Our affiliated faculty come together to conduct collaborative and innovative research, support undergraduate and graduate training, and promote educational and outreach programming. They include our core faculty in the Environmental Studies Program, as well as environment- and sustainability-focused faculty from across USC’s schools and departments.
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Applebaum, Scott
Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Environmental Studies
Areas of Expertise: Sustainable aquaculture, marine physiological and biochemical adaptation
Árvai, Joseph
Dana and David Dornsife Chair, Wrigley Institute Director and Professor of Psychology, Biological Sciences, and Environmental Studies
Areas of Expertise: Judgment and decision-making about environmental issues and sustainability, consumer perceptions and behaviors sustainable products and technologies, perception and management of environmental and climate change risks
Bar, François
Professor of Communication and Spatial Sciences
Areas of Expertise: IDEA, Information and Communication Technologies, New Media, and Public Policy
Berelson, Will
Paxson H. Offield Professor in Coastal and Marine Systems and Professor of Earth Sciences, Environmental Studies and Spatial Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Chemical oceanography, coastal environmental chemistry, and sediment and water-column biogeochemistry
Bottjer, David
Professor of Earth Sciences, Biological Sciences, and Environmental Studies
Areas of Expertise: Fossils, origin of animal life, mass extinctions and evolution in the oceans
Bradforth, Stephen
Professor of Chemistry
Areas of Expertise: Physical chemistry, ultrafast dynamics of chemical reactions in solution and in complex condensed phase systems
Bruine de Bruin, Wändi
Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and Behavioral Science
Areas of expertise: Public perceptions of climate change, climate change communications, psychology of risk, behavior change interventions
Campo, Daniel
Senior Research Associate in Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Evolutionary and ecological genetics, adaptive plasticity, gene expression, local adaptation, population genetics, genome evolution, and phylogenetics
Capone, Douglas G.
William and Julie Wrigley Chair in Environmental Studies and Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Marine microbial ecology, biogeochemistry, nitrogen fixation, biocomplexity, mangrove, ecosystem, bacteria
Caron, David A.
Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Harmful algal blooms, microbial ecology, marine food webs and trophic relationships among microorganisms, especially protists (microalgae and protozoa)
Chatterjee, Monalisa
Lecturer of Environmental Studies
Areas of Expertise: Environmental policy, energy and sustainability, environmental economics, environmental risk analysis and conservation
Corsetti, Frank
Associate Professor of Earth Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Geobiology, early life on Earth and mass extinctions
Dean, Matthew
Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Evolutionary biology
Deverell, William
Director, Institute on California and the West; Professor of History
Areas of Expertise: Political, social, ethnic, and environmental history and culture of nineteenth and twentieth century American West
Dilkina, Bistra
Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Early Career Chair and Associate Professor of Computer Science; Co-director, USC Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society (CAIS)
Areas of Expertise: Machine learning-based analysis and creation of solutions for biodiversity conservation planning and urban planning
Dutton, Jessica
Adjunct Associate Professor (Research), Environmental Studies Program
Areas of Expertise: Marine invertebrate biology, coastal policy, sustainability, science communication
Eckle, Sandy
Associate Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Statistical methods and applications in environmental epidemiology, climate and health
Edmands, Suzanne
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Marine biology and ecology, evolution and population genetics, molecular genetic techniques and conservation biology
Ehrenreich, Ian
Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Quantitative genetics, genomics, genetics, population genomics, next generation sequencing, adaptation, ecological genomics, microbiology, microorganisms
Fawcett, James Alan
Adjunct Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
Areas of Expertise: Marine science and policy; marine transportation and seaport operations
Feakins, Sarah
Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Compound-specific hydrogen and carbon isotopic analysis, paleoclimate, paleoenvironment, paleoecology, isotope biogeochemistry, organic geochemistry
Fieser, Megan
Gabilan Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Areas of Expertise: Catalyst development for the synthesis of degradable plastics and degradation of current polymers.
