters in Conflict management from Sullivan University. |
| (813) 974-1026 ypathak1@health.usf.edu |
| Associate Professor |
|---|
| Professor Peebles' principal interest focuses on spatiotemporal interactions between
coastal fishes and their prey. He has found that they spawning effort of zooplanktivorous
fishes may actively adapt to the local zooplankton supply. This relationship has helped
to explain variations in coastal-pelagic fish stocks in various places around the
world. |
| (727) 553-3983 epeebles@marine.usf.edu |
| Associate Professor |
|---|
| An ecohydrologist, Professor Rains has nearly 20 years of experience in the public
and private sectors in the science, policy, and management of water and water-dependent
resources in coupled human-natural systems. His research is focused on the roles that
hydrological processes play in governing ecosystem structure and function. |
| (813) 974-3310 mrains@cas.usf.edu |
| Program Director, Center for Urban Transportation Research |
|---|
| Mr. Reich has over thirty years of national and international executive management
experience in both the public and private transport sectors. Since 2000 he has been
with the University of South Florida's, Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR)
managing a program area in a university transportation center focusing on providing
technical assistance and research to public transportation agencies. Prior to joining USF Mr. Reich was senior vice president for a global tier-one automotive safety supplier. He was appointed by Governor William Donald Schaefer as Executive Secretary of the Maryland Transportation Authority in 1993 serving in that capacity until 1997. |
| (813) 974-6435 reich@cutr.usf.edu |
| Professor of Integrative Biology |
|---|
| Professor Richards' research focuses on plant ecological genomics, ecological and
evolutionary epigenetics, plant ecophysiology, conservation genetics, and global change
biology. |
| (813) 974-5090 clr@usf.edu |
| Associate Professor |
|---|
| Jason Rohr studies agricultural sustainability, effects of climate change and chemical
contaminants on biodiversity, conservation biology and applied ecology, interactions
between biodiversity and ecosystem services, and emerging infectious diseases of wildlife
and humans. His research aims to understand, and develop solutions to, environmental
problems to enhance the likelihood of a sustainable existence for both humans and
wildlife. More details can be found at http://shell.cas.usf.edu/rohrlab/index.html |
| (813) 974-0156 rohr@usf.edu |
| Professor and Director of SACD Design/Build Program |
|---|
| Professor Russell is currently conducting research on building materials and methods,
renewable energy sources, and mechanical systems used in the production of Zero Energy
Houses (ZEH). His research involves surveying the techniques that have already been
tested and various systems that will make a more efficient and affordable ZEH. |
| (813) 974-4031 russell@arch.usf.edu |
| Professor and Chair |
|---|
| Professor Ryan's research interests include metamorphic geology, volcanology, and
geochemistry. He examines chemical exchanges and reactions that are recorded in rocks
and associated fluids, which connect to the development of mineral resources and to
the nature of volcanic and earthquake hazards. |
| (813) 974-1598 ryan@cas.usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Stewart's research interests are in hydrology, environmental geophysics,
mathematical modeling of hydrologic systems, and water resource management. He teaches
undergraduate and graduate courses in hydrology, mathematical modeling, global climate
change, and oceanography. |
| (813) 974-8749 mark@cas.usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Reverse logistics is the focus of the majority of Professor Stock's research. Reverse
logistics deals with all aspects of product returns, including remanufacturing, repairing,
and refurbishing of products, packaging reuse, recycling, minimization and substitution,
and environmental and energy implications of reverse logistics. |
| (813) 974-6173 jstock@coba.usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Professor Stuart's research interests are primarily related to air pollution and its
impacts on human health and the environment. Through her work, Professor Stuart seeks
to understand the multi-scale interactions of air pollutants with the natural and
built environments, and to elucidate the effects of these interactions on public health
and on sustainability. |
| (813) 974-6632 als@usf.edu |
| Associate Professor |
|---|
| Professor Sunol's research interests lie in green engineering and chemistry, sustainability
in the chemical industry, systems engineering, and greener energy conversion processes.
