Faculty Research Interests

Michael Allen, Ph.D.

Dr. Michael Allen explores the intersection of climate and weather on society, linking topics related to climate science, hazard and emergency management, public health, and geographic education. His research focuses on changes in the climate system and how communities become resilient to extreme temperature events. In the past, Dr. Allen has worked with public health entities, government, and non-government organizations, and incorporates both natural and social science perspectives. A 2023 U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Serbia, his research also focuses on geographic education and geo-literacy, an essential tool in tackling 21st century challenges. 

Vanessa Beauchamp, Ph.D.

Dr. Beauchamp’s research centers on plant community ecology, with a particular emphasis on the impacts of invasive species on biodiversity and successional dynamics. Her work also explores the ecology of riparian (streamside) plant communities. A significant aspect of her research involves applying ecological principles to the management, conservation, and restoration of plant communities, bridging the gap between theory and practice.

Dr. Besterman is an ecologist generally interested in the role of landscape-scale, physical drivers (e.g., tidal flooding dynamics) on habitat formation in ecosystems, and the resulting organization of biological communities and ecosystem functions. She uses diverse methods integrating theory and techniques from many fields including ecosystem ecology, geomorphology, hydrology and population/community ecology.  

Dr. Besterman is interested in socially relevant research and global changes provide the context for much of her work. In both her research and teaching she emphasizes diverse perspectives. Dr. Besterman's collaborations include applied scientists, land trusts, and natural resource managers. In order to better understand local ecology and the problems that human communities face she works closely with community organizations.

More information can be found on her website. 

Dr. Casey’s research focuses on the ecological responses of clams and snails to natural and anthropogenic environmental disturbances on long timescales. In particular, she uses the fossil record as a natural laboratory to test ecological and evolutionary responses that operate at timescales beyond direct human observation and to determine the pristine ecological baseline of modern ecosystems in need of conservation or restoration. Past and current projects include: 1) Evaluation of commercial fishing, eutrophication, and hypoxia stressors in Long Island Sound and their effects on modern and recent fossil mollusks; 2) Use of stable isotopes (N and C) to evaluate trophic position (i.e., predator versus omnivore) of modern drilling gastropods and evaluate changes in diet associated with ecosystem change or stress; 3) Taphonomic and feeding experiment approaches that evaluate the amount and kinds of data we can reliably obtain from fossil shells, including changes in predatory behavior, predator identity, and predation intensity; and 4) Evaluation of geographic range size through time and its impact on extinction risk, including the study of factors that govern the preservation of a ​species’ geographic distribution in the fossil record.

Dr. Gough's research is at the intersection of plant community ecology and ecosystem ecology. She has been researching the arctic tundra in Alaska for more than 20 years with a focus on understanding how plant communities and the organisms with which they interact affect ecosystem processes. One recent project has focused on the role of microtine rodents (voles and lemmings) in carbon and nutrient cycling. She also supervises students conducting research locally on urban ecology and invasive plant species. In addition, she leads grant-funded projects that help faculty develop and teach CUREs (course-based undergraduate research experiences) and become more effective and inclusive mentors of undergraduate researchers.

Peggy McNeal, Ph.D.

Dr. McNeal is a Geoscience Education Researcher at Towson University who focuses on investigating how students use spatial reasoning in fluid-Earth science courses. Her research includes working with student and expert meteorologists to better understand their interpretation of complex data displays, such as surface and upper air maps. She works with student and expert hydrogeologists to better understand their ability to visualize subsurface features in three-dimensions. Dr. McNeal also uses rotating tanks to investigate student use of spatial reasoning while observing models of geophysical fluid processes. The goal of these investigations is to better understand how humans think spatially and apply that knowledge to teaching and learning in undergraduate fluid-Earth classrooms, such as meteorology, hydrogeology, and oceanography.

Dr. McNeal’s research group uses the Fluid-Earth Science Spatial Thinking Lab, with an HT3 rotating tank system, which features a 76 cm diameter transparent tank mounted on a Taylor-Henry cart. The motorized turntable can support up to 200 pounds and operates at variable speeds up to 13.3 RPM. This equipment allows the group to demonstrate key fluid dynamics phenomena, including solid-body rotation of dyed water, effects of stirring, and the formation of Taylor columns. Through student interviews centered on these demonstrations, we explore how students comprehend concepts like “rigid water” in solid-body rotation. These tank experiments accurately model geophysical fluid dynamics, reflecting the behavior of Earth’s oceans and atmosphere.

Additionally, we investigate the use of spatial thinking and development of expertise in authentic meteorological contexts. By embedding in convective field studies (storm chases), Dr. McNeal and students collect data from students in the field and analyze the data to learn how students learn in high intensity authentic environments.

Joel Moore, Ph.D.

Research Focus: Water chemistry and quality, especially related to urbanization; effects of urbanization on stream and soil geochemistry

Dr. Moore and his research group investigate critical zone processes, including stream and soil geochemistry, with a focus on urban watersheds as well as the effects of deicing (road) salt use.

Dr. Reber's research group is broadly interested in the chemical synthesis of novel organic molecules with interesting or useful properties. Since synthetic planning is greatly facilitated by advances in chemical methodology, his group also develops new chemical reactions to address unusual or challenging structural features in our synthetic targets. Through interdisciplinary collaborations with other scientists (both at Towson University and at institutions across the county), his group synthesizes compounds to facilitate research in such diverse areas as medicinal chemistry, nanomaterials, water disinfection, and environmental science.

The primary focus of Dr. Reber's research group is the total synthesis of natural products: compounds obtained from nature (e.g. plants, fungi, bacteria) that exhibit biological activity. Since these types of secondary metabolites are usually isolated from the natural source in only milligram quantities, evaluation of their pharmaceutical potential is limited by the scarcity of material. His research program aims to alleviate supply issues by developing efficient syntheses of bioactive natural products starting from cheap and readily available commodity chemicals.

Research in Dr. Sivey’s group focuses on environmental organic chemistry and the chemistry of drinking water treatment.  Specifically, Dr. Sivey’s group examines the chemistry of aqueous disinfectants (including free chlorine and free bromine) as well as the generation disinfection by-products.  The reactivity of biologically-important molecules (e.g., amino acids) toward chlorinating and brominating agents is of particular interest. The group also examines the transformation mechanisms and environmental fate of agrochemicals (including pesticides and so-called "inert" ingredients).