Finkel, Steven
Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Microbiology, bacteriology, microbial evolution, microbial survival and microbial fuel cells
Fraser, Scott
Elizabeth Garrett Chair in Convergent Bioscience, Provost Professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering
Areas of Expertise: Advanced imaging techniques of intact biological systems; embryonic development and medical diagnostics
Fu, Feixue
Assistant Professor (Research) of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: N2 fixation, cyanobacteria, harmful alga bloom, global climate change, nutrient limitation
Fuhrman, Jed
McCulloch-Crosby Chair in Marine Biology and Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Aquatic microbial ecology, marine viruses, marine bacteria, microbial biodiversity, biological oceanography, water quality and biological contaminants in ocean waters
Garcia, Erika
Assistant Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Environmental epidemiology, role of airborne environmental contaminants in human disease
Gibson, Shannon
Associate Professor (Teaching) of International Relations and Environmental Studies
Areas of Expertise: global environmental politics, globalization, global public health, non-state actors and social movements.
Gil, Yolanda
Research Professor of Computer Science and Associate Division Director at the Information Sciences Institute
Areas of Expertise: Knowledge-based planning and problem solving, semantic workflows, metadata capture, social knowledge collection, computer-mediated collaboration and automated discovery
Ginsburg, David
Professor (Teaching) of Environmental Studies
Areas of Expertise: Physiology and ecology of marine organisms, coastal marine policy, and water quality and management
Gomez Consarnau, Laura
Assistant Professor (Research) of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: microbial functions in the ocean and their environmental implications, bacterial genomics and physiology, environmental metagenomics/metatranscriptomics
Gracey, Andrew
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Effects of temperature, oxygen concentration and salinity on physiological processes of animals, evolutionary development of stress tolerance, hibernation, gene expression during environmental change, coping with extreme cold, genomics of surviving change, marine inter-tidal zones, sudden summer mortality syndrome in oysters and adaptations to climate change
Gruskin, Sofia
Director of the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health and Professor of Preventive Medicine and Law
Areas of Expertise: Preventative medicine; conceptual, methodological and empirical links between health and human rights
Guzman, Laura Melissa
Gabilan Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Ecological data science, plant-pollinator networks, metacommunity ecology, data modelling
Hammond, Douglas E.
Professor of Earth Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Environmental geology, geobiology and chemical oceanography
Hedgecock, Dennis
Paxson H. Offield Professor in Fisheries Ecology and Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Population genetics, quantitative genetics, evolutionary genetics and conservation genetics of marine fish and shellfish; oyster aquaculture and genetics, impact of large hatchery programs on genetic diversity of wild populations, design of marine reserves and the impact of non-native species on ecosystems and fishery management issues
Heidelberg, John
Professor of Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies
Areas of Expertise: Microbial genomics; genetic, biochemical and metabolic properties of naturally occurring planktonic assemblages; use of DNA sequencers to study the genomes of marine bacteria
Heidelberg, Karla
Professor of the Practice of Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies
Areas of Expertise: Marine and environmental microbiology and ecology; genetic, biochemical, and metabolic properties of naturally occurring planktonic assemblages; environmental genomics
Hutchins, David
Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Marine ecology, phytoplankton, the effects of climate change on the ocean, the effects of carbon dioxide and temperature increases on ocean food webs, organisms that benefit from “greenhouse ocean,” the role of iron in marine food chain, harmful and toxic algal blooms, geobiology, marine ecology and biogeochemistry
Jacobson, Myrna
Assistant Professor (Research) of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Marine biogeochemistry, artificial reef technology, plant-sediment interactions, nutrient cycling in coastal environments, wetland biogeochemistry enzymes as indicators of environmental response; use of cartoons to teach fundamental principles of science
John, Seth
Associate Professor of Earth Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Oceanography, ocean modeling, climate, marine carbon capture, isotope geochemistry
Kagan, Jeremy
Professor of Cinematic Arts
Areas of Expertise: Film and television production, founder of USC Change Making Media Lab pursuing research and production techniques for strategic high-impact social relevant media
Kahn, Matthew E.
