UC Santa Barbara
Department of Geography
UC Santa Barbara
Department of Geography

UC Santa Barbara Geography / People / Faculty

Each faculty listing includes a quick rundown of their education, areas of interest, and contact info. If available, their personal website is listed as well. Class notes and outlines may be on their personal website. For more information, see each faculty member's department page by clicking on their name.

View recent books by faculty.

The department has 8 specific fields of strength: Biogeosciences, Climate, Cognitive and Behavioral Geography, Geographic Information Science, Human-Environment Relations, Ocean Processes, Remote Sensing, and Transportation. Each field is covered by several faculty, plus affiliates, emeriti, and interdisciplinary units and cross-appointments. All faculty have expertise that transcend any single field, thus providing cohesive linkages.

  • Chair: Dar Roberts
  • Vice Chair & Graduate Advisor: Stuart Sweeney
  • Undergraduate Advisors: Keith Clarke, Jennifer King

Faculty Contact Information

Biogeosciences, Remote Sensing
PhD (summa cum laude), Potsdam University, Germany (Geology), 2005
Understanding Quaternary climate change, geomorphic processes, landscape evolution, and tectonic processes through integrated studies involving cosmogenic radionuclide dating, recent and past climatic records, remote sensing, numerical modeling, and field observations
campus location:
Office: 4816 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)893-3568
Fax: (805)893-2578
Climate
PhD, University of São Paulo, Brazil (Meteorology), 1998
Regional and large-scale climate variability and modeling, global climate change, and scaling processes in geophysics
campus location:
Office: 4830 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)456-2826
Fax: (805)893-2578
Biogeosciences
PhD, University of Arizona (Geology, emphasis on Soil Genesis and Quaternary Geology), 1985
Pedology, geomorphology, quaternary geology, soil-water-vegetation interaction and landscape relationships, and isotropic fractionations during soil evolution
campus location:
Office: 4806 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)456-2831
Fax: (805)893-2578
Transportation
PhD, The Johns Hopkins University (Environmental Systems Engineering), 1974
Spatial optimization, natural resources management, operations research methods, GIS
campus location:
Office: 5717 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)456-2832
Fax: (805)893-2578
Geographic Information Science
PhD, The University of Michigan (Analytical Cartography), 1982
Cartography and GIS
campus location:
Office: 1720 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)456-2827
Fax: (805)893-2578
Cognitive and Behavioral Geography, Geographic Information Science, Human-Environment Relations
PhD, Cambridge University (Urban Modeling), 1977
Urban and regional modeling and planning, spatial cognition, geographic information science, geography of the information society
campus location:
Office: 5809 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)755-4915
Fax: (805)893-2578
Ocean Processes
PhD, Princeton University (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics), 1977
Atmosphere-ocean interactions and upper ocean mixing, turbulence and internal waves, bio-optics, biogeochemistry, and biological-physical interactions
campus location:
Office: 1629 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)252-0033
Fax: (805)967-5704
Climate
Doctorat d'Etat, University of Paris (Physics and Meteorology), 1984
Global Radiation and Water, El Niño, Clouds, Aerosol and Climate, Global Remote Sensing, Earth System Science Education
campus location:
Office: 4818 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)893-3663
Fax: (805)893-2578
Geographic Information Science
PhD, McMaster University (Geography), 1969
Urban and economic geography, geographic information systems, and spatial analysis
campus location:
Office: 5707 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)893-8049
Fax: (805)893-2578
Transportation
PhD, University of California Davis (Civil Engineering), 1991
Transportation planning-modeling-simulation, travel behavior dynamics and microsimulation
campus location:
Office: 5706 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)893-
Fax: (805)893-2578
Cognitive and Behavioral Geography, Geographic Information Science
PhD, University of Münster, Germany, 2008
