Director, Environmental Initiative

Professor, Earth and EnvironmentalSciences

Professor Dork Sahagian is the director of the new Environmental Initiative at Lehigh, and joined the Lehigh faculty in 2004. Professor Sahagian received his B.S. in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, his M.S. in Geosciences from Rutgers University, and his Ph.D in Geophysics from the University of Chicago. He then served as a NORDA Oceanographer at Dartmouth College, Associate Research Scientist at Lamont-Doherty (Columbia University), and Research Scientist at the Byrd Polar Research Center (Ohio State University). He served as Executive Director of The Global Analysis, Integration, and Modelling Task Force of the international Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP/GAIM) at the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire from 1994 until 2004. Professor Sahagian has been conducting research in paleoclimatology, volcanology, stratigraphy, geodynamics and tectonics, global hydrology and sea level. Professor Sahagian has taught courses in Earth & environmental science, physics and astronomy, volcanology, human-climate interactions, stratigraphy, and other areas related to his research and that of his students.  He was instrumental in establishing the new section of the American Geophysical Union in "Biogeosciences" and has directed his efforts to organizing and integrating a number of diverse research communities. At Lehigh, he is now working to integrate disparate disciplines in building the Environmental Initiative into a leading program for environmental science, technology, economics, policy, and the myriad interactions between people and the environment.