Alumni

Dr. Douglas W. Edsall (he/him) is a professor emeritus of Geology at the U.S. Naval Academy. 

He is currently a Certified Professional Geological Scientist #3990. ([email protected])

I am retired, but since 2022 I have been working on STEM projects with local high school students and participating in the Mentoring365 program of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Geological Society of America (GSA), and the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) (member since 1973).

What was your major as an undergraduate?
Geology

What graduate degrees do you hold?
MS, The American University. M.Phil and Ph.D., Columbia University (1975, Advisor: Dr. Bruce C. Heezen)

What career path led you to your current position?
I joined the faculty of the USNA in 1969. I served 42 years as a Department of the Navy (DON) employee. I spent time in Tokyo, Japan on temporary additional duty as Associate Director for Oceans, Atmosphere and Space Sciences in the Office of Naval Research International Field Office (ONRIFO).

Did you experience any unanticipated turns in your career, and how did those come about?

My connections between Columbia and LDEO personnel and the U.S. Navy led to a job at the USNA.

What role did you have at Lamont?
Graduate Student

How did your experience at Lamont shape you?
It gave me the knowledge and confidence to pursue teaching and various research projects related to marine geology and geophysics.

What year did you leave Lamont?
1968

What inspired you to pursue an education and/or career in Earth, environmental, or climate sciences?
I started working for the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office in 1963.The mentoring and the friendship of Dr. Bruce Heezen and Marie Tharp inspired me, as well as working at the Alpine Geophysical Associates, my time at sea, and being involved with the project GOFAR.

How have you shared your scientific knowledge with your local/home community?
I have taught in high school, community college, and mentored students in scientific projects including the Westinghouse Science Search Competition.

What advice would you give to a young person interested in Earth, environmental, or climate sciences?
Reach out to a teacher, parent or scientist. Ask questions, become involved in pursuing a project in the field you wish to study. Many internet sites are valuable resources.

E. Christa Farmer (she/her) has been a Professor at Hofstra University since 2004. ([email protected])

I teach college students Earth science and women's studies, I am co-PI on an NSF award to run a geoscience summer research program, and I do research in paleoclimatology and environmental studies.

What was your major as an undergraduate?
Earth Systems (Biosphere)

What graduate degrees do you hold?

M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D (2005, Adviser: Peter de Menocal)

What career path led you to your current position?
I worked as a wildlife technician when I graduated with my B.S., but I really worried about climate change. This led me back to graduate school. I wanted to work for the EPA when I finished my PhD, but I loved being a teaching assistant so much that I applied for tenure-track Assistant Professor positions.

Did you experience any unanticipated turns in your career, and how did those come about?

I lost my first job out of college because of canceled funding. I found some other more temporary jobs, but eventually ended up going to graduate school. I resented having to take field mapping but it ended up being one of the most useful courses, when I became a geoscience professor and was asked to teach field methods.

How did your experience at Lamont shape you?
As a graduate student, I like to say I was like a kid in a candy store, being at LDEO with all the diverse geoscience research, I found it hard to choose a thesis topic. I learned so much, and made so many good connections that still serve me today.

What inspired you to pursue an education and/or career in Earth, environmental, or climate science?
I went to college thinking I would study East Asian Studies-I was learning Mandarin Chinese-but I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. I knew I didn't want to be a translator. I ended up taking more and more environmental science classes, and switching briefly to geology before ending up majoring in Earth Systems (a combination of biology, geology, and economics) with a concentration in biology. I remember being very gratified that I scored well on the Biology GREs. I have been concerned about environmental issues since I was in junior high school, when my social studies teacher made it his mission to expose us to the problems of the world. I wrote a paper on deforestation in India in his class. In high school, we did not have an environmental studies class of any kind so I got together with some other students and convinced the high school administration to hire our junior high school Earth science teacher to teach an environmental science class at the high school. 

When I graduated with my B.S., I worked as a wildlife technician for a while, but worried more about climate change and equity issues with humans. So I went back to graduate school to study the climate system. I thought I wanted to work for the EPA when I finished, but in graduate school I fell in love with teaching. So I applied for some assistant professor jobs and was lucky enough to get hired at Hofstra. I've been there ever since.

How have you shared your scientific knowledge with your local/home community?
I give invited talks about my research to local libraries. I mentor high school students in research. I am co-PI on an NSF award to pay undergraduates to do geoscience research.

What advice would you give to a young person interested in Earth, environmental, or climate science?
Learn as much as you can and follow your passions!

