The Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research LTRR Faculty and Scientific Staff

Below is a list of faculty and scientific staff of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. In most cases, a direct e-mail link is provided, and direct links to personal web pages are provided for people who have them. See the complete personnel directory for complete contact information of everyone currently working at the Laboratory

Current Faculty

Thomas W. Swetnam, Professor and Director

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UA News report about new director
Arizona Daily Star article about new director
Arizona Daily Wildcat article about the new director

B.S., Biology, Univ. of New Mexico, 1977; M.S., Forestry-Watershed Management, Univ. of Arizona, 1983; Ph.D., Watershed Management, Univ. of Arizona, 1987

Advises students in these UA Depts.: GEOS, RNR, GEOG, ECOL

Natural and human disturbances of forest ecosystems and climatic interactions

Multi-century histories of fire and insect outbreak occurrences from tree-ring records

Southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico forests, coast redwood and giant Sequoia groves in California, pine forests in Siberia

Providing basic ecological information as well as guidance to National Forest and Park Managers

Personal home page

Jeffrey S. Dean, Professor B.A., Anthropology, Univ. of Arizona, 1961; Ph.D., Anthropology, Univ. of Arizona, 1967 Advises students in these UA Depts.: GEOS, ANTH Archaeological dating theory and tree-ring dating Effects of human behavior on date assemblages Applying tree-ring data to investigate fluvial processes Utilization of long archaeological tree-ring chronologies for dendroclimatic reconstructions Integration reconstructions based on multiple paleoenvironmental measures Effects of environmental fluctuations on past and present human populations

Michael Evans, Assistant Professor

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• A.B., Special Concentration in Environmental Science and Policy, Harvard Univ., 1992; Ph.D., Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia Univ., 1999
• Advises students in these UA Depts.:
• Paleoclimate field reconstruction
• Objective interpretation of proxy paleoclimate data
• Tropical isotope dendroclimatology
• Personal home page

Katherine Hirschboeck, Associate Professor

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• B.S., Geography, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, 1973; M.S., Geography, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, 1975; Ph.D., Geosciences, Univ. of Arizona, 1985
• Advises students in these UA Depts.: GEOS, GEOG, HWR, ATMO, ALRS, GC-ISPE
• Atmospheric patterns and processes associated with climatic variability and Global Change
• Integrate synoptic climatology with hydrology, geomorphology, and dendrochronology to study environmental responses to varying atmospheric circulation patterns
• Relationship between flooding and climate at global, regional, and local scales
• Frost rings in trees as records of anomalous cooling due to major volcanic eruptions
• Personal home page

Malcolm K. Hughes, Professor

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• B.Sc., Botany & Zoology, Univ. of Durham, 1965; Ph.D., Ecology, Univ. of Durham, 1970
• Advises students in these UA Depts.: GEOS, GC-ISPE
• Past climate in Europe, Asia, and the Sierra Nevada from tree rings
• Fine detail of wood structure revealed by microdensitometry
• Collaborator in effort to improve knowledge of the Earth's climate since AD 1000 from tree rings, ice cores, laminated sediments, and historical records
• Potential of 3000 year and older giant sequoia as proxy climate records
• Personal home page

Steven W. Leavitt, Professor

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• B.S., Geology, Univ. of Illinois, 1971; M.S., Environmental Sciences, Univ. of Virginia - Charlottesville, 1977; Ph.D., Geosciences, Univ. of Arizona, 1982
• Advises students in these UA Depts.: GEOS, GC-ISPE
• Analysis of carbon-13/carbon-12 ratios in tree rings
• Reconstruct past climate (drought)
• Reconstruct past atmospheric chemistry (the changing isotopic ratios of atmospheric CO2 resulting from fossil-fuel and biospheric inputs)
• Seasonal isotopic signals within tree rings to reconstruct seasonal environments
• Combining growth chamber and field experimentation
• Personal home page

