UMass Boston Faculty

Mark Borrelli, PhD

Research and Adjunct Faulty
School for the Environment
College of Science and Mathematics
email: Mark.Borrelli@umb.edu
phone: 617.287.7440

Areas of expertise: Coastal Geology; Non-Cohesive Sediment Transport; Seafloor Mapping.

Areas of research/interest: Professor Borrelli is a coastal geologist. His research interests include coastal sedimentary processes in general and understanding how storms, sea level rise and anthropogenic impacts affect the coast in particular. Recent and ongoing research include mapping the seafloor in shallow (<1 - 10 m) coastal waters, studying bedforms and sediment transport in the nearshore, understanding the morphodynamics of tidal inlets as well as coastal evolution on multiple temporal and spatial scales.

Jarrett Byrnes, PhD

Associate Professor of Biology
Biology Department
email: Jarrett.Byrnes@umb.edu
phone: 617.287.3145

Areas of expertise: Marine Ecology; Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function; Climate Change Ecology.

Areas of research/interest: Areas of research/interest: Professor Byrnes’ research focuses on the causes and consequences of complexity in nature. He is interested in how humans alter the diversity and interconnectedness of life on earth. Understanding how these changes alter the services that nature provides is a critical need as we watch ecosystem after ecosystem collapse. He studies these questions in the ocean because, let's face it, the sheer number and diversity of species in the oceans is astounding.

Robert Chen, PhD

Interim Dean and Professor
School for the Environment
College of Science and Mathematics
email: Bob.Chen@umb.edu
phone: 617.287.7491

Areas of expertise: Coastal Carbon Cycling, Salt Marsh Systems, Coastal Resilience, Coastal Environmental Sensor Networks, Transdisciplinary Research and Education, Ocean and Environmental Education and Outreach, Blending Art and Science.

Areas of research/interest: Professor Chen’s research interests include the cycling of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), carbon biogeochemistry in coastal systems, and the development of sensor networks in shallow water systems. He has explored dissolved organic carbon (DOC) outwelling from salt marshes, remote sensing of coastal water quality, and indicators of estuarine health. He is also dedicated to ocean and environmental science education and outreach at the local, national, and international levels and transforming K-12, undergraduate and graduate environmental and aquatic science education. He was the Principal Investigator of the Watershed-Integrated Sciences Partnership (wisp.umb.edu), COSEE OCEAN (coseeocean.net), the Boston Energy in Science Teaching (BEST) (bostonscience.net), and Coasts and Communities IGERT projects, and he has been involved in Ocean Literacy and Energy Literacy efforts.

John Duff, LLM

Professor of Environmental Law and Policy
School for the Environment
College of Science and Mathematics
email: John.Duff@umb.edu
phone: 617.287.7445

Areas of research/interest: Environmental Law; Ocean and Coastal Management & Policy; Professional and Scientific Communication.

Jesse Farmer, PhD

Assistant Professor of Geology and Paleoclimate
School for the Environment
College of Science and Mathematics
email: Jesse.Farmer@umb.edu
phone: 617.287.4863

Areas of expertise: Paleoceanography, paleoclimatology, ocean biogeochemistry, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, marine sedimentology, Arctic Ocean.

Areas of research/interest: Professor Farmer’s research utilizes geochemical measurements of marine fossils to decipher how, why, and how quickly Earth’s carbon cycle changed during intervals of climate instability in Earth’s history. With this knowledge, he seeks to better understand how human carbon emissions will affect our future climate.

Karen Johannesson, PhD

Professor of Geochemistry
School for the Environment
College of Science and Mathematics
email: Karen.Johannesson@umb.edu

Areas of expertise: Environmental geochemistry, biogeochemistry, trace element speciation, geochemical modeling, chemical hydrogeology, reaction path and reactive transport modeling, OCE-1850768: Collaborative Research: How and why eNd tracks ocean circulation. Project Location: University of Massachusetts Boston. National Science Foundation, Chemical Oceanography Program and Marine Geology and Geophysics Program, EAR-1714030: Quantifying thioarsenate formation constants to advance understanding of arsenic biogeochemical cycling in anoxic waters. Project Location: University of Massachusetts Boston. National Science Foundation, Geobiology and Low-Temperature Geochemistry Program.

