Directory
Faculty
Michael Lee
Professor & Chair
Physical Geographer/Sustainability
North Science 350
(510) 885-3155
michael.lee@csueastbay.edu | Faculty Profile
Dr. Michael Lee is an educator and consultant specializing in natural resources and sustainable development. He has a Ph.D. in physical geography/hydrology from the London School of Economics and Political Science where his research focused on computer modelling of arid watershed runoff harvesting systems. He has over 30 years of experience in the assessment, management and protection of natural resources with an emphasis on water resources, watersheds natural resources and food systems. He has worked in both urban and rural areas as a researcher, teacher and consultant in Central America, Africa, Europe and the United States. Since 1996, he has taught at the California State University (CSU) East Bay where he is most active in the areas of natural resources management, water management, global change and sustainable development. He has a certificate in online teaching and has also taught in the online MS program for prospective educators and on green building topics in the Construction Management program. He was the Visiting Scientist at the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in 2016-17 and the Resident Director of International Programs in Spain for the CSU in 2017-18. He was formerly Chair of the Dept. of Anthropology, Geography and Environmental Studies.
Emilio Grande
Assistant Professor
North Science 352
(510) 885-3433
emilio.grande@csueastbay.edu |
Dr. Emilio Grande (he/him/his) studies hydrology and biochemistry from catchment headwater to coastal groundwater. He is interested in understanding how rainfall becomes runoff. The pathways water takes through landscapes and the biogeochemical implications of these pathways from headwater catchments to the coastal ocean. He integrates field and quantitative analyses to investigate rainfall-runoff relationships and surface water- groundwater exchanges across a broad range of spatial and temporal scales and environmental settings. He uses and integrates knowledge from several disciplines to address the numerous challenges at the terrestrial-marine interface. Currently, these challenges include hydrology, remote sensing, and biogeochemistry. In the future, he intends to grow his research efforts to include related socio-economic issues in his investigation. Dr. Grande is a CSUEB alumnus. He received a B.S. and a M.S. in Geology from the Earth and Environmental Sciences department in 2017 and 2019, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of California Santa Cruz in 2022. He is always looking for interested undergraduate and graduate students. Contact him for more information.
Twitter: @egrandeHYDRO
Patty Oikawa
Associate Professor
Biogeochemistry, Greenhouse Gas Measurements
North Science 329A
(510) 885-3439
patty.oikawa@csueastbay.edu | |
Dr. Patty Oikawa specializes in biogeochemistry and greenhouse gas measurements. She is currently studying how wetland restoration in the Bay Area and Sacramento Delta can be used to mitigate climate change. Dr. Oikawa received her B.S. in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at UC Santa Barbara before moving to the east coast for graduate school. She received her PhD in Biology from the University of Virginia in 2011 on trace gas emissions from leaves and plant carbon cycling. She then moved back to California for a postdoctoral position at UC Riverside where she studied nitrogen oxide emissions from high temperature agricultural systems and how they influence air quality. Finally, Dr. Oikawa received a USDA Postdoctoral Fellowship to measure and model greenhouse gas exchange in restored wetlands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta at UC Berkeley. She joined the Cal State East Bay faculty in 2016 and is currently accepting undergraduate and graduate students in her lab. Please contact her for more information.
Antonio Roman-Alcala
Assistant Professor
Environmental Studies
North Science 253
(510) 885-3160
antonio.romanalcala@csueastbay.edu | Faculty Profile
Antonio Roman-Alcalá is an educator, researcher, writer, and organizer based in Berkeley, California who has worked on issues of sustainable food systems for nearly 20 years. Antonio is currently an Assistant Professor at CSUEB teaching Geography and Environmental Studies. Previously, he co-founded San Francisco’s , the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance, and the , and his 2010 documentary film, , can be viewed free online. He holds a BA in urban sustainability from UC Berkeley, and received his PhD from the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague in 2021. In addition to his role at CSUEB, Antonio conducts education, research, and consulting with the , is on the board of directors of the of California, and co-facilitates the scholar collaborative . He also currently advises various national efforts on food justice, land access for young farmers, and developing community-based research.
Tony Marks-Block
Associate Professor
Fire Ecology
Meiklejohn Hall
(510) 885-3164
tony.marksblock@csueastbay.edu | Faculty Profile
Tony Marks-Block is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of History and Global Cultures and Earth, Environmental and Sustainability Sciences at CSU East Bay. He is an ecological anthropologist who conducts research at the nexus of anthropogenic (prescribed) fire, small-scale subsistence practices, Indigenous sovereignty movements and the political ecology of land management in California. Through funding from the National Science Foundation, the Joint Fire Science Program and Stanford University, he collaborated with and learned from Karuk and Yurok peoples in northwestern California to complete his PhD on cultural burning. Dr. Marks-Block enjoys teaching critical pyrogeography, human ecology, and political ecology, as well as applied and community-engaged anthropological methods.
Jean Moran
Emeritus Professor
Isotope Hydrology, Contaminant Transport
N336A
(510) 885-2491
Dr. Jean Moran's research focuses on applying naturally-occurring and introduced isotopes to examine geochemical and transport processes during recharge and groundwater transport. Over the last 20 years, she has led numerous projects on groundwater recharge and contamination vulnerability, water quality including fate and transport of nitrate, and surface water-groundwater interaction under the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment program sponsored by the California State Water Resources Control Board. Dr. Moran has a Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the University of Rochester, Bachelor’s degrees in Physics and Geology from the University of Rochester and a Master’s degree in Geophysics from the University of Washington. She has been an author on more than 50 peer-reviewed publications. Graduate and undergraduate students are fully integrated in the research group she leads, and carry out field work, laboratory analyses, GIS, and data interpretation.