David Meko, Research Specialist Principal

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• B.S., Meteorology, Penn. State Univ., 1972; M.S., Atmospheric Sciences, Univ. of Arizona, 1974; Ph.D., Hydrology, Univ. of Arizona, 1981
• Advises students in these UA Depts.: GEOS
• Time-series methods and study of the relationship between tree-ring and hydrologic series
• Reconstructing streamflow and drought frequency from tree rings
• Testing the statistical evidence for a link between solar/lunar cycles and drought as reflected in tree rings
• Effect of climatic variability on water supply, particularly in the semi-arid southwestern United States
• Personal home page

Matthew W. Salzer, Adjunct Assistant Professor

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• B.A., Anthropology, SUNY Plattsburgh, 1985; M.A., Anthropology, Eastern New Mexico Univ., 1992; Ph.D., Geosciences, Univ. of Arizona, 2000
• Dendroclimatology in western North America
• Long tree-ring chronology development
• Cultural responses to environmental change
• Dendrogeomorphology
• Integrating tree-ring and ice core records of volcanic activity and paleotemperature

Paul R. Sheppard, Assistant Professor

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• B.S., Forestry, Humboldt State Univ., 1982; M.S., Natural Resources, Cornell Univ., 1984; Ph.D., Geosciences, Univ. of Arizona, 1995
• Low-magnification, reflected-light image analysis of tree rings
• Tree-ring of past geomorphological events
• Soil-tree growth relationships
• Dendrochemical measurements and environmental interpretability

Ramzi Touchan, Research Specialist, Senior

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• B.S., Agriculture Engineering, Univ. of Aleppo, 1977; M.S., 1986; Ph.D., Watershed Management, Univ. of Arizona, 1991
• Developing chronologies and reconstructing past climate in the Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, Siberia, and western United State
• Development of 3300 year long tree-ring chronology from Giant sequoia and its potential for climatic reconstructions
• Developing and conducting international workshops on the role of dendrochronology in natural resource management

Ronald H. Towner, Adjunct Assistant Professor

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• B.A., History, Lewis & Clark College, 1979; M.A., Anthropology, Washington State Univ., 1986; Ph.D., Anthropology, Univ. of Arizona, 1997
• Advises students in these UA Depts.: GEOS, ANTH
• Archaeological dendrochronology
• Chronometry and archaeological dating theory
• Human/environment interaction
• The Athapaskan occupation of the Southwest
• Historical archaeology
• Personal home page

 

Faculty Emeritis

Bryant Bannister, Professor and Director Emeritus B.A., Anthropology, Yale Univ., 1948; M.A., Anthropology, Univ. of Arizona, 1953; Ph.D., Anthropology, Univ. of Arizona, 1960 Development and refinement of dendrochronology as an archaeological dating tool Derivation, interpretation, and application of archaeological tree-ring dates Construction of prehistoric chronological controls for the American Southwest, Mexico, and the Near East

Harold C. Fritts, Professor Emeritus B.A., Botany, Oberlin College, 1951; M.S., Botany, Ohio State Univ., 1953; Ph.D., Botany, Univ. of Ohio, 1965 Dendrochronology theory Reconstruction and mapping of past North American climate from large grids of tree-ring data Relationships of tree growth and environment Modeling tree growth with rising CO2 levels, acid rain, and environmental pollution Personal home page

Scientific Staff and Postdoctoral Fellows
Rex K. Adams,Research Specialist, Senior B.A., Sociology/Anthropology and Chemistry, Adams State College, 1967; M.A., Anthropology, Eastern New Mexico Univ., 1980 Basic field and laboratory methods and techniques Public outreach to schools and groups for presentations Talks and tours at the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research

Christopher H. Baisan, Research Specialist, Senior

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• B.S., Watershed Management, Univ. of Arizona 1991
• Ecology of forest and woodland disturbances particularily fire and insect outbreaks as well as cultural influences on disturbance processes
• Extracting seasonal climate from tree rings
• Examining relationships between fire, fuel accumulation rate, and climatic patterns

