Research

The Queens College School of Earth and Environmental Sciences faculty address many urgent scientific research questions in the areas of Geosciences and Environmental Sciences. SEES research lab foci, often interdisciplinary span all aspects of the Earth, including the Atmospheric, Terrestrial, Oceanographic and Geologic components of our Environment.

SEES faculty study the materials and processes that make up and modify the Earth’s landmasses, the seafloor and its subsurface, the hydrosphere and cryosphere. Our research interests span from the early formation of the Earth to the present and extends globally with field locations from the Arctic to Antarctic. Our focus is towards societal relevant problems and hazards including all aspects of the Earth from internal to surficial and with a special focus on populated coastal environments like New York City.

SEES faculty investigate physical, chemical, and biological aspects of water, soil, air to gain needed process-based understanding of ecosystems that allow humans to sustainably manage our environment and reduce environmental risk from major challenges including climate change and environmental pollution.

Faculty and student research foci include research projects in Micrometeorology, Atmosphere-Biosphere interactions, Soil Science, Biological and Chemical Oceanography, Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Environmental Microbiology, Geophysics, Seismology, Climate Science, , Volcanology, Igneous Petrology, Surface and Groundwater Hydrology, Marine and Terrestrial Biogeochemistry, Isotope Biogeochemistry, Ecosystem Ecology, Quaternary Geology, Tectonic Geomorphology, Marine Geology and Sedimentology, Paleoclimatology, and Environmental Remediation and Water quality. (see word cloud fig…).

Analytical Capabilities

SEES laboratories include facilities and research instrumentation that allow for the acquisition, processing and analysis of air, water, soil and minerals. Major instrumentation includes: ICP-OES, Thermal Analysis (STA-FTIR), Soluble Carbon Analyzer, Synergy H1 Plate Reader, FT-IR & Infrared Microscopes, Elemental Analyzer (CHNS), X-ray Fluorescence Analyzer, Autoclaves, Micro and floor centrifuges, Millipore Milli-Q Direct 8 Water Purification Systems, Microbalances, Scanning Electron Microscope with EDS, Diffraction Spectrometer, rock, soil, plant sample processing laboratories, GC-MS, acid digestion laboratory (2026).

Available for external work

• Costech 4010 CNS Elemental Analyzer & Microbalance.For analysis of solid samples for total C and N content.
  For collaboration information contact Jeffrey Bird,  jbird@qc.cuny.edu
• Hitachi Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) equipped with a Bruker Quantax 400 Energy-Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) system. For high resolution imaging and in situ chemical characterization (e.g., point analyses, elemental mapping) of solid samples.
  For more information contact Marc-Antoine Longpre, mlongpre@qc.cuny.edu
• ICP-OES Agilent 5900. For analysis of metals in solutions.
  For more details contact Jacquelyn Bracco, jbracco@qc.cuny.edu