Areas of research/interest: Professor Johannesson’s research focuses on the chemical speciation and biogeochemical cycling of trace elements in the environment. She has worked extensively in groundwater flow systems over the years, and more recently in estuarine and coastal marine systems. She is particularly interested in how microbial processes influence the mobilization and transport of trace elements in environmental systems. She studies these processes with her graduate students using innovative field studies, state-of-the-art analytical methods, and by constructing numerical models to simulate microbial respiration, chemical speciation, and transport of reactive solutes in environmental systems.

Paul Kirshen, PhD

Professor
School for the Environment
email: Paul.Kirshen@umb.edu
phone: 617.287.3168

Areas of expertise: Water Resources Engineering and Management, Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment, Climate Change Adaptation Planning.

Gregory Koman, PhD

Assistant Professor of Physical Oceanography
School for the Environment
College of Science and Mathematics
email: Gregory.Koman@umb.edu

Areas of expertise: Large scale ocean circulation, North Atlantic subpolar gyre circulation, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, observational seagoing oceanography, environmental outreach.

Areas of research/interest: Professor Koman primarily observes large scale currents through mooring operations and regularly goes to sea to conduct research. He studies the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation as part of the Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP), which is an international trans-basin observing system across the entire North Atlantic subpolar gyre that has monitored fluxes of heat, mass, and freshwater since 2014.

Georgia Mavrommati, PhD

Intercampus Marine Science Graduate Program Campus Coordinator – Boston
Graduate Program Director; Associate Professor of Ecological Economics
School for the Environment
College of Science and Mathematics
email: Georgia.Mavrommati@umb.edu
phone: 617.287.7419

Areas of expertise: Ecosystem services valuation; coupled human and natural systems; community engagement; ocean and coastal management.

Helen Poynton, PhD

Professor of Molecular Ecotoxicology; Undergraduate Program Director
School for the Environment
College of Science and Mathematics
email: Helen.Poynton@umb.edu
phone: 617.287.7323

Areas of research/interest: Areas of research/interest: Professor Poynton’s research focuses on applying genomics to better understand sub-lethal effects of environmental pollutants and the consequences of adaptation to pollution. Her lab is also working to uncover molecular biomarkers that can be used to detect environmental pollutants and understand their bioavailability.

Michael Tlusty, PhD

Associate Professor of Sustainability and Food Solutions
School for the Environment
College of Science and Mathematics
email: Michael.Tlusty@umb.edu
phone: 617.287.5285

Areas of expertise: Sustainability Science, Marine Seafood Sustainability, Aquarium Trade, Technology for marine seafood supply chain management, Sustainable Marine Aquaculture.

Areas of research/interest: Professor Tlusty's work and that of his students focuses on linking science, technology, and innovation to transform the world's aquatic food systems by working to create more, waste less and do a better job producing what we already produce. They work collaboratively with stakeholders across all sectors to support and advance practical and sustainable solutions to the issues facing our aquatic food systems.

Juanita Urban-Rich, PhD

Associate Professor of Zooplankton Ecology
School for the Environment
College of Science and Mathematics
email: Juanita.Urban-Rich@umb.edu
phone: 617.287.7485

Areas of expertise: Marine zooplankton, pollution; environmental education; microplastics.

Stephanie Wood LaFond, PhD

Research and Adjunct Faculty
School for the Environment
College of Science and Mathematics
email: Stephanie.Wood@umb.edu
phone: 617.287.6585

Areas of expertise: Population biology, recolonization, pinnipeds.

Zong-Guo Xia, PhD

Professor
School for the Environment
email: ZongGuo.Xia@umb.edu
phone: 617.287.5608

Areas of expertise: Computer and Analytical Cartography, GIS, Remote Sensing, Applications in Environmental & Natural Resources Management and Policy Analysis.