Provost Professor of Economics and Spatial Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Urban economics, microeconomics, economics and the environment, climate change adaptation
Kenkel, Carly
Wilford and Daris Zinsmeyer Early Career Chair in Marine Studies and Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Coral ecology, local adaptation, evolution of symbioses, and translational ecology for conservation management
Kiefer, Dale
Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Marine microbiology and biological oceanography, phytoplankton ecology and physiology, marine optics, and Antarctic seas
Kim, Diane
Adjunct Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Environmental Studies
Area of Expertise: Microbiology, oceanography, STEM education, kelp propagation and application in alternative biofuels
Knowles, Jason
Adjunct Associate Professor of the Practice of Spatial Sciences
Areas of Expertise: 3D modeling and visualization, pattern and predictive analytics, complex geospatial modeling and design, spatio-temporal and multi-variate analysis, cost surface modeling, remote sensing analysis, cartographic visualization, field GPS data collection and enterprise GIS design and implementation
Levine, Naomi
Gabilan Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and Earth Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Climate-ecosystem interactions, marine carbon and nutrient cycling, microbial ecosystem dynamics, numerical ecosystem models, dimethylsulfide, climate change
Manahan, Donal
Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Environmental physiology of marine animals, biological adaptations to environmental change (global warming), life in extreme environments including Antarctica and deep-sea vents, aquaculture of mollusks including oysters, polar science, International Polar Year, cold biosphere including the deep ocean, science policy and legislation and scientific research in California
Marcos, Aitor
Assistant Professor of Marketing and Market Research
Faculty of Economics and Business, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
Areas of Expertise: Sustainable consumption, environmental decision-making, consumer behavior, ecological economics, sustainability management
Marinescu, Smaranda
Gabilan Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Areas of Expertise: Inorganic chemistry, solar energy conversion with inspiration from biological systems
Marx , Andrew J.
Associate Professor of Practice of Spatial Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Satellite imagery to inform domestic and international public policy in urban watershed/forestry management, conflict monitoring and urbanization
Metcalfe, Robert
Associate Professor of Economics
Areas of Expertise: Applied microeconomics, environmental and energy economics, behavioral and experimental economics, public economics
Moffett, James
Professor of Biological Sciences, Earth Sciences, and Civil and Environmental Engineering
Areas of Expertise: Biogeochemistry in the ocean, speciation and oxidation-reduction chemistry of trace elements in natural waters, interactions of metal and phytoplankton, effects of protozoans on chemicals, and metal precipitation reactions mediated by bacteria
Nealson, Kenneth
Wrigley Chair in Environmental Studies and Professor of Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Geobiology, application of biochemistry and microbiology to understanding the evolution of microbial life in extreme environments (for example, under the ice at the Earth’s South Pole), microbial genome sequencing and analysis, environmental microbiology, bioluminescence, biogeochemistry and geomicrobiology
Noble, Douglas
Professor of Architecture
Areas of Expertise: Sustainable architectural design, building enclosures, building science and technology, climate-responsive building design, indoor-outdoor relationships in architecture, the built environment, National Parks, tiny homes
Nuzhdin, Sergey
Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Population genetics, quantitative genetics, transposable elements, genomics, bioinformatics; life spans of Drosophila melanogaster, Medicago truncatula, and pea aphids
Oliva, Paulina
Professor of Economics and Spatial Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Air pollution, avoidance behavior, environmental technology adoption, environmental policy evaluation
Petryshyn, Victoria
Lecturer of Environmental Studies
Areas of Expertise: Geology, geochemistry and paleoclimatology
Robador Ausejo, Alberto
Assistant Professor (Research) of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Ecological energy flow and metabolism in natural microbial communities
Robinson, Alexander
Assistant Professor in Landscape Architecture & Urbanism
Areas of Expertise: Landscape architecture design, landscape infrastructure, landscape performance, design research, digital and physical media for landscape architecture modeling, research and design
Rose, Adam
Research Professor
Areas of Expertise: Energy and environmental economics, the economics of natural and human-caused hazards including earthquakes and terrorist attacks, and climate change and energy policy
Ruddell, Darren
Associate Professor (Teaching) of Spatial Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Climate and society, human development and socio-ecological interactions across landscapes, human health and urban sustainability
Sanders, Kelly
Dr. Teh Fu Yen Early Career Chair and Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Areas of Expertise: Resource management, climate change adaptation and mitigation, climate change and energy systems
Sanudo-Wilhelmy, Sergio
Professor of Biological Sciences and Earth Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Environmental biogeochemistry, influence of bioactive substances on specific biological processes such as carbon and nitrogen fixation, and the impact of anthropogenic processes on environmental quality
