Oceanography & Coastal Sciences Directory

Department Chair

Kam-biu Liu
Professor and Chair, George W. Barineau III Professor
225-578-8203
kliu1@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Thematic: paleotempestology, coastal paleoecology, global environmental change, palynology and lake-sediments; Regional: U.S. Gulf coast and Atlantic coast, Caribbean region and Central America, South America (Andes and Amazon Basin), Tibetan Plateau, China

Dana Sanders
Assistant to the Chair
225-578-6308
danasanders@lsu.edu 

Sharon Butler
Coordinator
225-578-6455
sbutler@lsu.edu

Neely Martin-Whitaker
Coordinator- Travel/Purchasing
225-578-8810
neelym@lsu.edu

Faculty (A-Z)

Sibel Bargu Ates
Associate Dean of Academics, CC&E and Shell Professor in Oceanography/Wetland Studies
225-578-3334
sbargu@lsu.edu 
Research Interests: 
Freshwater, Estuarine and Marine Phytoplankton Ecology, Harmful Algal Blooms and Food Web Contamination, Phytoplankton-Zooplankton Interactions, Global Climate Change

Mark C. Benfield
Professor
225-578-6372
mbenfie@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Zooplankton ecology, optical and acoustic sensing of zooplankton, computer-based classification of zooplankton, acoustical telemetry studies of fish and invertebrates, application of industrial remotely operated vehicles (ROV) in biological observatories

Jacob Berkowitz
Adjunct Professor, College of the Coast & Environment, USACE Research Soil Scientist
601-529-3115
jberko@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Hydric soils, wetland assessment, restoration, biogeochemistry, forested wetlands, beneficial use of dredged sediments technology transfer

Sam Bentley
Adjunct Professor, College of the Coast & Environment; Director, and Billy and Ann Harrison Chair in Sedimentary Geology, LSU Department of Geology and Geophysics
(225) 578-5735
sjb@lsu.edu  
Research Interests:
Coastal and marine sedimentology, sediment radiochemistry, fine sediment dynamics on continental shelves, bioturbation, predictive modeling of sedimentary fabric and structures

Jennifer R. Brum
Assistant Professor
225-578-6364
jbrum1@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Ecology and biogeochemical impacts of aquatic viruses

Robert S. Carney
Emeritus Professor
225-578-6511
rcarne1@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Biological oceanography, research administration

Michael Dance
Assistant Professor
225-578-1243
mdance1@lsu.edu  
Research Interests:
Movement ecology, fisheries science, population connectivity, stock assessment, seascape ecology, habitat use, early life history of marine fishes

John W. Day, Jr.
Emeritus Professor
225-578-6508
johnday@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Estuarine Ecology, Systems Ecology, Wetland Ecology, Ecological Modeling, Effects of Humans on Natural Systems, Tropical Coastal Ecology, Energy, Sustainability, Urban Dynamics

Ronald DeLaune
Emeritus Professor
225-578-6421
rdelaun@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Biogeochemical cycling, Wetland Biogeochemistry, coastal processes, non-point source pollution, coastal restoration, soil-plant interactions, coastal marsh stability, sedimentation processes, wetland plant ecology, degradation and bioremediation of toxic organics, heavy metal chemistry, ecotoxicology, greenhouse gases.

Christopher D'Elia
Professor and Dean of the College of the Coast & Environment
225-578-7188
cdelia@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Nutrient dynamics in aquatic systems; estuarine ecology; coral reef ecology; algal/invertebrate symbiosis; science history and policy; math and science education; marine pollution; global climate change; analytical chemistry

Eurico J. D'Sa
Professor
225-578-0212
ejdsa@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Ocean color remote sensing, bio-optical properties of coastal and ocean waters, physical-biogeochemical interactions; coastal biogeochemical processes

Cassandra Glaspie
Assistant Professor
cglaspie1@lsu.edu 
225-578-0379
Research Interests:
My research integrates laboratory, field, and modeling approaches to address the question: how does environmental change alter interactions between members of an ecological community, and what are the implications for humanity? My lab focuses on coastal and estuarine benthic (bottom-dwelling) organisms.    

