Department: Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Keah Schuenemann
Keah Schuenemann, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her areas of expertise include climate change, Greenland, climate, sea ice, and weather. She teaches Dynamic Meteorology, Synoptic Meteorology, Global Climate Change, and Physics and Chemistry for Elementary Education Majors.
Schuenemann has taught at MSU Denver since 2010 and is the director of the General Studies program. She has co-authored several papers, including “Synoptic Forcing of Precipitation Over Greenland: Climatology for 1961–99” and “Changes in Synoptic Weather Patterns and Greenland Precipitation in the 20th and 21st Centuries.” Schuenemann studies the large-scale weather around the Greenland Ice Sheet, the effects of recent climate changes on these weather patterns, and the state of the ice sheet and its contribution to sea-level rise.
More recently, she began studying how Arctic sea-ice extent affects midlatitude weather patterns, which are potentially responsible for recent droughts and cold-air outbreaks. Schuenemann is also interested in the topic of communicating climate change, the misconceptions about climate change, and developing a pedagogy on teaching climate change based on current communicating of climate-change research. She is passionate about promoting science literacy and critical thinking in the sciences.
Schuenemann received her doctorate and her master’s in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2008 and 2006, respectively, and a bachelor’s in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science from the University of Wisconsin in 2004.
David Parr
David Parr, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Geospatial Sciences in the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
His research interests include social and technical aspects of the GeoWeb, and using citizen science to collect and monitor data. Parr has published research articles in Transactions in GIS, Media, Culture, and War, and the Journal of Applied Geography. He has presented research internationally and at conferences including the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, the National Council of Geographic Education, the OpenStreetMap State of the Map conference, the International Geographers Union, and the Applied Geography conference.
Parr received a doctorate in Geographic Information Sciences a masters in Geography from Texas State University.
Sam Ng
Sam Ng, Ph.D., is a professor of meteorology at Metropolitan State University of Denver where he’s been teaching for over a decade. His research includes regional and local climate changes, mesoscale convective systems, winter weather phenomenon, rapid cyclogenesis, occlusion process, quantitative precipitation forecasting and numerical weather prediction.
Uwe Kackstaetter
Uwe Richard Kackstaetter, Ph.D., is a professor of geology at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His expertise spans two continents from environmental testing of drinking water wells, groundwater flow modeling, site contaminant evaluations, as well as geologic and hydrologic field investigations.
As an educator, he taught in college and secondary classrooms, where he conducted numerous national and international geological field courses. Kackstaetter received the prestigious 2014 Faculty Senate teacher of the year award from MSU Denver. His current interests are in developing various practical approaches as advanced tools for the geosciences, such as automated percolation water testers, new wavelength dependent night prospecting tools, improved processes of rock and mineral thin sectioning, and clay mineral analytical processing and computations.
Kackstaetter, received his master’s in Geology from BYU, Provo and his Ph.D. in applied geology and mineralogy from the University of Würzburg, Germany.
See also http://college.earthscienceeducation.net/page2.html
Barb EchoHawk
Associate Professor Barbara EchoHawk, Ph.D., is an associate professor geology in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She is an expert on high-resolution stratigraphy, engineering geology, energy and mineral resources, and the geology of Colorado and Wyoming. EchoHawk’s professional experience includes petroleum exploration and research, minerals exploration, engineering geology, and field investigations. She specializes in stratigraphy and sedimentology and is the “soft rock” (sedimentary geology and resources). EchoHawk received the 2016 MSU Denver Faculty Senate teaching in excellence award.
Randi Brazeau
Randi Brazeau, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She teaches courses in environmental and water resources. Brazeaus areas of expertise include water quality, premise plumbing water quality, water contamination/spill events, water resource management, stormwater, erosion control/construction and water.
Brazeau received her Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2012, a master’s degree in 2006 and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Florida in 2005.
Antonio C. Bellisario
Antonio Bellisario’s academic training is at the intersection of the fields of International Developing Planning and Environmental Geography. Current research and writing projects are at the crossroads between sustainable development (understood as a mechanism that protects ecologies while at the same time expands socio-economic equity) and the politics of resource management.
At a personal level, what drives his research agenda is his willingness to seek out opportunities for research collaboration and a strong desire to bring these experiences to the classroom to reach students. Bellisario’s regional specialization is South America, with a focus on Chile.
His early research and publications have been focused on the topic of land politics centering on the social contestation about farming and food production in Chile. In this research and publications, he has analyzed the political competition from organized non-governmental groups and political parties in society to shape the planning actions and policies of government.
As for his current research, Bellisario is working on four projects. The first project is an assessment of water resources and the impact of agricultural and mining activities in the water budget of the Aconcagua river basin in Central Chile. The second project is the ongoing collaborative analysis on the urban experience and urban popular culture during the Allende socialist government in Chile. The third project investigates the evolution of land use patterns in Chile, with a longitudinal study of a sample of farms from a rural municipality to track agricultural transformations (he and his team have a working draft for publication). The fourth project is a collaboration with Marco Marquez and Rodrigo Contreras (both professional planners practicing in Chile) that critically analyzes, with the use of key case studies, the effectiveness of territorial planning instruments in Chile.
Tom Bellinger
Thomas R. Bellinger, Ph.D., is an affiliate professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
Bellinger has over 35 years of experience in the areas of watershed hydrology, hydrologic modeling, military remote sensing technology with regard to water/natural resources and federal (Native American) water right negotiations. He currently serves as a technical advisor (hydrology) with the Department of Interior/USAID International Technical Assistance Program (ITAP) and is an active team member working with the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment). Bellinger retired as the principal hydrologist from the Department of Interior Bureau of Reclamation, Technical Service Center in Denver in 2008 and joined MSU Denver as a visiting professor. He also worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Office in Denver and the former Reclamation Southwest Regional office in Amarillo, Texas. He is also a retired Navy Veteran.
Bellinger currently serves as a hydrologist with NecroSearch International (NSI). In the Navy, he served as a cryptologic technician, a naval intelligence officer and retired at the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He is a member of several professional associations and has authored a variety of journal articles, research papers and government reports on several aspects of the hydrologic and water sciences.
Bellinger received his doctorate in organizational management and leadership with a focus on water resources from University of Phoenix in 2008, a master’s in forest influences with a hydrology concentration and a bachelor’s in resources management and forestry from The State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York in 1982 and 1978 respectfully. He is a certified professional hydrologist through the American Institute of Hydrology.