Schwarz, Norbert
Provost Professor of Psychology and Marketing
Areas of Expertise: Consumer judgment and decision making; effects of contextual influences on consumer behavior, health behavior, and political preferences
Sellers, Jefferey
Professor of Political Science, International Relations, and Spatial Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Environmental politics and policy; multilevel governance and federalism; urban politics and policy; comparative politics, European politics, and American politics
Shen, Wei-Min
Research Associate Professor of Computer Science
Areas of Expertise: Autonomous underwater robots, artificial intelligence, machine learning and computational learning, robotics and intelligent systems, autonomous learning agents and robots, self-reconfigurable robots (mobile agents that can autonomously learn from their environment based on their own actions, perceptions and missions)
Sigurdsen, Trond
Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Phylogenetics and evolutionary origins of amphibians, birds, and mammals; functional anatomy
Silva, Sam
Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Atmospheric composition, air quality and the environment, earth data science and machine learning
Sinatra, Gale
Professor of Psychology and Stephen H. Crocker Professor of Education
Areas of Expertise: Climate science education, evolution education, learning theory, knowledge construction, conceptual change learning, literacy acquisition, assessment, public understanding of science
Smith, Kathy
Associate Professor and Chair of the John C. Hench Division of Animation & Digital Arts
Areas of Expertise: Animation, sound design and painting
Sofian, Sheila
Professor of Cinematic Arts
Areas of Expertise: Film-making that investigates social issues utilizing a unique hybrid of animation and documentary
Sohm, Jill
Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Environmental Studies
Areas of Expertise: Biological oceanography and microbial ecology, nitrogen fixation and the nitrogen cycle, sediments
Stanford, Craig B.
Professor of Anthropology and Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Human evolution, primatology, primate behavior, primate societies and human behavior, tropical forest conservation, science vs. creationism, biological anthropology
Steen, Drew
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Subsurface microbiology, geomicrobiology, environmental applications for machine learning
Stott, Lowell
Professor of Earth Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Climate change, paleoclimatology and paleoceanography, fossil evidence of climate and ocean history, micropaleontology, microscopic fossils, stable isotope geochemistry, marine geology and monsoon history
Sukhatme, Gaurav S.
Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
Areas of Expertise: Robotics, mobile robotics, artificial intelligence, embedded systems (hand-held computers), intelligent agents and virtual reality
Sullivan, Cornelius
Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Oceanography and marine biology of polar region environments, structure and function of the ice covered ocean ecosystems in the context of global change, biological oceanography, marine biology, microbial physiological ecology, satellite remote sensing of polar oceans, and microbial communities in sea ice
Thrash, J. Cameron
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Marine microbial physiology, genomics, and ecology; coastal hypoxia; bioremediation
Ting, Selwyn
Associate Director, Master of Architecture Programs and Associate Professor of Practice in Architecture
Areas of Expertise: Architecture design and integration, architecture technology; sustainable strategies
Titus, Alexander
Principal Scientist, Artificial Intelligence Divison, Information Sciences Institute
Areas of Expertise: Artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, quantitative and computational biology, bioinformatics, genomics, public policy, national security
Vos, Robert
Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Spatial Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Industrial ecology, regional materials flow analysis, eco-industrial park planning, lifecycle assessment and sustainability indicators, GIS measurements of carbon footprints
Wang, Clay C. C.
Professor of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Space biology, gene regulation in fungi, pharmacology, fungal and bacterial genomes, natural products drug discovery, metabolic engineering
Webb, Eric
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Areas of Expertise: Physiology and ecology of marine and freshwater cyanobacteria, especially the mechanisms they use to acquire an essential element, iron, from the environment
West, Joshua
Professor of Earth Sciences and Environmental Studies
Areas of Expertise: Marine studies and earth sciences
Wetzer, Regina
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biology
Areas of Expertise: Evolutionary hypotheses involving previously unexplained life history traits, homoplastic morphological features, and biogeographic distributions
Williams, Travis
Professor of Chemistry
Areas of Expertise: Organic and organometallic chemistry, new catalysts and conditions to manipulate hydrides; conceptually novel chemical tools for research and clinical use
Wilson, John
Professor of Sociology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, Spatial Sciences, Architecture, and Preventive Medicine
Areas of Expertise: Geographical Information Systems (GIS), topographic analysis programs, field work, geostatistics, terrain analysis, soil erosion, crop productivity and water quality modeling, quantifying spatial patterns of climate, soil, vegetation and land use, spatial predictions of population growth and habitat change in Southern California