SDSU - Department of Geological Sciences

Faculty & Staff

Highlight
Chairs, Advisors, Directors
Experts
Professors
Emeritus
SSPAR's
Lecturers
Adjuncts
Academic Staff
Endowed Chairs
Campus Directory

Chairs, Advisors, & Directors

	Department Chair David L. Kimbrough dkimbrough@mail.sdsu.edu
	Undergraduate Advisor Stephen A. Schellenberg saschellenberg@mail.sdsu.edu
	Graduate Advisor Kathryn Thorbjarnarson kthorbjarnarson@mail.sdsu.edu
	Graduate Degree Programs Stephen A. Schellenberg saschellenberg@mail.sdsu.edu
	Assessment David L. Kimbrough dkimbrough@mail.sdsu.edu
	Community and Educational Outreach Clive Dorman cdorman@mail.sdsu.edu
	Reappointment, Tenure & Promotions Steven M. Day sday@mail.sdsu.edu
	Rollin and Caroline Eckis Chair in Seismology Steven M. Day sday@mail.sdsu.edu
	Directors of the E.C. Allison Research Center Stephen A. Schellenberg saschellenberg@mail.sdsu.edu

Faculty Experts
This guide lists the specialty areas of our diverse faculty, who are available for expert commentary on breaking news or feature stories on topics topics related to the Geological Sciences.

Faculty/Staff Highlight

Patrick L. Abbott
Emeritus Professor

Dr. Pat Abbott has been a professor at San Diego State University since 1971. During that time, not only has he advised numerous geology theses, he also developed the popular general education course, 'Natural Disasters'. Pats research interests include sedimentology of Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks of southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico, correlation of tectonically displaced terranes, impact of humankind upon the earth, ancient soils and climates, archaeological geology, carbonate depositional environments, and hydrology. He has had the public eye for over 35 years with thousands of appearances on television and radio as well as frequent coverage of professional activities in all local newspapers. Since Pat's retirement he has continued revisions to his text book on Natural Disasters, traveled the world giving scientific lectures on cruise lines, and has been recognized for his untiring devotion and service to the geologic community, receiving the A. Eugene Fritsche Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Section SEPM.

Education
Ph.D., Geology, 1973, University of Texas at Austin
Dissertation: The Edwards Limestone in the Balcones fault zone, south-central Texas
M.A., Geology, 1965, University of Texas at Austin Thesis: The Glen Rose Limestone in the Canyon Reservoir area, Comal County, Texas
B.S., Geology, 1963, San Diego State College

Pat in the News
Geologist Pat Abbott Discusses Quake - NBC Sandiego.com Video
Are we ready? Recent earthquake should be reminder for preparedness, North County officials say - Today's Local News
Is San Diego Ready For The 'Big One'? - NBC Sandiego.com
Scientists Make Dire Predictions For Big Quake - NBC Sandiego.com
The Battle for Mount Soledad - Voice of San Diego
Landslide in La Jolla - San Diego Union Tribune
Slow avalanche' gobbles road, homes in San Diego - CNN.com
Calif. Road Buckles, Homes Slide Down Hill - NBC6.net
One La Jolla home destroyed, several damaged in Mt. Soledad slide - San Diego Union Tribune
Experts say recent quakes are wake-up call to county - San Diego Union Tribune
Expert: Recent San Diego Seismic Activity Not Surprising - KPBS

Pat's Books
Natural Disasters 8th edition - McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Rise and Fall of San Diego: 150 Million Years of History Recorded in Sedimentary Rocks - Sunbelt Publishers Education

