Directory
Faculty
Patty Oikawa
Associate Professor & Chair
Biogeochemistry, Greenhouse Gas Measurements
North Science 329A
(510) 885-3439
patty.oikawa@csueastbay.edu | Website | Faculty Profile
Dr. Patty Oikawa specializes in biogeochemistry and greenhouse gas measurements. She is currently studying how wetland restoration in the Bay Area and Sacramento Delta can be used to mitigate climate change. Dr. Oikawa received her B.S. in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at UC Santa Barbara before moving to the east coast for graduate school. She received her PhD in Biology from the University of Virginia in 2011 on trace gas emissions from leaves and plant carbon cycling. She then moved back to California for a postdoctoral position at UC Riverside where she studied nitrogen oxide emissions from high temperature agricultural systems and how they influence air quality. Finally, Dr. Oikawa received a USDA Postdoctoral Fellowship to measure and model greenhouse gas exchange in restored wetlands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta at UC Berkeley. She joined the Cal State East Bay faculty in 2016 and is currently accepting undergraduate and graduate students in her lab. Please contact her for more information.
Jean Moran
Professor
Isotope Hydrology, Contaminant Transport
N336A
(510) 885-2491
jean.moran@csueastbay.edu | Faculty Profile
Dr. Jean Moran's research focuses on applying naturally-occurring and introduced isotopes to examine geochemical and transport processes during recharge and groundwater transport. Over the last 20 years, she has led numerous projects on groundwater recharge and contamination vulnerability, water quality including fate and transport of nitrate, and surface water-groundwater interaction under the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment program sponsored by the California State Water Resources Control Board. Dr. Moran has a Ph.D. in Geochemistry from the University of Rochester, Bachelor’s degrees in Physics and Geology from the University of Rochester and a Master’s degree in Geophysics from the University of Washington. She has been an author on more than 50 peer-reviewed publications. Graduate and undergraduate students are fully integrated in the research group she leads, and carry out field work, laboratory analyses, GIS, and data interpretation.
Dr. Mitch Craig
Emeritus Professor
North Science 351
(510) 885-3425
mitchell.craig@csueastbay.edu | Faculty Profile
Mitchell Craig is a Professor of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He teaches courses in Applied Geophysics, Near Surface Geophysics, Exploration Seismology, Geographic Information Systems, and Natural Disasters.
He uses geophysical methods to study sedimentary environments. Current projects include earthquake hazard assessment in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and geophysical imaging of lake deposits in a mountain meadow in the Sierras.
Jeff Seitz
Emeritus Professor
N350
510-885-4068
jeff.seitz@csueastbay.edu | Faculty Profile
Luther Strayer
Associate Professor
North Science 353
(510) 885-3083
Luther Strayer is a structural geologist. His research is currently focused on seismic surveying in local fault zones including the Hayward and Chabot faults.
Emilio Grande
Assistant Professor
North Science 352
(510) 885-3433
emilio.grande@csueastbay.edu | Website
Dr. Emilio Grande (he/him/his) studies hydrology and biochemistry from catchment headwater to coastal groundwater. He is interested in understanding how rainfall becomes runoff. The pathways water takes through landscapes and the biogeochemical implications of these pathways from headwater catchments to the coastal ocean. He integrates field and quantitative analyses to investigate rainfall-runoff relationships and surface water- groundwater exchanges across a broad range of spatial and temporal scales and environmental settings. He uses and integrates knowledge from several disciplines to address the numerous challenges at the terrestrial-marine interface. Currently, these challenges include hydrology, remote sensing, and biogeochemistry. In the future, he intends to grow his research efforts to include related socio-economic issues in his investigation. Dr. Grande is a CSUEB alumnus. He received a B.S. and a M.S. in Geology from the Earth and Environmental Sciences department in 2017 and 2019, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of California Santa Cruz in 2022. He is always looking for interested undergraduate and graduate students. Contact him for more information.
Twitter: @egrandeHYDRO
Staff
Stephanie Gunter
Department Technician
North Science 341
(510) 885-3440
stephanie.gunter@csueastbay.edu
Stephanie Gunter is the Instructional Support Technician for the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department at Cal State East Bay. She got her start at Oberlin College, where she earned her Bachelor's in Biology and Environmental Studies in 2018. Later, she went on to complete her Master's in Biology at University of Dayton in 2021. Ever since she was a child, she always loved animals, and wanted to learn more about the natural environment. Her most recent interest has been insects and habitat restoration, which was the focus of her thesis at UD. In the future, she hopes to work with insect collections in a museum setting. Her current favorite insects are the hemipterans (aka true bugs), so you can talk to her if you'd like to learn more!
Stephanie is thrilled to be working for the EES Department here! This is her first time living in California, so she is looking forward to learning about the local environment and geology while supporting the department however she can. In her spare time, she loves to go walking or running, playing games, drawing, and baking bread.
Lecturers
Kelly Decker
Lecturer of Earth and Environmental Sciences
North Science - N331
Gita Dunhill
Lecturer of Earth and Environmental Sciences
North Science 351
Dr. Gita Dunhill is a marine geologist whose interests range from climate records to general oceanography. Gita has participated in many scientific cruises in and around the Arctic region obtaining sediment cores to reconstruct past climates and changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet.