Jeff Seitz
Emeritus Professor
N350
510-885-4068
jeff.seitz@csueastbay.edu | Faculty Profile
Luther Strayer
Emeritus Professor
North Science 353
(510) 885-3083
Luther Strayer is a structural geologist. His research is currently focused on seismic surveying in local fault zones including the Hayward and Chabot faults.
David Larson
Emeritus Professor
Geography
Ph.D., U.C. Berkeley (Geography)
A CSUEB faculty member for over 30 years, Dr. Larson earned the B.S. in agricultural and resource economics and M.A. and Ph.D. in geography from U.C. Berkeley. His academic interests are environmental history, environmental impacts, water resources, and the American West. Primary teaching responsibilities have included Environmental Field Methods, Historical Geography of North America, Environmental Impact Analysis and the department’s writing and research seminar. Off-campus professional activity has included creek restoration and habitat improvement projects and environmental consultancies.
The longtime chair of Anthropology, Geography and Environmental Studies, Dr. Larson also served for two years as the Interim Dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences; for four years as the university’s Diversity and Equity Liaison Officer for tenure-track faculty appointments; and for 15 years as Cal State East Bay’s Faculty Athletics Representative to the NCAA and CCAA. His peers have elected him to the Academic Senate and its Executive Committee for multiple terms. Faculty governance service includes the Senate’s standing committees on curriculum and instruction, academic program review, faculty diversity and equity, and faculty affairs.
Dr. Larson has represented Cal State East Bay abroad while teaching at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand and nationally and regionally on editorial boards and conference program committees. Community engagement has come most prominently through government service: a combined nine years on the Integrated Waste Management and Recycling Services task forces for the City of El Cerrito.
A distance runner and cyclist, he has competed in marathons and other endurance events for four decades and he regularly travels the world to attend global sporting events.
Interests: historical geography, environmental history, environmental impacts, water, American West
Courses: Literature & Research Methods, Environmental Projects, Historical Geography of North America
Staff
Stephanie Gunter
Department Technician
North Science 341
(510) 885-3440
stephanie.gunter@csueastbay.edu
Stephanie Gunter is the Instructional Support Technician for the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department at Cal State East Bay. She got her start at Oberlin College, where she earned her Bachelor's in Biology and Environmental Studies in 2018. Later, she went on to complete her Master's in Biology at University of Dayton in 2021. Ever since she was a child, she always loved animals, and wanted to learn more about the natural environment. Her most recent interest has been insects and habitat restoration, which was the focus of her thesis at UD. In the future, she hopes to work with insect collections in a museum setting. Her current favorite insects are the hemipterans (aka true bugs), so you can talk to her if you'd like to learn more!
Stephanie is thrilled to be working for the EES Department here! This is her first time living in California, so she is looking forward to learning about the local environment and geology while supporting the department however she can. In her spare time, she loves to go walking or running, playing games, drawing, and baking bread.
Jennifer Hidalgo
Lecturers
Kelly Decker
Lecturer of Earth and Environmental Sciences
North Science - N331
Gita Dunhill
Lecturer of Earth and Environmental Sciences
North Science 351
Dr. Gita Dunhill is a marine geologist whose interests range from climate records to general oceanography. Gita has participated in many scientific cruises in and around the Arctic region obtaining sediment cores to reconstruct past climates and changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet.
She teaches a variety of courses including sedimentology/stratigraphy, geomorphology, oceanography, global change, and Hands on Science Teaching. In addition to teaching undergraduate courses, she is involved in conducting workshops for middle school teachers looking to include global change into their curriculum. This work combines her passion for the Arctic, climate change, and teaching.
Dr. Dunhill received her Ph.D. from the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado, Boulder after completing a M.S. at CSU East Bay focused on sea ice.
Lora Teitler
Lecturer of Earth and Environmental Sciences
North Science - N331
Dorothee Rebscher
Lecturer of Earth and Environmental Sciences
North Science - N351
dorothee.rebscher@csueastbay.edu
Dr. Dorothee Rebscher received a PhD in geophysics and a diploma in physics from the University of Bonn, Germany.
Before joining CSUEB, Dorothee worked in academia and for governmental organizations in the US and Europe. Her geoscientific experience includes field, laboratory, and computational work. As a participant or lead of multinational and interdisciplinary teams, she contributed to volcanology, carbon sequestration, atmospheric physics, environmental science, safe disposal of radioactive waste, and other energy related topics. At CSUEB, she teaches Earth Systems Science, Physical and Environmental Geology, Mineralogy and Optical Crystallography, and Professional Ethics.
Please contact her via email or in person on CSUEB's campus for more information.
Priyanka Vyas
Lecturer of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies
North Science - N331
Elena Givental
LECTURER OF EARTH, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCES
Office: North Science 350
(510) 885-3165
elena.givental@csueastbay.edu | Faculty Profile
Elena Givental has expertise in Weather, Climate Change, Water Resources, California Geography, Geopolitics.
Ellen Woodard
LECTURER OF EARTH, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCES
Office: North Science 351
Ph.D., U.C. Berkeley (Wildland Resource Science)
Interests: natural resource management, field methods, biogeography, wildlife conservation strategies
Courses: Applied Field Studies, Environmental Impact Analysis, Energy & Society, California