School of Earth & Sustainability
Directory links
Faculty profiles
Meet the faculty members of Northern Arizona University’s School of Earth & Sustainability. Find their research interests, web links, and contact information below.
Clare Aslan, SES Director
Associate Professor
Office: Building 19 Rm #118
Phone: 928-523-2487
Email: Clare.Aslan@nau.edu
Research interests: Community ecology, conservation biology
Michael Smith, SES Associate Director
Professor
Office: Building 12 Rm #200
Phone: 928-523-8965
Email: Michael.E.Smith@nau.edu
Research interests: Geochronology of sedimentary basins, deep time stratigraphy, marine geomorphology
Suzanne Affinati
Research Professor
Office: Building 12 Rm #225
Phone: 928-523-9403
Email: Suzanne.Affinati@nau.edu
Research interests: Metamorphic petrology, tectonics, petrochronology, and U.S. Cordilleran geology
Francisco Apen
Assistant Professor
Office: Building 12 Rm #221
Email: Francisco.Apen@nau.edu
Research interests: Geochronology, petrology, high-temperature geochemistry, tectonics
Rebecca Best
Associate Professor
Office: Building 19 Rm #122
Phone: 928-523-8155
Email: Rebecca.Best@nau.edu
Research interests: Aquatic ecology, evolution, and conservation
Duan Biggs
Professor and Charles Olajos and Ted Goslow Chair for Southwestern Environmental Science and Policy
Office: Building 20
Phone:
Email: Duan.Biggs@nau.edu
Research interests: Conservation science, resilience, nature-based tourism, community and stakeholder dialogue and engagement
Joseph Byrnes
Assistant Research Professor
Office: Building 12 Rm #209
Email: Joseph.Byrnes@nau.edu
Research interests: Passive seismic imaging, tectonics, mantle convection, and volcanic systems
Diana Elder
Associate Dean for Research, College of the Environment, Forestry & Natural Sciences
Associate Professor
Email: Diana.Elder@nau.edu
Phone: 928-523-4123
Research interests: Quaternary geology
Michael Erb
Assistant Research Professor
Office: Building 8 Rm #310
Email: Michael.Erb@nau.edu
Research interests: Paleoclimatology, climate modeling, data assimilation
John Fegyveresi
Associate Professor of Practice
Office: Building 8 Rm #309
Email: John.Fegyveresi@nau.edu
Research interests: Quaternary climate science, glaciology, ice cores
James Gaherty
Professor
Office: Building 12 Rm #207
Phone: 928-523-1052
Email: James.Gaherty@nau.edu
Research interests: Seismology, geophysics, tectonics
Roger Haro
Office: Building 8 Rm #201
Email: Roger.Haro@nau.edu
Research interests: Natural resource conservation, freshwater invertebrate ecology, non-point source pollution
Deborah Huntzinger
Professor
Office: Building 8 Rm #307
Phone: 928-523-1669
Email: Deborah.Huntzinger@nau.edu
Research interests: Greenhouse gas accounting, carbon-climate feedbacks, Earth system modeling
Nancy Johnson
Regents’ Professor
Office: Building 17
Phone: 928-523-6473
Email: Nancy.Johnson@nau.edu
Research interests: Ecosystem ecology, microbial ecology, mycorrhizas
Cross-appointed in: Department of Biological Sciences
Taylor Joyal
Associate Teaching Professor
Office: Building 19 Rm #102
Phone: 928-523-1588
Email: Taylor.Joyal@nau.edu
Research interests: Earth surface processes, watershed science, quaternary geology
Darrell Kaufman
Regents’ Professor
Office: Building 8 Rm #306
Phone: 928-523-7192
Email: Darrell.Kaufman@nau.edu
Research interests: Paleoclimatology, Quaternary geology
Rosemary Logan
Associate Teaching Professor
Office: Building 19 Rm #121
Email: Rosemary.Logan@nau.edu
Research interests: Sustainable food systems, community-and civic engagement-focused university/community partnerships, transformative sustainability learning
Nicholas McKay
Professor
Office: Building 8 Rm #308
Phone: 928-523-1918
