Research

hand holding up the bowl of water

Students, faculty, and staff at SF State work on cutting-edge research to better understand climate change's causes, impacts, and solutions.

Faculty across SF State work on climate change-related research and outreach.

Name Title Email Department Website Climate Change Research & Outreach
Andrea Swei Associate Professor aswei@sfsu.edu Biology Swei's Website Research in my lab focuses on vector-borne diseases and the environmental and biological factors that influence the transmission of these pathogens. Current research focuses on climate impacts on host and tick communities in a steep climate gradient in southern California as well as how tick microbiomes are affected by climate.
Andy Zink Professor zink@sfsu.edu Biology Zink's website In the Zink lab we investigate how social behaviors of salamanders affect fungal disease dynamics and the structure of skin microbiomes, both of which are highly influenced by climate change and habitat loss.
Armin Akhavan Lecturer armin@sfsu.edu Biology Akhavan's website  
Derrick Groom Assistant Professor dgroom@sfsu.edu Biology Groom's website The Groom Lab is broadly interested in understanding the biology of birds, and how birds are being impacted by environmental change. We also explore how different temperature regimes influence the intricate relationship between water balance and dietary food habits.
Edward J. Carpenter Professor ecarpent@sfsu.edu Biology Carpenter's website  
Heather Murdock Lecturer hmurdock@sfsu.edu Biology Murdock's website  
Holly Harris Lecturer hharris@sfsu.edu Biology Harris' website  
Jonathon Stillman Professor stillmaj@sfsu.edu Biology Stillman's website My research program centers around understanding organismal responses to global change stressors in the environment (e.g., warming temperatures and heat waves, salinization, acidification, microplastic and chemical pollution, deoxygenation) in order to predict the responses of populations to the environments of the future.
José R. de la Torre Professor jdelator@sfsu.edu Biology de la Torre's website Research in my lab focuses on understanding how microorganisms drive key processes in the global nitrogen cycle, including the production of harmful greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide (N2O). We also study how natural populations of microorganisms evolve in situ in response to changing environmental conditions.
Karen Crow Professor crow@sfsu.edu Biology Crow's website My researchs evaluates the effects of Ocean Acidification (OA) on larval development of fishes. We also study seasonal variation in the abundance and distribution of sharks, skates, and rays, and how that is affected by climate change.
Kevin Simonin Associate Professor simonin@sfsu.edu Biology Simonin's website Research in my lab embraces the idea that increasing our understanding of plant physiological controls over carbon and water transport between soils, plants and the atmospere are of critical importance for understanding how natural and human reconfigured ecosystems respond to a changing climate. Current research focuses on herbaceous plant water use strategies in response to warming and drying.
Lance Lund Lecturer llund@sfsu.edu Biology Lund's website  
Laura Burrus Co-director, SFSU Climate HQ, Professor and Chair of Biology lburrus@sfsu.edu Biology Burrus' website As Director of SFSU Climate HQ, I am working to build institutional, student, faculty&staff, and community capacity to respond to climate change. I envision that Climate HQ will be a hub for campus wide climate change activities.
Megumi Fuse Professor fuse@sfsu.edu Biology Fuse's website The SEO office funds students conducting a myriad of research questions, many of which include climate change topics.
Ravinder Sehgal Professor sehgal@sfsu.edu Biology Sehgal's website We study how deforestation and climate change affect the evolution and spread of infectious diseases in birds.
Sarah Cohen Professor sarahcoh@sfsu.edu Biology Cohen's website We study climate change impacts on disease ecology, reproductive ecology, behavioral variation, and population genetic distributions of many marine and estuarine organisms, particularly focused on sea stars, invasive species, and sea grass, at the moment.
Tania Pollak Lecturer tnpollak@mail.sfsu.edu Biology Pollak's website  
Vance Vredenburg Professor vancev@sfsu.edu Biology Vredenburg's website My lab studies the effects of climate change on pathogen transmission and effect in amphibian populations
Frances Wilkerson Lecturer/Adjunct Prod/Snr Res Sci fwilkers@sfsu.edu Biology/EOS Center Wilkerson's website My research involves understanding how aquatic nutrient cycling and phytoplankton productivity changes with factors especially those connected with global warming and climate change.