Cheryl Harrison
Assistant Professor
cherylharrison@lsu.edu 
225-578-6425
Research Interests:
Physical, biogeochemical and ocean ecosystem modeling, applied mathematics, marine ecology, fisheries, climate impacts on marine ecosystems and fisheries, physical and biological transport, ecological dispersal, mesoscale biophysical interactions, and geoengineering. 

Matthew Hiatt
Assistant Professor
225-578-6092
mhiatt1@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Coastal hydrology, environmental fluid dynamics, harmful algal blooms, water transport timescales in deltas and wetlands, hydrological connectivity in coastal environments, network analysis, nearshore waves

Dan Holstein
Assistant Professor
225-578-6371
dholstein1@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
My lab studies various aspects of seascape ecology, including invertebrate reproduction, larval dispersal, metapopulation modeling, and the spatial ecology of environmental change. We focus on tropical coral reefs, with a special interest in refuge environments - like deeper mesophotic reefs - and how these environments interact with others in the seascape.

Haosheng Huang
Associate Professor
225-578-5117
hhuang7@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Physical oceanography, circulation in regional seas and continental shelves, coastal and estuarine circulation dynamics, unstructured grid numerical modeling and data assimilation, tide and storm surge simulation, bio-physical interaction and ecosystem modeling

Dubravko Justic
Texaco Distinguished Professor
225-578-6394
djusti1@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Ecosystem modeling, biological oceanography, coastal eutrophication, hypoxia, impacts of climate change on coastal ecosystems

Chunyan Li
Professor and Mobil Distinguished Professor of Marine Geology
225-578-3619
cli@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Physical oceanography, transport, coastal and estuarine circulations, innovative observations, modeling, extreme weather (such as hurricanes), induced water level changes including storm surges

Jun-Hong Liang
Associate Professor, Center for Computation and Technology
225-578-7031
jliang@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Physical Oceanography; Ocean Biogeochemical Dynamis; Ocean modeling

Qianxin Lin
Associate Professor-Research
225-578-8889
comlin@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Coastal plant ecology, plant-soil interactions, plant eco-physiology of environmental stresses, environmental chemistry of organic pollutants in wetlands, and remediation and restoration of oil spills in wetlands.

Charles W. Lindau
Professor
225-578-8766
clinda1@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Nitrogen transformations in flooded soils and sediments, stable isotopes, greenhouse gases, oil spill remediation, point and non-point pollution

Kanchan Maiti
Associate Professor and Shell Professor in Oceanography/Wetland Studies
225-578-4531
kmaiti@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
My research group focuses on understanding the fate and transport of different forms of carbon in coastal and deep ocean. Photosynthetic fixation of CO2 in surface ocean into different forms of organic carbon effectively removes CO2 from atmosphere. In absence of this process, our atmospheric CO2 concentration would have been ~50% higher than it is at present times. Understanding this process known as the “biological pump” is extremely important in determining the role of ocean in controlling atmospheric CO2and how that might change in future. However a large fraction of this organic carbon fixed by phytoplankton in the ocean gets released back into the water column and atmosphere as CO2 and other inorganic forms of carbon via respiration and microbial decomposition. Thus the availability of organic carbon can directly and indirectly impact various biogeochemical processes in the ocean like formation of hypoxia, increase in ocean acidification, release of various redox sensitive elements and contaminants from the sediments. My research group at LSU seeks to provide answers to some of these fundamental questions related to ocean carbon biogeochemistry and environmental quality through field based observations, natural isotope tracers and laboratory microcosm experiments. Current research themes include: Upper ocean particle dynamics and biological pump, fate and transport of organic matter and contaminants in aquatic systems, utilization of artificial and natural radioisotopes to study environmental processes, sediment geochemistry and chemical processes at sediment-water interface, and ocean acidification.