Email: Nicholas.Mckay@nau.edu
Research interests: Paleoclimatology, data analysis, paleoclimate informatics
Julie Mueller
Professor
Phone: 928-523-6612
Email: Julie.Mueller@nau.edu
Research interests: Natural resource valuation
Appointed in: W.A. Franke College of Business
Erik Nielsen
Professor
Office: Building 19 Rm #115
Phone: 928-523-4980
Email: Erik.Nielsen@nau.edu
Research interests: Environmental policy
Erika Nowak
Associate Research Professor
Office: Building 20 Rm #150
Phone: 928-523-7760
Email: Erika.Nowak@nau.edu
Research interests: Herpetology and conservation
Denielle Perry
Assistant Professor
Office: Building 19 Rm #101
Phone: 928-523-0361
Email: Denielle.Perry@nau.edu
Research interests: Water resources policy and management, geography, political ecology, Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
Ryan Porter
Associate Professor
Office: Building 12 Rm #214
Phone: 928-523-2429
Email: Ryan.Porter@nau.edu
Research interests: Geophysics, seismology, tectonics
Lucero Radonic
Associate Professor
Office: Building 65 Rm #231
Phone: 928-523-5749
Email: Lucero.Radonic@nau.edu
Research interests: Political ecology, water governance and security, climate adaptation, green infrastructure, cultural values and norms, participatory methodologies
Cross-appointed in: Department of Anthropology
Pranay Ranjan
Assistant Professor
Office: Building 19 Rm #116
Email: Pranay.Ranjan@nau.edu
Research interests: Institutions, water governance, conservation behavior, climate change adaptation, environmental social science
Christine Regalla
Associate Professor
Office: Building 12 Rm #217
Email: Christine.Regalla@nau.edu
Research interests: Structural geology, active tectonics, tectonic geomorphology
Cody Routson
Assistant Research Professor
Office: Building 8 Rm #301
Email: Cody.Routson@nau.edu
Research interests: Climate science
Helen Rowe
Associate Research Professor
Office: Building 19
Email: Helen.Rowe@nau.edu
Research interests: Conservation, restoration ecology, invasive species
James Sample
Professor
Office: Building 13 Rm #210
Phone: 928-523-0881
Email: James.Sample@nau.edu
Research interests: Tectonics, geochemistry, structural geology
Temuulen “Teki” Sankey
Associate Professor
Office: Building 90 Rm #105
Phone: 928-523-7098
Email: Temuulen.Sankey@nau.edu
Research interests: Remote sensing, geoinformatics
Appointed in: School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems
Donna Shillington
Professor
Office: Building 12 Rm #219
Phone: 928-523-5328
Email: Donna.Shillington@nau.edu
Research interests: Geophysics, seismology, tectonics
Bridget Smith-Konter
Associate Professor
Office: Building 12 Rm #226
Email: Bridget.Konter@nau.edu
Research interests: Geodynamics, geodesy, crustal deformation, planetary science
Sara Souther
Assistant Professor
Office: Building 19 Rm #118
Phone: 928-523-2644
Email: Sara.Souther@nau.edu
Research interests: Population biology, plant ecology, conservation biology
Abraham Springer
Professor
Office: Building 12 Rm #206
Phone: 928-523-7198
Email: Abe.Springer@nau.edu
Research interests: Hydrogeology, ecohydrology, karst
Diana Stuart
Associate Professor
Office: Building 19 Rm #124
Phone: 928-523-0736
Email: Diana.Stuart@nau.edu
Research interests: Environmental sociology, climate change, food systems, conservation, social theory
Casey Tierney
Assistant Teaching Professor
Office: Building 13 Rm #212
Email: Casey.Tierney@nau.edu
Research interests: Geochemistry, volcanology, igneous petrology
Laura Wasylenki
Laura WasylenkiResearch Professor
Office: Building 36 Rm #332
Email: Laura.Wasylenki@nau.edu
Research interests: Environmental geochemistry of metals, paleoceanography, metal stable isotopes
Cross-appointed in: Department of Chemistry