Michelle Jungbluth Adj. Assistant Professor mjungbluth@sfsu.edu Biology/EOS Center Jungbluth's website Research in my lab focuses on interactions between organisms at the base of aquatic food webs and their environment. One area I am collaboratively studying is the extent to which the diets and physiology of high-latitude zooplankton are impacted by climate change and how that may impact higher trophic levels.
William Cochlan Lecturer, Research Professor cochlan@sfsu.edu Biology/EOS Center Cochlan's website We study the impacts of climate change on marine phytoplankton, specifically environmental factors purported to respond to climate change, and thought to regulate cell growth and biotoxin production. They use manipulative experiments to assess the direct impacts of ocean acidity, temperature and light availability on growth and toxin production of harmful algal species, and factorial experiments where multiple stressors (i.e., temperature, pH, and nutrient sufficiency) are studied to identify which combination(s) of stressors expected to promote the greatest toxic risk to shellfish, economies, and human health.
Wim Kimmerer Research Professor Emeritus kimmerer@sfsu.edu Biology/EOS Center Kimmerer's website My research is focused on the San Francisco Estuary, with interests (and papers) on phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, amd the physical dyamics of the estuary. I also have a long-standing interest in the effects of water project operations on populations of fish, with climate change implications.
Erica Ramsey Pulley Lecturer ericarp@sfsu.edu Broadcast & Electronic Communication Arts (BECA) Pulley's website My research focuses on ways climate change and climate justice issues are communicated (or not) to audiences, particularly in electronic media and in the news. Additional focus on media political economy, activism, framing, policy & behavior change, and video production.
Jingjing Qiu Assistant Professor qiu@sfsu.edu Chemistry Qiu's website My research focuses on electrocatalystis, in which the chemical reactions could be driven by renewable electricty. Additionally we use photoelectrochemical approaches to introduce light (e.g. solar energy) to further facilite the electrochemical reactions.
Michael Enright Assistant Professor enrightm@sfsu.edu Chemistry Enricht's website The Enright lab seeks to develop a spectroscopic understanding of colloidal nanomaterial systems for sustainable energy solutions. Our group uses nanomaterials to convert and manipulate sunlight.
Nicole Adelstein Associate Professor nicoleal@sfsu.edu Chemistry Adelstein's website The Adelstein Materials Research Group uses computational tools to understand and improve materials used in renewable energy technologies, with the goal of reducing the fossil fuel usage and climate change. The group studies ionic diffusion in solid-state materials using first-principles and classical molecular dynamics simulations.
Raymond Esquerra Professor esquerra@sfsu.edu Chemistry Esquerra's website Our lab develops low-cost tools to monitor the health of plankton as a function of climate change and pollution. Bioengineering solutions to reduce the dependance of petroleum in the checmial and fuel industries.
Andrew Ichimura Professor ichimura@sfsu.edu Chemistry & Biochemistry Ichimura's website Our reserach focuses on the use of semiconductor titanium dioxide thin films for renewable energy and environmental remediation applications. For renewable energy, we are particularly interested in solar energy based water splitting to produce hydrogen and oxygen.
George Gassner Professor gassner@sfsu.edu Chemistry & Biochemistry Gassner's website Our research is focused on biocatalytic transformation of hydrocarbons and other small molecules by engineered enymes and biochemical pathways. This work has applications in bioremediation, renewable energy, and the development of "green chemical" strategies for the synthesis of drugs and fine chemicals.
Misty Kuhn Associate Professor mkuhn@sfsu.edu Chemistry & Biochemistry Kuhn's website We study bacterial proteins that are important for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases that impact global populations due to climate change.
Tomoko Komada Professor tkomada@sfsu.edu Chemistry & Biochemistry | Estuary & Ocean Science Center Komada's website We study carbon cycling in the seafloor to better understand how the oceans store carbon within its interior.
Constance Gordon Assistant Professor cgordon@sfsu.edu Communication Studies Gordon's website I teach and research in the environmental humanities, using engaged research to study food and environmental justice organizing, especially in relation to processes of uneven development and dispossession. As Climate HQ faculty and as the lead of the Climate Ambassadors course development, I work to develop students' critical capacities to identify false narratives that deepen inequities and communicate creatively to support intersectional climate justice.
Susan Cholette Director, Center for Ethical and Sustainable Business and Professor, Decision Sciences cholette@sfsu.edu Decision Sciences Cholette's website As Director of CESB, I am seeking to involve students, faculty, staff and the greater community in providing informational seminars. As a professor, my research is in green supply chains, especially for food.