Archive

Professors

Day, Steven M. (1988) Ph.D., 1977 UC San Diego Professor	Source dynamics, earthquake strong motion, and explosion seismology	Office: GMCS-225A Phone: 619.594.2663 Email: sday@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Frost, Eric G. (1980) Ph.D., 1983 University of Southern California Professor	Structural geology, field geology, regional tectonics, seismic reflection profiling, and geologic imaging	Office: CSL-120 Phone: 619.594.5960 Email: eric.frost@sdsu.edu Website
Girty, Gary H. (1984) Ph.D., 1983 Columbia Professor	Processes controlling the compositions of sandstones and argillites, and the sedimentological and structural origins of Paleozoic/Mesozoic rocks of the western Cordillera	Office: GMCS-120 Phone: 619.594.2552 Email: ggirty@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Kimbrough, David L. (1989) Ph.D., 1982 UC Santa Barbara Professor	Geochronology, isotope geology, petrology, and tectonics	Office: GMCS-229A Phone: 619.594.1385 Email: dkimbrough@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Shuo Ma (2008) Ph.D., 2006 University of California, Santa Barbara Assistant Professor	Earthquake source physics, Seismic wave propagation in complex media, Fault zone damage, Crustal deformation, and Seismic interferometry	Office: GMCS-233A Phone: 619.594.3091 Email: sma@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Olsen, Kim Bak (2004) Ph.D., 1994 University of Utah Professor	3-D simulation of wave propagation using finite differences, strong ground motion and site amplification, earthquake dynamics, non-linear effects in strong ground motion, modeling and migration of crosswell seismic data, parallel and high-performance computing, visualization and animation.	Office: GMCS-231A Phone: 619.594.2649 Email: kbolsen@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Rockwell, Thomas K. (1983) Ph.D., 1983 UC Santa Barbara Professor	Tectonic geomorphology, neotectonics, soils stratigraphy, and the earthquake histories of major faults in southern and Baja California	Office: GMCS-223A Phone: 619.594.4441 Email: trockwell@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Schellenberg, Stephen A. (2002) Ph.D., 2000 University of Southern California Associate Professor	Paleobiology and paleoecology of invertebrates and protists, Mesozoic and Cenozoic paleoceanography, applications of isotopic and elemental chemistry to biological, ecological, and environmental research	Office: GMCS-117 Phone: 619.594.1039 Fax: 619.594.4372 Email: saschellenberg@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Thorbjarnarson, Kathryn W. (1991) Ph.D., 1990 UC Los Angeles Associate Professor	Water resources evaluation and modeling of organic contaminant transport through porous media	Office: GMCS-228F Phone: 619.594.1392 Email: kthorbjarnarson@mail.sdsu.edu Website