My career thus far has been a delicate balance among a handful of passions. The first, geology, is rooted in a fascination with rocks and minerals as a child, pursued later with my bachelor’s degree. The second, computer science, was a happy discovery in college and an attempted career pathway in the early 2000s. Geophysics married the two, and my experience at Lamont thrust me into the fascinating world of exploration with my PhD thesis on mid-ocean ridge crustal structure, completed in 2009 under the guidance of my incredible advisors, Drs. Spahr Webb and Maya Tolstoy. Post-graduation, I accepted a job with Chevron due to its potential for a varied career path in an environment supporting diversity and inclusion. Since that time, I’ve been a developer of interpretation tools, a business unit new field development geologist, a researcher on seismic interpretation technologies, and a seismic stratigrapher for global exploration. Chevron recently supported me in a one-year master’s degree program at MIT in Engineering and Management with a thesis focus on geothermal exploration. Upon completion, I assumed the role of digital solutions earth scientist in the Chevron Technical Center Subsurface Innovation Lab, developing technologies focused on the systems engineering, subsurface interpretation, and new energies spaces. I currently live in Houston with my husband and three dogs, but I continue to watch the latest news out of Lamont with keen interest in the research and career progress of old friends and future potential collaborators! Happy to hear from fellow Lamonters: [email protected].

I finished my PhD at Lamont in 2011 in geophysics under the supervision of Art Lerner-Lam. After completing five years of research in seismology, including deploying seismometers in Manhattan and Charleston, and studying earthquakes in Italy, I wanted to see how industry uses geophysics. I moved to Houston, Texas, and joined BP. During my eight years at BP, I had the opportunity to work on some of the industry's largest deepwater oil fields and see the whole lifecycle of the upstream business, from exploration to appraisal to production, to conducting seismic data acquisition, to processing and interpretation. I then led the data science and analytics team, providing digital transformation solutions to the North America upstream business. In 2020, I joined Amazon Web Services. As a senior data scientist, I am helping global enterprises in the energy, retail, and entertainment industries through their digital journey by building artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions on the cloud. In my spare time, I love to travel around the world and I am also a huge basketball and soccer fan. I am married with two sons. I am looking forward to connecting with all Lamonters!

Ellen Kappel (she/her) has been president of Geosciences Professional Services Inc. (Geo Prose) for nearly 25 years. ([email protected])

I collaborate with our community to develop science plans for large programs, reports for US agencies and academic nonprofit consortia, and an array of print and electronic materials that promote the geosciences. Day to day, my work mainly consists of editing and working with a designer to develop these materials. I am also editor of the journal Oceanography.

What was your major as an undergraduate?

Geology

What graduate degrees do you hold?

MS, MPhil, and PhD (1985. Advisor: Bill Ryan). I was a Postdoctoral Scientist at LDEO until 1986.

What career path led you to your current position?

Prior to starting Geo Prose, I worked as a program manager for the Ocean Drilling Program at Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI). I had marvelous mentors who taught me the finer points of program management. As part of being a program manager, I learned about budgeting and contracting, and I was given a lot of rope to pursue new projects. Importantly, I was exposed to a lot of different science and a huge array of people -- scientists, engineers, contracts specialists, accountants, and so many other folks who were dedicated to making the drilling program work. The roughly dozen years of working at JOI gave me the skills and the network that allowed me to start my own business, even though I had never given such a move a thought. I'm not a businessperson by a long shot, but it just happened, and it has worked out marvelously for me.

Did you experience any unanticipated turns in your career, and how did those come about?

I became an entrepreneur by accident. A short time after I left JOI, the NSF Ocean Sciences director approached me to assist the co-chairs of a committee in wrapping up a big "futures" document. In addition to twisting committee members' arms to provide promised text, I restructured the document, edited it ruthlessly, and worked with my JOI designer (who moonlighted for me for this document) to get to the finish line. Work on this document led to work on another and another and another. And it's still happening after 25 years. There always seems to be another document around the corner that needs some editing, design, and TLC.

How did your experience at Lamont shape you?

I became more confident in my abilities. At times, I was asked to be a leader when I would have been more comfortable being a follower. By taking on some big responsibilities (a lot of times at sea on research vessels), I found out that I was as capable as my mentors thought I was. I never would have learned some of these things about myself without mentors trusting that I would succeed when challenged.

What inspired you to pursue a career in Earth science?

I love puzzles, and I found that Earth science is full of some of the most interesting ones.

How have you shared your scientific knowledge with your community?

I've given talks at libraries and in schools, and even at a law firm that was interested in how climate change might affect their business.

What advice would you give to a young person interested in Earth, environmental, or climate science?

There are so many ways to contribute your scientific knowledge for the good, so don't be afraid to pursue what seems to be a different path. Learn about the array of careers out there that need Earth, environmental, and climate scientists and find folks to talk to about their jobs. You may be surprised about the variety of rewarding paths you can pursue.