Bridget James Lecturer bjames@sfsu.edu Earth & Climate Sciences James' website  
Erin Bray Assistant Professor ebray@sfsu.edu Earth & Climate Sciences Bray's website My research is in rivers, with particular emphasis in river temperature and heat exchange processes. We also address issues related to sediment transport in rivers, which generally happens when there are extreme flood events - also climate driven.
Petra Dekens Professor dekens@sfsu.edu Earth & Climate Sciences Dekens' website My paleoclimate research uses the geochemistry of microfossils preserved in marine sediments to reconstruct past climates. My primary research interest is understanding the mechanisms which sustained a warm climate in the early Pliocene, the most recent period of time when Earth’s temperatures were warmer than they are today for a sustained period of time.
Yadira Ibarra Assistant Professor yibarra@sfsu.edu Earth & Climate Sciences Ibarra's website We investigate terrestrial rocks that form from mineral-rich springs known as travertine and tufa from the Santa Cruz Mountains and Death Valley to reconstruct hydroclimates over the last 2.6 milion years. We also study the effects of past CO2 rise in the geologic record.
Stuart Siegel SF Bay NERR Interim Director siegel@sfsu.edu Earth and Climate Science; SF Bay NERR Siegel's website Siegel focuses on the intersections of climate change, natural resources resiliency, ecosystem restoration, management-relevant science, and regional planning. He has been at the forefront of ecosystem restoration before it gained its modern name, and has worked on climate change-driven projects for several years.
Ahmad Ganji Professor aganji@sfsu.edu Engineering Ganji's website Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) provides energy efficnecy services to industrial plants, water and wastewater treatment facilities. Our parallel mission is training energy engineers to serve in energy industry. We have been funded by US Department of Energy for over 30 years!
Liam Buckley Lecturer LiamB@sfsu.edu Engineering Buckley's website  
Angela D. Jones Associate Professor adjones@sfsu.edu English Literature Jones' website My research focuses on the relationship between narrative and ecological sustainability.
Amy Dorie Associate Professor, Program Lead of Apparel Design & Merchandising adorie@sfsu.edu Family, Interiors, Nutrition, & Apparel Dorie's website My juried creative design work focuses on climate-related issues that disproportionally affect low-income and marginalized societies through activist apparel and textile designs. Some juried exhibited design works have visually represented carbon emissions, melting ice caps, CA wildfires, and the pollution of the Salton Sea, the latter being a student-led design as I mentor students in activist design focused on climate change.
Andrew Oliphant Professor andrewo@sfsu.edu Geography & Environment Oliphant's website My research focuses on interactions between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere, particularly carbon and water cycling and surface microclimates. Current projects include mountain meadow carbon cycling in response to hydrologic restoration, monitoring GHG emissions from agricultural healthy soils practices, and ongoing projects on urban and microclimates of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Ellen Hines Professor ehines@sfsu.edu Geography & Environment Hines' website Our research looks at the effects of sea level rise and storm surge on top marine predators, mainly pinnipeds.
Sara Baguskas Assistant Professor baguskas@sfsu.edu Geography & Environment Baguskas' website My research focuses on how plants respond to their environment, and how changes to critical resources, such as water availability during periods of drought, impact their physiology and distirbution. My lab specializes in the role of coastal fog on shaping plant communities and function in natural and managed ecosystems, and implications for resource management, e.g., crop irrigation along the California coast.
Sarah Crabtree Associate Professor slc123@sfsu.edu History Crabtree's website My teaching and research focuses on the changing relationship between human society and the maritime world, particularly how land-based narratives of history have obscured the impact of industrialization and globalization on marine ecosystems. I am particularly interested in the ways historical sources can contribute to longitudinal data about ocean life and the people who depend on it.
Kathleen McAfee Professor km@kmcafee.com International Relations McAfee's website My research concerns ‘selling nature to save it’, as governments and companies try to solve climate and biodiversity crises by pricing environmental benefits and harms in dollars: why REDD+ and similar programs to save tropical forests have failed; whether carbon markets in offsets (permits to pollute) can slow global-warming or will make things worse. Locally I’m connected with the Sunflower Alliance, working to phase out fossil fuel infrastructure in the Bay area.
Geoff Desa Professor gdesa@sfsu.edu Management Desa's website I study the relationship between social innovation and resource-mobilization. In particular, I look at how climate-responsive innovations depend upon institutional regimes, societal cultures and contexts, and collective narratives for long-term viability.