James M. Burns, Research Specialist

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• B.A., Anthropology, Univ. of Arizona, 1976; A.A.S., Digital Electronics, Pima Community College, 1982
• Densitometric data
• Image analysis

Gary Funkhouser, Research Specialist

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• B.A., Anthropology, Washington and Lee Univ., 1975; M.A., Anthropology, Univ. of Georgia, 1978
• Development and analysis of tree-ring chronologies
• Semi-arid regions of the US and the subarctic regions of Russia
• Extending the 8000-year long Pinus longaeva chronology for climatic reconstruction and calibration of the radiocarbon time-scale
• Development of long chronologies from Siberia
• Worked in Jordan as co-director of a paleolithic excavation at Ain-El-Assad

Martin A. R. Munro, Research Specialist, Senior

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• M.A., Archaeology, Univ. of Edinburgh, 1977; Ph.D., Queen's Univ. of Belfast, 1983
• Image analysis for cell size measurement and densitometry in dendrochronology
• Data analysis tools for dendrochronology
• Computer system support
• Personal home page

Fenbiao Ni, Research Associate

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• Ph.D., Atmospheric Sciences, Univ. of Arizona, 2000
• Synoptic dendroclimatology
• climate downscaling
• fuzzy logic, geostatistics
• relational database development

Irina P. Panyushkina, Research Associate

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• B.A., Physical Geography and Biology, 1990 Ph.D., Forest Ecology, Sukachev Institute of Forest, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1997
• Tree-ring dating of subfossil and archaeological woods
• Image analysis of tree-ring anatomy
• Development of long-term chronologies merging tree rings of living trees, subfossils and archaeological timbers
• Estimation of modern climate variability in extreme cold environments (upper tree-lines, high altitudes)
• Applying tree rings from archaeological records to climatic reconstructions
• Late Holocene climate in Siberia
• Younger Dryas episode in the North American Midwest
• Chronology of Iron Age Cultures in Central Asia: tree-ring improvement
• Tree-ring chronology network in the Altai Mountains

James A. Parks, Research Specialist

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• B.A., History, Univ. of Arizona, 1990
• Crossdating of archaeological and modern samples from the southwestern USA and the Great Basin
• Ecology of Pinus cembroides in southeastern Arizona
• Log buildings (Quercus stellata) in central Texas
• Prehistoric and protohistoric human behavior

David J. Street, Research Specialist

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• H.N.C., Naval Architecture, Bath College/Ministry of Defence, England. B.Sc.(Hons), Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford. Ph.D., Dendroarchaeology, Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield.
• Dendroarhaeological method and theory.
• Interpretation and integration of tree-ring with data from other finds in detailed temporal framework reconstruction for archaeological contexts.
• Dating and interpretation of Long House and other Mesa Verde Anasazi sites.
• Expanding skeleton plotting application in archaeological contexts both regionally (Tucson Basin, Northern Mexico) and Worldwide.
• Dating of a wide range of submitted tree-ring samples from archaeological, historic and modern contexts from the US Southwest and Worldwide.
• Beer taster, both regionally and Worldwide

Richard L. Warren, Research Associate

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• B.A., Archaeology, Univ. of Arizona, 1964
• Crossdating archaeological materials

Retired Staff
Thomas P. Harlan B.A., Anthropology, Texas Technological College, 1956; M.A., Anthropology, Univ. of Arizona, 1962 Tree-ring chronologies from all continents except Antarctica Developing long chronologies, especially bristlecone pine
Robert G. Lofgren B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Univ. of Illinois 1954; M.S., Physics, Northwestern Univ., 1962 Climatic variations and data sets

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The University of Arizona

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Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, The University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA
Main Office: (520) 621-1608, Fax: (520) 621-8229
Comments to Phyllis Norton-Gress: pgress@ltrr.arizona.edu

Copyright © 1999-2001, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, The University of Arizona
Revised -- November, 2003
URL: http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/facstaff.html