Frank Nitsche

Frank Nitsche is a research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. He studies sediment processes and morphological features of coastal areas including the Hudson River Estuary and the Long Island Sound. In addition, he investigates seafloor features of the Antarctic continental margin and is reconstructing past ice stream dynamics and the vulnerability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. In his research he uses mostly geophysical mapping techniques and data integration through GIS.

Nitsche teaches in Columbia’s Masters programs in Sustainability Science. He previously has taught an Environmental Data Analysis course at Barnard College and coordinated environmental field classes on the Hudson River.

Nitsche received a Diploma (Master of Science) in geophysics from the University of Kiel, Germany and a Ph.D. from the University of Bremen, Germany. After a post-doctoral position at ETH Zurich he came to the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in 2001 where he started as a postdoctoral researcher. He has participated in nine ocean-going and numerous coastal expeditions. He has consulted on several environmental projects for New York State and Connecticut State.