I have always been interested in exploring the different ways that people can impact their environment and the implications for human health. My PhD research at Lamont examined connections between land use change, fire activity, and air pollution exposure in tropical regions, under the guidance of Dr. Ruth DeFries. After finishing in 2014, I continued with a postdoctoral position in the Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology (E3B) department at Columbia as well as the Geography department at UCLA. Each of these positions allowed me to broaden my expertise with using remote sensing data to explore the drivers and consequences of environmental change. Following my postdoctoral research, I worked at the non-profit RAND Corporation in Santa Monica as an Associate Physical Scientist. During my time at RAND, I delved more deeply into policy issues regarding climate change and natural hazards, among many other topics. I started as an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Health Sciences department at UCLA in 2020, where I continue to conduct research at the intersection of climate change and public health. I currently live in Santa Monica with my husband, son, and dog. As a West Coast native, I am happy to be back to the year-round sunshine! I enjoy connecting with Lamont students and alumni and can be reached at [email protected]. 

Dr. Florentin J. Maurrasse has been a Professor at Florida International University since 1973. He recently celebrated his 50th anniversary at FIU and he attributes his longevity to the pioneering spirit he developed at LDEO. ([email protected])

I supervise research projects for my doctoral and MS students. I teach graduate courses in Paleoceanography, Sedimentary Geology, and Stratigraphy. I also teach undergraduate courses in Physical Geology, Paleontology and Oceanography.

What was your major as an undergraduate?

Geology and Chemistry

What was your minor as an undergraduate? 

Natural Science

What graduate degrees do you hold?

Diplome d'Études Supérieures and PhD (December 1973. Advisor: Professor James D. Hays)

What career path led you to your current position?

Following undergraduate study in Natural Science and Chemistry at the École Normale Supérieure in Haiti, I completed a Licence ès Science and a Diplome d’Études Supérieures in Geology at the Faculté des Sciences de Marseille, France. I concluded my graduate studies with a doctoral degree in the Geological Sciences at Columbia University (LDEO) where I was mentored by Professor James D. Hays. Before entering Columbia’s graduate school, I also worked as a sedimentologist and Research Assistant at (LDEO). As a graduate student I was a participant sedimentologist in Deep-Sea Drilling Project Leg 15 in the Caribbean Sea. 

Upon graduation from Columbia, I spent my professional career dedicated to promoting and giving my best to train students at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami-Dade County, Florida where I am a founding faculty of the newly opened university. I became the founding faculty of the Geology Program in the Department of Physical Sciences as well as the founding chairman of the Department of Geology at FIU, which I chaired twice until 1996. At FIU I built Geology from scratch and at the end of my chairmanship the Geology Department was known worldwide with a total of 15 faculty members and a graduate program up to the doctoral degree. Presently I continue my faculty duties and research focusing mostly on ocean anoxic events (OAEs) in Mexico, Spain, France, and Colombia. I have mentored 10 MS and 9 PhD students who are all very successful in their professional career. Among other important academic and private companies some students have worked for BP, Shell, Chevron, ARAMCO, the Naval Research Lab (Stennis Space Center), and the Bureau of Land Management. All my students had a job offer before they left FIU.

I received the FIU’s Presidential Award for Excellence in 1992, FIU’s Honors College Excellence Award in 2004 and the first Excellence in Graduate mentorship Award in 2007. My discovery in 1979 of the tektite layers in the Southern Peninsula of Haiti provided the critical evidence that allowed scientists to confirm Alvarez's hypothesis by locating the impact site in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico dated to about 65.5 million years ago. Because of this discovery, I have been featured in four documentaries and appeared on the front page (August 1991) of the Miami Herald, Miami, Florida. I have worked on various aspects of the geology of the Caribbean and Latin America throughout my career and my graduate students have worked in Mexico, Spain, Colombia, and France. I contributed to updating the geologic map of Haiti and I organized the first Conference on the Geology of Haiti,1979 -1980. I have worked in cooperation with the University of Haiti and the Bureau of Mines for over 37 years where I contributed to the geologic formation of 6 professionals through a cooperative agreement with FIU. I am currently carrying research with collaborators in Mexico, Colombia, Southeastern France, Romania, and Spain focusing on oceanic anoxic events. Among my scholarly international activities, I was the co-organizer with my late colleague Marcos A. Lamolda of the International Congress on Bioevents in Caravaca, Spain (2003), and co-edited 2 volumes from the presentations 1) Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology v. 224 (1-3), 15 August 2005. 2) Journal of Iberian Geology v. 31. No. 1, 2005; Palaeo3, v. 224, Issues 1-3, 2005. I was the co-organizer with Prof. Mihaela Carmen Melinte (Romania), of a Memorial session in honor of the late Prof. Marcos Lamolda of Granada, Spain, at the 11th International Cretaceous Symposium, August 22nd – 26th, 2022, Warsaw, Poland. I am an Honorary Member of the Scientific Committee of the14th Romanian Symposium on Palaeontology, Bucharest, September 14th – 15th, 2023.

