Teh-Lung Ku

Tenure Track Appointments

• Hsi-tze-wan Foundation Professor, National Sun Yet-Sen University, Taiwan, 01/01/1999 –
• Wilford and Daris Zinsmeyer Chair in Marine Studies, University of Southern California, 01/01/1998
• Visiting Professor, Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University and Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, 01/01/1991
• Visiting Professor, Kanazawa University, Japan, 01/01/1991
• Visiting Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences, People’s Republic of China, 01/01/1987
• Visiting Professor, Institute of Geochemistry, 01/01/1984
• Visiting Professor, Harwell Laboratory, 01/01/1983
• Visiting Professor, Institute of Geology, 01/01/1980
• Visiting Scholar, Centre des Faibles Radioactivites, France, 01/01/1975 –
• Professor of Geological Sciences, University of Southern California, 01/01/1975 –
• Associate Professor of Geological Sciences, University of Southern California, 01/01/1969 – 01/01/1975
• Assistant Scientist, Chemistry Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, 01/01/1967 – 01/01/1969
• Postdoctoral, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 01/01/1966 – 01/01/1967

Summary Statement of Research Interests

Professor Ku researches oceanography, paleoclimatology, and environmental concerns. An important component of his research program has been to develop means of dating natural deposits. He has explored the use of decay-series isotopes and cosmogenic nuclides (10Be and 26Al) to determine ages and sedimentation rates of such deposits as marine sediments and ferromanganese nodules, fossil corals, pedogeniccarbonates, and the use of the fallout 137Cs/135Cs for recent sedimentationand erosion rates.

Professor Ku is currently seeking new ways of extracting information about past environments in terms of climate and ocean productivity changes. His isotopic (oxygen and carbon), chemical, and mineralogical studies on lake sediments allows him to decipher the regional changes in climate and hydrology in great detail. He is currently studying a series of caves in eastern China from 25o to 40o N, in an attempt to unravel temporal shifts in the positions of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the Northwest Pacific Subtropical High, hence possible linkage between the Asian Summer Monsoons and El Ni*±o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This research will contribute to an understanding of not only the climate history of eastern Asia, but also the factors influencing the monsoon fluctuations that are rooted in the global climate variability.

• Achievement Award, Chinese Engineers and Scientists Association of Southern, 1997
• Fulbright Award, Senior Scholar to France, 1983 – 1984
• Guggenheim Fellowship Recipient, 1983