Recent projects include design of environmentally-friendly pathways for the development
of novel materials, value-added products, and efficient fuel systems. |
| (813) 974-2011 sunol@eng.usf.edu |
| Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering |
|---|
| Professor Trotz's research, teaching and service are at the nexus of geochemistry/water
quality and global/community sustainability. Her interests are interdisciplinary and
forge non-traditional university partnerships. Current research projects include the
development of mineral oxide-dependent treatment technologies for contaminant remediation. |
| (813) 974-3310 matrotz@eng.usf.edu |
| Associate Professor |
|---|
| Professor Van Beynen's research interests lie in examining how environmental indices
can holistically measure human/environment interaction. He has created an index to
measure disturbance in karst environments and is currently investigating an index
for sustainable use of karst landscapes. |
| (813) 974-3026 vanbeyne@cas.usf.edu |
| Professor Emeritus |
|---|
| Professor Van Vleet's research has focused on the biogeochemical cycling of natural
and anthropogenic organic compounds in the marine environment. He investigates how
these organic compounds can be used as molecular markers to study other cycles and
pathways occurring in the oceans. |
| (727) 553-1165 vanvleet@marine.usf.edu |
| Distinguished University Professor |
|---|
| Professor Weisberg is an experimental physical oceanographer engaged in ocean circulation
and ocean-atmosphere interaction studies in the tropics, on continental shelves, and
in estuaries. His research presently emphasizes the West Florida Continental Shelf
(WFS) and the interactions that occur between the shelf and the deep-ocean and between
the shelf and the estuaries. |
| (727) 553-1568 weisberg@marine.usf.edu |
| Professor |
|---|
| Dr. E. Christian Wells is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for
Brownfields Research at USF, where he has served previously as Founding Director of
the Office of Sustainability and Deputy Director of the Patel College of Global Sustainability.
He is an environmental anthropologist with expertise in environmental justice, sustainable
and equitable development, brownfields communities, water/wastewater management, and
science-policy interactions. |
| (813) 974-2337 ecwells@usf.edu |
| Professor and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Strategic Initiatives |
|---|
| Professor Whiteford's research focuses on sustainable practices and global policies
that shape water-based and water-borne infectious and contagious diseases. Her research
has been funded by the National Science Foundation and other funding organizations
and she has been a consultant for the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the
Pan American Health Organization, and other multilateral funders. |
| (813) 974-8394 lwhiteford@usf.edu |
| Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering |
|---|
| Professor Yeh's research and teaching interests are related to water treatment, wastewater
reuse and nutrient recovery, bio-energy (methane and algae biofuel) from wastes, rainwater
harvesting, desalination, green building net-zero water strategies, sustainable urban
water management, and adapting the infrastructure of coastal cities to climate change. |
| (813) 974-4746 dyeh@eng.usf.edu |
| Associate Professor |
|---|
| Professor Zarger is a cultural anthropologist who conducts research at the interface
between environmental anthropology and the anthropology of education and childhood.
Her work over the last decade has explored the ways environmental knowledge and meanings
are learned, taught, and transformed in Q'eqchi' and Mopan Maya communities in Belize. |
| (813) 974-2416 rzarger@usf.edu |
| Assistant Professor |
|---|
| Professor Zhang's research and teaching interests lie in green engineering, sustainability,
life cycle assessment, water/energy nexus, coupled nature-human system modeling, environmental
fate and transport modeling, and water supply and treatment |
| (813) 974-2011 qiongzhang@usf.edu |
| Assistant Professor |
|---|
| Professor Zhang's research and teaching interests lie in green engineering, sustainability,
life cycle assessment, water/energy nexus, coupled nature-human system modeling, environmental
fate and transport modeling, and water supply and treatment |
| (813) 974-5846 yuzhang@usf.edu |
| Professor of Philosophy |
|---|
| Professor Zhang's research and teaching interests lie in green engineering, sustainability, life cycle assessment, water/energy nexus, coupled nature-human system modeling, environmental fate and transport modeling, and water supply and treatment |
| (813) 974-1882 wzhang5@cas.usf.edu |