Geographic Information Science, Semantic Web, Sensor Web, Mobile Computing, Geographic Information Retrieval, Gazetteers, Similarity & Context
campus location:
Office: 5806 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)880-2572
Fax: (805)893-2578
Biogeosciences
PhD, University of California, Irvine, 1999
Biogeochemistry, earth system science, global change, ecosystem ecology, plant-soil-atmosphere interactions
campus location:
Office: 5812 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)893-3663
Fax: (805)893-2578
Geographic Information Science
PhD, Stanford University (Geological and Environmental Sciences), 1999
Geostatistics and spatial analysis, stochastic environmental modeling, scale issues in spatial data integration
campus location:
Office: 5710 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)893-3663
Fax: (805)893-2578
Biogeosciences
PhD, University of California, Davis (Water Resources and Hydrology), 1986
Planning, design and analysis of water resources systems, and theory and computational aspects of surface and ground water hydrology
campus location:
Office: 3626A Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)456-2848
Fax: (805)893-2578
Human-Environment Relations
PhD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC (Geography), 2002
Population (migration, fertility), health, environmental change, deforestation, rural development, Latin America
campus location:
Office: 4836 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)456-2830
Fax: (805)893-2578
Biogeosciences
PhD, University of California, Berkeley (Integrative Biology), 1998
Land-use and land-cover change, biosphere-atmosphere interactions, Earth system science, sustainability science, urban ecology
campus location:
Office: 5816 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)893-3663
Fax: (805)893-2578
Climate
PhD, University of California, Berkeley (Geography), 1982
Climatology, meteorology, and statistics
campus location:
Office: 5830 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)880-2548
Fax: (805)893-2578
Cognitive and Behavioral Geography, Geographic Information Science, Human-Environment Relations
PhD, Arizona State University (Environmental Psychology), 1988
Spatial perception, cognition, and behavior; cognitive issues in cartography and GIS; spatial aspects of social behavior; environmental psychology and behavioral geography
campus location:
Office: 5711 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)893-8536
Fax: (805)893-2578
Biogeosciences, Remote Sensing
PhD, University of Washington (Geological Sciences), 1991
Remote sensing of vegetation, geology, ecology, and ecophysiology
campus location:
Office: 3611A Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)880-2531
Fax: (805)893-2578
Biogeosciences, Ocean Processes, Remote Sensing
PhD, University of Southern California (Geological Sciences with specialty in Ocean Physics), 1988
Interdisciplinary oceanography investigating physical, biological, optical and biogeochemical couplings on micro to ocean basin scales. Specifically, satellite ocean color remote sensing and optical oceanography, scale interaction in ecological and population systems, role of radiative exchange in air-sea interactions, and data information systems
campus location:
Office: 6844 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)893-4547
Fax: (805)893-2578
Biogeosciences
PhD, Stanford University (Biological Sciences), 2000
Biogeochemistry, biogeography, earth system science, sustainability science, ecological climatology, climate change, carbon cycling, plant ecophysiology, and stable isotopes
campus location:
Office: 4803 Ellison Hall / 1316 Bren Hall (Lab)
Telephone: (805)880-2545 / (805)893-7247 (Lab)
Fax: (805)893-2578
Human-Environment Relations
PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (City and Regional Planning), 1999
Urban and regional modeling and planning, human migration, local economic development/policy, and spatial point process models of economic activity
campus location:
Office: 5832 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)880-2560
Fax: (805)893-2578
Ocean Processes
PhD, University of California, San Diego (Engineering Sciences and Fluid Mechanics), 1982
Coastal circulation, mesoscale processes, air-sea interaction, and interdisciplinary oceanography
campus location:
Office: 5818 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)893-8480
Fax: 805-893-2578