Giulio Mariotti
Associate Professor
gmariotti@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
My research focuses on the processes that shape coastal environments. I am interested in coupling physical and biochemical aspects, e.g. ecogeomorphology and biogeology. I carry forward my research using mathematical models, laboratory experiments and field work. My current agenda encompasses three main topics: 1) Wetland response to sea level rise, sediment supply and storminess. 2) Coupled dynamics of sediment & biofilms / microbial-mats. 3) Carbonate platform sedimentary processes.

Irving A. Mendelssohn
Emeritus Professor
225-578-6425
imendel@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Wetland and barrier island plant ecology, plant physiological ecology

Stephen Midway
Associate Professor
225-578-6458
smidway@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
I study a variety of aspects of fisheries ecology, often with applications to improving the management of commercial and recreational coastal fish species. My work includes basic biology and life history, species–environment interactions, and the use of hierarchical Bayesian models, among other tools.

Paul Miller
Assistant Professor
225-578-2734
pmiller1@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Coastal meteorology; Hydroclimatology; Mesoscale climate science; Weakly forced thunderstorms; Land-atmosphere interactions; Hazardous weather impacts

Victor H. Rivera-Monroy
Associate Professor
225-578-2745
vhrivera@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Estuarine and coastal ecosystems; biogeochemistry of wetlands; landscape modeling/ecosystem models; coastal management/aquaculture; mangrove forest rehabilitation/restoration; nutrient cycling inwetlands (nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon)

Michael Polito
Associate Professor
225-578-9403
mpolito@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Stable isotope ecology, food web dynamics and anthropogenic contaminants, ecology of marine birds and mammals, marsh ecology

Tracy Quirk
Associate Professor
225-578-6426
tquirk@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Wetland ecology and restoration including plant and microbial processes, nutrient and carbon cycling and accretion dynamics, human impact on wetland ecosystems, and organic matter and nutrient linkages between coastal wetlands and rivers, estuaries, and submerged aquatic ecosystems.

Nancy Rabalais
Professor and Shell Endowed Chair in Oceanography and Wetland Studies
225-578-8531
nrabalais@lumcon.edu 
Research Interests:
Coastal change; eutrophication and hypoxia; cumulative coastal stressors; historical reconstruction of ecosystem changes from sediments; pelagic and benthic processes; human impacts in wetland and coastal ecosystems; science policy

Harry H. Roberts
Emeritus Boyd Professor
225-578-2964
hrober3@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Marine geology, sedimentology, deltaic and reef processes

Robert V. Rohli
Professor
225-578-6346
rohli@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Coastal weather and climate, atmospheric circulation variability, atmospheric hazards, tropical cyclone dynamics, surface-atmosphere interactions, synoptic meteorology and climatology, geoscience education, history of science

Charles Sasser
Research Professor
225-578-6375
csasser@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Wetland Plant Ecology and Wetland Management

Richard F. Shaw
Emeritus Professor
225-578-3334
rshaw@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Larval/juvenile fish habitat and ecology; biological/fisheries oceanography; transport and recruitment mechanisms and coastal-estuarine processes; age, growth and mortality analyses, fisheries and global climate change, research administration

Malinda Sutor
Assistant Professor-Research
225-578-8055
Research Interests:
I study the ecology and physiology of plankton and the physical and biological interactions that control their distribution and abundance. I utilize active acoustics and image-forming optical systems as well as traditional net systems to survey the finescale distributions of plankton. I conduct work in estuaries, coastal ocean, and the open ocean enviroment.