Emeritus Professors

Abbott, Patrick L. (1971-2006) Ph.D., 1973 University of Texas, Austin Professor Emeritus	Sedimentology of Mesozoic and Cenozic rocks, the correlation of tectonically displaced terranes, and natural disasters.	Dept. Geological Sciences 5500 Campanile Dr. San Diego State University San Diego, CA 92182-1020 Email: pabbott@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Berry, Richard W. (1961-2001) Ph.D., 1963 Washington University, St. Louis Professor Emeritus	Clay mineralogy and geochemistry of sediments	Email: rberry@geology.sdsu.edu Website
Bertine, Kathe K. (1972-2006) Ph.D., 1970 Yale University Professor Emeritus	Aqueous inorganic geochemistry and trace element geochemistry	Email: kbertine@geology.sdsu.edu Website
Dorman, Clive E. (1974-2010) Ph.D., 1974 Oregon State University Professor	Physical oceaography, air-sea interaction, and marine meteorology	Office: GMCS-110 Phone: 619.594.5707 Email: cdorman@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Huntley, David. (1978-2008) Ph.D., 1976 Colorado School of Mines Professor Emeritus	Hydraulics of groundwater flow and solute transport; groundwater in fractured crystalline rock aquifers, numerical modeling of groundwater flow and solute transport, parameter estimation, movement of non-aqueous phase liquids, and application of geophysical techniques to groundwater investigations	Office: GMCS-235 Phone: 619.594.5483 Email: dhuntley@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Jiracek, George R. (1980-2009) Ph.D., 1972 UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus	Geophysics, especially electromagnetics including magnetotellurics, aimed at exploration and deep continental processes	Office: GMCS-228J Email: gjiracek@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Kern, Philip J. (1968-1999) Professor Emeritus	Chronology and deformation of Quaternary marine shorelines	Dept. Geological Sciences 5500 Campanile Dr. San Diego State University San Diego, CA 92182-1020 Website
Krummenacher, Daniel (1968-1988) Professor Emeritus	K-Ar isotope geology	Dept. Geological Sciences 5500 Campanile Dr. San Diego State University San Diego, CA 92182-1020 Website
Marshall, C. Monte (1975-2005) Ph.D., 1971 Stanford University Professor Emeritus	Paleomagnetism, gravity, and structural geology	Dept. Geological Sciences 5500 Campanile Dr. San Diego State University San Diego, CA 92182-1020 Email: mmarshall@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Miller, Richard H. (1977-2006) Ph.D., 1975 UCLA Professor Emeritus	Biostratigraphy, micropaleontology, and depositional environments	Dept. Geological Sciences 5500 Campanile Dr. San Diego State University San Diego, CA 92182-1020 Email: rmiller@geology.sdsu.edu Website
Peterson, Gary L. (1963-2011) Ph.D., 1963 University of Washington Professor	Stratigraphy, sedimentology, paleoclimatology, and planetary geology	Office: GMCS-228H Phone: 619.594.5594 Email: gpeterson@geology.sdsu.edu Website
Ptacek, Anton D. (1965-1992) Ph.D., University of Washington Professor Emeritus	Optical mineralogy, petrography	Dept. Geological Sciences 5500 Campanile Dr. San Diego State University San Diego, CA 92182-1020 Website

Student Services Professional Academic Related Staff

Hanan, Barry B. (1989)
Ph.D., 1980 Virginia Polytechnics Institute
Staff Research Scientist

Igneous/metamorphic petrology, isotope geochemistry, and tectonics/mantle geodynamics

Office: PS-117
Phone: 619.594.6710
Email: bhanan@mail.sdsu.edu
Website

Lecturers

Camp, Victor E. Ph.D., 1976 Washington State University Lecturer	Volcanology, petrology, tectonic control of magmatic systems, geologic mapping in volcanic terrains with an emphasis on the flood basalts and Basin-and-Range volcanic rocks of eastern Oregon	Office: GMCS-228K Phone: 619.594.7170 Email: vcamp@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Caputo, Mario Ph.D., 1988 University of Cincinnati Lecturer	Sedimentary geology, Coastal geomorphology, and Paleoecology	Office: GMCS-228C Phone: 619.594.5589 fax: 619.594.4372 Email:mvcaputo@earthlink.net
Deméré, Tom Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles Lecturer	Curator of the Paleontology at the San Diego Natural History Museum and Director of the Department of PaleoServices (Joshua L. Baily, Jr. Chair of Paleontology)	Office: GMCS-228C Phone: 619.255.0232 fax: 619.232.0248 Email: paleo@sdnhm.org Website
Elliott, Willian Lecturer	Engineering Geologist	Phone: 619.594.5589 fax: 619.594.4372 Email: tntsodad@juno.com
Hering, Kip Lecturer	Petroleum Geologist	Phone: 619.594.5589 fax: 619.594.4372 Email: k.hering@cox.net
Robinson, Kevin Lecturer	Geoscience education	Office: GMCS-228A Phone: 619.594.1386 Email: rockrobinson@gmail.com Website
SacramentoGrilo, Isabelle Lecturer	GeoScience Education	Office: GMCS-228G Phone: 619.594.5607 Email: isacramentogrilo@mail.sdsu.edu Website