Affiliated Faculty

PhD, University of California, Los Angeles, 2006
Land use, natural resource management, environmental politics, and ecological science in North American West
campus location:
Office: HSSB 4231
Telephone: (805)893-
Fax: (805)893-2578
PhD, Anthropology, University of Arizona, 1980
Local and scientific epistemology and knowledge, plant breeding and biotechnology, conservation of crop genetic resources, population dynamics and agricultural change, small-scale farming and household gardens, and development policy
campus location:
Office: 4023 Bren Hall
Telephone: (805)893-7502/2968
Fax: (805)893-8686
PhD, Geography and Environmental Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, 1982
Landscape ecology of California plant communities; the design of protected-area networks; rangeland and farmland conservation; and the biological implications of regional climate change
campus location:
Office: 3512 Bren Hall
Telephone: (805)893-3438
Fax: (805)893-7612
PhD, University of Michigan, 1973
Snow hydrology, Earth system science, remote sensing, and information systems
campus location:
Office: 4512 Bren Hall
Telephone: (805)893-5889
Fax: (805)893-7612
PhD, Geography, The Johns Hopkins University, 1969
Field and theoretical studies of drainage basin and hillslope evolution; Hydrology, sediment transport, and sedimentation in river channels and floodplains; Field studies and modeling of river-basin sediment budgets
campus location:
Office: 3510 Bren Hall
Telephone: (805)893-7557
Fax: (805)893-7612
PhD, Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1990
Environmental information management; digital libraries; metadata; distributed systems; scientific and geospatial computing environments; information architecture
campus location:
Office: 4524 Bren Hall
Telephone: (805)893-7356
Fax: (805)893-7612
PhD, Psychology, Carnegie Mellon, 1988
Spatial thinking in comprehension, reasoning and problem solving; understanding the roles of internal and external visualizations in reasoning about physical systems such as machines and meteorological phenomena and training of spatial skills in the context of medical education
campus location:
Office: 3812 Psychology
Telephone: (805)893-3750
Fax: (805)893-4303
PhD, Geology, Purdue University, 1973
Studies of Quaternary stratigraphy and tectonics as they relate to earthquake hazard, active folding and mountain building; study of hydrologic process and wildfire in the chaparral environment in southern California
campus location:
Office: 2012 Webb Hall
Telephone: (805)893-4207
Fax: (805)893-2314
PhD, Zoology (Limnology), Duke University, Durham, NC, 1976
Limnology of tropical, saline, and alpine lakes; phytoplankton and zooplankton ecology; biogeochemistry; wetland ecology; remote sensing
campus location:
Office: 2001 Bren Hall
Telephone: (805)893-3879
Fax: (805)893-7612
PhD, University of Kentucky
The Human Dimensions of Global Change, The human and environmental consequences of economic globalization, Globalization of resistance to industrial shrimp farming, Tourism and conservation, Community conflict and environmental justice at the Agriculture-Urban Interface
campus location:
Office: 2084 HSSB / 4013 Bren Hall
Telephone: (805)893-8627
Fax: (805)893-8686
PhD, Geography, University of Toronto, Canada, 1999
Interactions between hydrology and ecosystem processes, and how eco-hydrologic systems are altered by changes in land use and climate
campus location:
Office: 4516 Bren Hall
Telephone: (805)893-8579
Fax: (805)893-8579

Adjunct Faculty

PhD, University of Arizona (Geography and Regional Development), 2002
Latin America; Mexico; agrarian change; climate change; food systems; globalization; vulnerability; adaptation
campus location:
Office: Arizona State University, School of Sustainability
Telephone: (480)965-0011
Fax: (480)965-8087
Dr. techn., Vienna University of Technology (Geoinformation), 2001
Cognitive Engineering for Geospatial Services, Cognitive semantic interoperability, Location Based Decision Services, Spatial cognition and wayfinding, Time geography, Agents and Artificial Intelligence
campus location:
Office: ETH Zurich, Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation
Telephone: +41 (0)44-633-3026
Fax: +41 (0)44-633-1153

Emeriti Faculty

PhD, Stanford University (Physics), 1961
Remote sensing of oceans, physical and biological oceanography, primary production and bio-optical modeling in aquatic environments with emphasis on Antarctic ecosystems, marine and sea ice ecology of Southern Ocean, UV effects on phytoplankton, optical/biological/physical oceanography; marine resources, remote sensing of oceans, and earth system sciences
campus location:
Office: 6812 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)893-4709
Fax: (805)893-2578
PhD, The Johns Hopkins University (Geography and Environmental Engineering), 1971
Individual and aggregate decision making, and the application of methods of artificial intelligence models to such problems
campus location:
Office: 5720 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)893-3663
Fax: (805)893-2578
PhD, University of Washington, Seattle (Geography), 1961
Cartography, computational geography, transportation and movement, especially migration
campus location:
Office: 5813 Ellison Hall
Telephone: (805)964-0116
Fax: (805)893-2578
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