Did you experience any unanticipated turns in your career, and how did those come about?

The discovery in 1979 of the tektite layer in the Southern Peninsula of Haiti while doing a meticulous stratigraphic assessment of the area to update the geologic map.

What role(s) did you have at Lamont?

Graduate Student and a Core describer prior to graduate school

How did your experience at Lamont shape you?

It has been a life-changing experience that led me to sustain my passion for research.

What inspired you to pursue an education and/or career in earth, environmental, or climate science?

My love of nature and curiosity about the hows and whys of the Earth systems.

How have you shared your scientific knowledge with your local/home community?

Occasional presentations to schools and clubs.

What advice would you give to a young person interested in Earth, environmental, or climate science?

Always be thorough and passionate.

Lynn Sykes was one of the principal contributors to the development of plate tectonics in the 1960s. He used mechanisms and precise locations of earthquakes in 1966 to show that new seafloor was being created and continental drift and transform faulting were occurring along branches of the world-encircling mid-oceanic rift system. His work showed that Tuzo Wilson’s transform fault proposal of 1965 was correct and applied to numerous fracture zones around the world.

Sykes along with Jack Oliver and Brian Isacks of Lamont-Doherty showed that old seafloor was being underthrust and consumed at deep-sea trenches of the globe, a process that was soon called subduction. They showed in 1968 that seafloor spreading, transforming faulting and subduction of strong lithosphere of the crust and upper mantle of the earth were the main processes of what became plate tectonics.

Sykes was also a main contributor for more than 55 years to the development of methods to identify underground nuclear explosions and distinguish their seismic signals from those of small earthquakes. In 1974 he was a member of the U.S. team that negotiated the Threshold Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in Moscow. He argued and testified before Congress for the next 15 years that well-calibrated methods to estimate the sizes or yields of Soviet explosions showed it. was in compliance with the Threshold Treaty. His work on the identification of small nuclear explosions figured strongly in the decision by the U.S. and many other countries to negotiate the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in the late 1990s. In 1996 he wrote “Dealing with decoupled nuclear explosions under a comprehensive test ban treaty.” He argued that nuclear testing in huge underground cavities, as claimed by Edward Teller and others at the Livermore nuclear weapons, lab had vastly overrated so-called muffled or decoupled testing. It was not a good reason to continue underground testing. He was a member of a study by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences that examined the verification of the CTBT in 2012.

 In 1986 the Federation of American Scientists presented Sykes and colleagues Evernden and Archambeau with its Public Service Award for “leadership, effectiveness, and courage in the application of seismology to the banning of nuclear tests through public education and bureaucratic struggles.”

Sykes became a graduate student in seismology at Columbia in 1960 as the U.S. government was expanding funding for the identification of underground nuclear testing. The Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963 banned nuclear tests in the atmosphere, underwater and space but not underground. Underground explosions were conducted by various countries until just before the CTBT was signed in 1996. Sykes continues to work and lecture on seismic verification and preventing nuclear war.

His books “Silencing the Bomb: One Scientist’s Quest to Halt Nuclear Testing” and “Plate Tectonics and Great Earthquakes: 50 Years of Earth-Shaking Events” were published by Columbia University Press in 2017 and 2019. He is the author of more than 150 scientific articles.

Sykes also worked on stresses in the eastern and central United States, areas within the large North American plate. He co-authored “Observations and Tectonic Setting of Historic and Instrumentally Located Earthquakes in the Greater New York City-Philadelphia Area” in 2008. He testified in 1974 before the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission about the earthquake safety of the Indian Point nuclear reactors to the north of New York City. In 2020 he wrote “Decadal Seismicity Prior to Great Earthquakes at Subduction Zones,” seeking forerunning changes prior to huge mainshocks that might be useful for long-term earthquake forecasting. He and two Lamont colleagues recently showed that forerunning seismic activity along a distinct subparallel fault only 3 km (2 miles) away occurred in the two years before the great 1989 Loma Prieta, northern California, earthquake.

 Sykes once said childhood experiences and high school teachers “nourished in me the concept of science in the public interest and the notion that one individual can make an impact on issues of great importance.”

 Sykes was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 16, 1937 and grew up in Arlington and Fairfax countries, Virginia. He was an undergraduate at MIT and received his PhD from Columbia University in 1965, where he joined the faculty in 1968. He retired from Columbia in 2005 as Higgins Professor Emeritus of Earth and Environmental Science. He continues to work on science.