Ian M Dunham, MBA, PhD Assistant Professor of Business and Society / Sustainability iandunham@sfsu.edu Management Department Dunham's website My research explores critical issues in urban/regional economic development, including environmental / climate justice, with specialization in quantitative spatial analysis methods, big data, and volunteered geographic information.
Darlene Yee-Melichar Professor/Director dyee@sfsu.edu PACE - Gerontology Program/Long-Term Care Administration Yee-Melichar's website In 2017-18, I served as a CSU faculty grant reviewer for the innovative Campus as Living Lab (CALL) Program funded by the National Science Foundation, focused on real-world sustainability problems. In 2021, I advocated for the ASCSU resolution on Support for Actions Taken to Reduce Climate Change and to Protect the Environment; I also have served, and continue to serve, on our SF State Sustainability Committee.
Adrienne Cool Professor cool@sfsu.edu Physics & Astronomy Cool's website I co-founded Astronomers for Planet Earth in 2019 with several SFSU students and faculty at SFSU and elsewhere. It's grown into an international organization of ~1500 astronomers in 80 countries who are working to make astronomy a sustainable profession, incorporating a focus on climate change into formal and informal astronomy education, and advocating for action to preserve Earth's habitability.
Charli Sakari Assistant Professor sakaricm@sfsu.edu Physics & Astronomy Sakari's website I'm a founding member of the group Astronomers for Planet Earth, which was started here at SFSU in 2019!
Joel Kassiola Professor kassiola@sfsu.edu Political Science Kassiola's website My research focuses on environmental political theory specializing in what I term Confucian Green Theory using the Confucian tradition as an alternative to the Western uneuqal and unsustainable worldview. Also I study China's environmental crisis and unprecedented rural-to-urban migration phenomena.
Sheldon Gen Professor sgen@sfsu.edu Public Affairs & Civic Engagement; Public Administration Gen's website I'm a pracademic who works on public engagement in policy making, with a focus on environmental and educational issues. I serve on the boards of Point Blue Conservation Science, Petaluma City Schools, and the SF State Foundation.
Shawn Rosenmoss Lecturer srosenmoss@sfsu.edu Public Affairs and Civic Engagement Rosenmoss' website  
Glenn Fieldman Associate Professor glenn@sfsu.edu Public Affairs and Civic Engagement Fieldman's website Research: Domestic and international political economy of the environment, focused on how deregulation of finance has accelerated environmental destruction and transformed the policy environment in both public and private spheres. Community Service: Steering Committee of Fossil Free California, which seeks CA public pension fund fossil fuel divestment; member of Open Space and Advisory Committee, City of Brisbane, which advises city council on environmental affairs and helps to write city policies including Climate Action Plan.
Autumn Thoyre Director, SFSU Climate HQ; Associate Professor & Program Coordinator of Environmental Studies athoyre@sfsu.edu Public Affairs and Civic Engagement ;Environmental Studies Thoyre's website My research analyzes the social justice implications of policies and social movements that aim to mitigate climate change by reducing energy use. As Director of Climate HQ I work on facilitating various initatives on education, research, and community capacity building.
Raquel Pinderhughes Professor raquelrp@sfsu.edu Public Affairs and Civic Engagement; Urban Studies & Planning Pinderhughes' website I am the Founder of the "Roots of Success Environmental Literacy and Job Training Program" which prepares youth and adults from frontline communities to understand environmental challenges and injustices and prepares individuals for a wide range of jobs in environmental fields.
Aritree Samanta Director, SFSU Climate HQ, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies asamanta@sfsu.edu Public Affairs and Civic Engagement: Environmental Studies Samanta's website My research and teaching is on climate change adaptation and justice, especially in urban communities and I study representation in environmental and climate-related decision-making bodies and in policy processes. As Director of Climate HQ I work on facilitating various initatives on education, research, and community capacity building.
Larry Horvath Professor lhorvath@sfsu.edu Secondary Education Horvath's website PI NSF Western Regional Noyce Alliance: provide professional development for Robert Noyce Scholarship recipients (science and math teachers) working in high needs secondary schools across fourteen western states. Research focuses on supporting these teachers' understanding of model based reasoning in science and math, and how these teachers develop and implement inclusive curriculum that support their students' ability to develop and use both scientific and mathematical models to understand scientific phenomena.