
Phone Number
607-431-4734 Department
Geology and Environmental Sciences Areas of Expertise
chemical and biological weathering of minerals, microbe-mineral-water interactions, biofilm processes, water quality and contamination, bioremediation, base cation nutrient cycles, and watershed-based hydrochemistry.
Education
Ph.D., Washington State University Zsuzsanna Balogh-Brunstad
Associate Professor of Geology & Coordinator of Environment, Sustainability & Society
Courses taught in GESC (also teaches in CHEM):
- GEOL 109 – The Global Environment w/ 2 hr lab
- GEOL 250 – Special Topics: The Geology in Art of Hungary (new J-Term course offered every 2-3 years)
- GEOL 305 – Groundwater Hydrology
- GEOL 416 and 416L – Geochemistry and Geochemistry Lab
- GEOL 490 – Senior Project
Distinctions (Awards, Fellowships and Grants):
- National Science Foundation 2017-18: EAGER (Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research): How does soil moisture content affect fungal weathering, diversity and abundance? Awarded. PI; NSF/EAR 1742941
- 2017 Freedman Prize in collaboration with students Kevin J. LeDone ’18 (co-advisor Dr. Piefer), Victoria L. Hubbard ’18, and Ian C. Forbes ’18.
- 2016 Outstanding Reviewer for Journal of Soils and Sediments, Springer Publications
- 2016 Freedman Prize in collaboration with students Nicole K. Mehr ’17, and Kyle E. Smart ’17.
- Faculty Research Grant and Milne Family Fund Awards, Hartwick College, 2016-17: Continuation of monitoring the effects of the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid on soil and soil water chemistry at two state parks.
- 2015 Freedman Prize in collaboration with students Killian Tallman ’16 and Joseph Balnis ’15 (co-advisor Dr. Piefer)
- Faculty Research Grant and Milne Family Fund Awards, Hartwick College, 2015-2016: Investigations of physical, chemical and microbial processes and properties in soils of hemlock forests in the Upper Susquehanna Watershed.
- Teacher-Scholar Award, Hartwick College, 2015
- 2014 Freedman Prize in collaboration with student Brian Redder ‘15
- Faculty Research Grant and Milne Family Fund Awards, Hartwick College, 2014-2015: Responses of soil and water chemistry to hemlock woolly adelgid induced decline in tree productivity in the Upper Susquehanna Watershed.
- Outstanding Reviewer for Biogeochemistry 2013, Springer Publishing Group.
- Otsego County Conservation Association and the Otsego County Soil and Water Conservation District: Founded a project for Baseline Water Quality Monitoring in Otsego County, NY (Sept 2012 – Aug 2013)
- 2013 Freedman Prize in collaboration with students Danielle Lord ‘14 and Jenae Withey ‘14 (co-advisor Dr. Griffing)
- 2012 Freedman Prize in collaboration with student Kyle A. Greenberg ‘13
- National Science Foundation: ETBC Collaborative Research: Weathering Under Cover: Role of biofilms in mineral weathering and nutrient uptake in the mycorrhizosphere (June 2010 – Dec 2012); PI; collaboration with Washington State University.
- User Grant of William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, Richland, WA, USA (2010 to 2013)
- National Science Foundation: Expanding Collaborative Research and Education Opportunities to Protect Biological Diversity on Public Lands in Upstate New York (Feb 2010 – Jan 2013); co-PI.
- Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship at University of Copenhagen, Department of Chemistry, NanoGeoScience Unit (July 2010 – June 2012)
- Faculty Research Grant and Milne Family Fund Awards, Hartwick College (2009-2010 Academic year)
- Otsego County Conservation Association research funding for water quality monitoring of the Upper Susquehanna River basin, Oneonta, NY, (Summer 2009)
- H. Walter & Jeanette Praetorius Exxon Graduate Fellowship, Department of Geology Washington State University (2005 and 2006)