She teaches a variety of courses including sedimentology/stratigraphy, geomorphology, oceanography, global change, and Hands on Science Teaching. In addition to teaching undergraduate courses, she is involved in conducting workshops for middle school teachers looking to include global change into their curriculum. This work combines her passion for the Arctic, climate change, and teaching.
Dr. Dunhill received her Ph.D. from the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado, Boulder after completing a M.S. at CSU East Bay focused on sea ice.
Lora Teitler
Lecturer of Earth and Environmental Sciences
North Science - N331
Dorothee Rebscher
Lecturer of Earth and Environmental Sciences
North Science - N351
dorothee.rebscher@csueastbay.edu
Dr. Dorothee Rebscher received a PhD in geophysics and a diploma in physics from the University of Bonn, Germany.
Before joining CSUEB, Dorothee worked in academia and for governmental organizations in the US and Europe. Her geoscientific experience includes field, laboratory, and computational work. As a participant or lead of multinational and interdisciplinary teams, she contributed to volcanology, carbon sequestration, atmospheric physics, environmental science, safe disposal of radioactive waste, and other energy related topics. At CSUEB, she teaches Earth Systems Science, Physical and Environmental Geology, Mineralogy and Optical Crystallography, and Professional Ethics.
Please contact her via email or in person on CSUEB's campus for more information.
Priyanka Vyas
Lecturer of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies
North Science - N331
Graduate Students
Katie Carmichael
Graduate Student
Lab: Hydrology and Biochemistry from Catchment Headwater to Coastal Groundwater Lab (Dr. Emilio Grande)
kcarmichael6@horizon.csueastbay.edu
Hi! I am a Student Assistant in the Catchment Headwaters to Coastal Groundwater Lab working with Dr. Emilio Grande and his research regarding groundwater recharge on Mt. Shasta. I received my B.S. in Environmental Science from CSUEB in May 2023 and jumped right into the Environmental Geosciences graduate program this Fall semester of 2023. I am interested in hydrology (specifically water quality and usage), natural resource management, habitat restoration, and how climate change impacts all of these topics. I love being out in the field doing hands-on work, as well as just being in nature in general, especially hiking. I’m excited to be part of this program and to further my education and understanding of our Earth and all of its processes and cycles.
Monica Esqueda
Graduate Student
Instructor of Introductory Geology Labs
Lab: Hydrology and Biochemistry from Catchment Headwater to Coastal Groundwater Lab (Dr. Emilio Grande)
Christina Flora
Graduate Student
Lab: Dr. Jean Moran
cflora2@horizon.csueastbay.edu
As a Graduate Student in Environmental Geosciences, I am passionate about finding sustainable solutions for groundwater management. My current project is focused on developing a scheme for redox characterization in the Northern San Joaquin Valley to determine if it can be used as a predictor of water quality or sustainability issues in drinking water quality.
Jake Harm
Graduate Student
Lab: Dr. Jean Moran
Jake Harm is a graduate student in Environmental Geosciences working with Dr. Jean Moran and a Scholar with East Bay’s Center for Student Research. His research examines trends in groundwater quality parameters, isotopic signatures, and groundwater age to see if they can be used as explanatory tools for understanding groundwater well vulnerability in the San Joaquin Valley.
Loren Tolley-Mann
Graduate Student
Lab: Hydrology and Biochemistry from Catchment Headwater to Coastal Groundwater Lab (Dr. Emilio Grande)
ltolleymann@horizon.csueastbay.edu
I finished my bachelors degree in Environmental Geology at UC Santa Cruz. There I completed a thesis on the spatial distribution of grain size and inorganic carbon in soil at depths in the Elkhorn Slough, which is a coastal wetland located on the Monterey Bay. After my Bachelors degree, I worked at a sediment lab with the USGS for a year and then spent two more years working as an environmental consultant in the Santa Cruz area. I am currently studying stream hydrology in the region of Mt. Shasta, where we are attempting to quantify groundwater 'recharge elevation, temperature, and other parameters using both stable water isotopes and noble gases.
Salman Mahdi Ali Baig
Graduate Student
Lab: Dr. Jean Moran
fsalmanmahdialibaig@horizon.csueastbay.edu
Salman Baig is a graduate student working under the mentorship of Dr. Jean Moran at California State University, East Bay. He earned his bachelor's degree from the same institution, where he developed a strong foundation in environmental science and hydrogeology.
Currently, Salman is a environmental associate at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Environmental Restoration Department, where he plays a key role in groundwater and surface water sampling, air quality monitoring, and the maintenance of groundwater treatment systems. His work contributes to the ongoing efforts in environmental remediation.
For his master's research, Salman is investigating the occurrence, distribution, and potential impacts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in groundwater wells across California. His study aims to provide critical insights into groundwater contamination patterns, regulatory implications, and potential remediation strategies to safeguard water quality and public health.
With his knowledge in environmental monitoring, analytical techniques, and data interpretation, Salman aspires to advance research-driven solutions for contaminant mitigation and sustainable water resource management.
Undergraduate Student Assistants