David Trossman
Adjunct Professor
Research Interests:
Climate science, ocean modeling, big data science, interactions with ocean boundaries, data assimilation, and observing system design

 

R. Eugene Turner
LSU Boyd Professor
225-578-6454
euturne@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Biological oceanography, conservation, environmental management, estuarine ecology, fisheries ecology, restoration, sustainable systems, wetlands

Robert Twilley
Professor
225-578-6710 
rtwilley@lsu.edu 

Nan D. Walker
Professor and James P. Morgan Distinguished Professor of Coastal Studies; Director, Earth Scan Laboratory
225-578-2395
nwalker@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Physical oceanography, Satellite oceanography, Estuarine-shelf exchange processes, Air-sea interactions and tropical cyclone intensity, Gulf of Mexico Loop Current and eddy circulations, Physical-biological interactions, Physical processes affecting coral reef health

John R. White
John and Catherine Day Professor and Associate Dean of Research of the College of the Coast & Environment
225-578-8792
jrwhite@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Our research focuses on biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in aquatic systems including coastal and freshwater wetlands, estuaries and lake sediments, treatment performance of constructed wetlands for nutrients and pharmaceuticals removal, dynamics of internal nutrient loading, microbial-mediated nutrient transformations, plant-nutrient-soil dynamics.  We provide critical research in helping coastal restoration managers to make informed decisions.

Kehui (Kevin) Xu
Professor and Director, Coastal Studies Institute
225-578-0389
kxu@lsu.edu 
Research Interests:
Coastal restoration; sediment diversion; sediment dredging and management, geological oceanography, coastal morphodynamics, observation and numerical modeling of sediment transport, sedimentary geology, coastal processes

Zuo (George) Xue
Associate Professor (Center for Computation and Technology, joint)
225-578-1118
zxue@lsu.edu (Contact me for graduate student opportunities)
Research Interests:
Physical-bio-geochemical modeling; Coastal ocean carbon cycling; Coupled atmospheric-hydrological modeling

 

Research Associates (A-Z)

Thomas Aepelbache
taepel1@lsu.edu 
225-578-2736
1207 Energy, Coast and Environment Building

Hayat Bennadji
hbenna1@lsu.edu

Thomas Blanchard
tblanc9@lsu.edu 
225-578-9370
3196 Energy, Coast and Environment Building 

James Bodker
jbodker@lsu.edu 
225-578-6454
1205 Energy, Coast and Environment Building 

Chris Cleaver
ccleav1@lsu.edu 
225-578-5869
119 Sea Grant Shop

Doug Daigle 
jddaigle@lsu.edu 
225-578-0069
3151 Energy, Coast and Environment Building

Sara Gay
sgay@lsu.edu 
3196 Energy, Coast and Environment Building

Rob Lane
rlane@lsu.edu 
225-578-6092
2235 Energy, Coast and Environment Building

Brian Milan
bmilan1@lsu.edu 

Charles Milan
cmilan@lsu.edu 
225-578-8029
1193 Energy, Coast and Environment Building

Gary Peterson
gpete@lsu.edu 
225-578-8044
1257 Energy, Coast and Environment Building

Andre Rovai
arovai1@lsu.edu 
225-578-6424

Emily Savoie
enall1@lsu.edu 
225-578-6363
2241 Energy, Coast and Environment Building

Haixue Shen
hshen@lsu.edu 
907-209-8123
2259 Energy, Coast and Environment Building

Erick Swenson
eswenson@lsu.edu 
225-578-2730
1192 Energy, Coast and Environment Building

Lixia Wang
lxwang@lsu.edu 
225-578-5213
2223 Energy, Coast and Environment Building

Postdoctoral Researchers (A-Z)

Tom Bianchette
tbianc1@lsu.edu 
225-578-4660 
3271 Energy, Coast and Environment Building

Andrew Long
along2@lsu.edu 
2173 Energy, Coast and Environment Building

Austin Lynn
alynn4@lsu.edu 
3113 Energy, Coast and Environment Building

Qiang Yao
qyao4@lsu.edu 
225-200-5299 (cell)
3279/3280 Energy, Coast and Environment Building