Adjuncts

John S. Crockett Adjunct	Manager, Business Development – Technology Transfer Office San Diego State University Research Foundation	5250 Campanile Dr., MC 1858 San Diego, CA 92182-1858 Phone: 619-594-3176 Fax: 619-594-5774 E-mail: jcrockett@foundation.sdsu.edu
Yifeng Cui Adjunct	High Performance Computing	San Diego Supercomputer Center 9500 Gilman Drive, MC0505 La Jolla, CA 92093-0505 Phone: 858.822.0916 Fax: 858.822.7881 Email: yfcui@sdsc.edu Website
Biltan Kurkcuoglu Adjunct	Geochemistry SATO-volkanlarin igneous and kökensel development Vase provensler Isotope jeokimyasi	Email: biltan@hacettepe.edu.tr
Eggers, Margaret R. Ph.D., 1987 University of South Carolina Adjunct	Environmental geology	Eggers Environmental, Inc. 2181 El Camino Real, Suite 100 Oceanside, CA 92054 Phone: 760-757-7711 Fax: 760-757-7507 Email: email@eggersenv.com Website
Anand Pandey Adjunct	Remote Sensing
Prabha Pandey Adjunct	Seismology
Mellors, Robert (1997) Ph.D., 1995 Indiana University Adjunct	Seismology, signal processing, synthetic aperture radar, and developing distance education methods in teaching	Email: mellors1@llnl.gov Website
Pietruszka, Aaron (2003) Ph.D., 1999 University of Hawaii Adjunct	Trace element and isotope geochemistry with applications to the fields of volcanology, igneous petrology, and geochronology.	Email: apietruszka@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Robbins, Eleanora I. Adjunct	Earth Science education, Indigenous Earth Science Project	Phone: 619.303.9095 Email: erobbins@mail.sdsu.edu Website
Sinha, A. Krishna Adjunct	Geoinformatics	Office: IT-105 Phone: 619.594.3091 Email :pitlab@vt.edu

Academic Staff

Carrasco, Tony Instructional Support Technician	Technical Support	Office: GMCS-224 Phone: 619.594.5589 Email: tcarrasco@mail.sdsu.edu
Kimbrough, Joan Instructional Support Technician	Analytical Support	Office: GMCS-226 Phone: 619.594.1383 Email: jkimbrough@mail.sdsu.edu
Parrish, Pia Administrative Support Coordinator	Department Administrator, Faculty Support	Office: GMCS-237 Phone: 619.594.5587 Email: pparrish@mail.sdsu.edu
Tran, Sem Administrative Support Assistant	Faculty and Graduate Student Support	Office: GMCS-237 Phone: 619.594.5586 Email: sem.tran@mail.sdsu.edu

Endowed Chairs

The Rollin and Caroline Eckis Chair in Seismology
Rollin Eckis

A gift from Rollin and Caroline Eckis, combined with matching funds from the Atlantic Richfield Company and contributions from SDSU faculty and staff

The first appointee to the Chair
Dr. Steven M. Day

Memoriams

	Edwin C. Allison 1971 San Diego, California (SDSU 1960-1971) Ph.D., UC Berkeley
	Baylor Brooks 1905-2000 San Diego, California (SDSU 1931-1966) Oxford and University of Arizona
	R. Gordon Gastil 1928 - 2012 San Diego, California (SDSU 1959-1993) Ph.D., 1954 UC Berkeley
	Robert B. McEuen 1930 - 2007 San Diego, California (SDSU 1969-1979) Ph.D., University of Utah
	Jared R. Morrow 1959 - 2010 San Diego, California (SDSU 2006-2010) Ph.D., 1997 University of Colorado
	Roberts, Ellis E. 1917 - 2012 Los Osos, California (SDSU 1949-1979) Ph.D., Stanford University
	Threet, Richard L. 1924 - 2012 Oregon (SDSU 1961-1981) Ph.D., University of Washington
	Michael J. Walawender 1940 - 2011 New York (SDSU 1959-2001) Ph.D., 1972 Penn State

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