Directors

Dr. Jens Birkholzer is a Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab). As an internationally recognized expert in subsurface energy applications and environmental impact assessment, he currently serves as the Associate Laboratory Director (Acting) for the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) at LBNL and was formerly Director of its Energy Geosciences Division (EGD). EESA is a premier organization of ~500 staff and affiliates with expertise in climate and ecosystem sciences and energy geosciences. This organization is focused on tackling some of the most pressing environmental and energy challenges of the 21st Century.

Dr. Birkholzer received his Ph.D. in water resources, hydrology, and soil science from Aachen University of Technology in Germany in 1994. He joined LBNL in 1994, left for a management position in his native Germany in 1999, and eventually returned to LBNL in 2001. He has over 400 scientific publications, about 170 of which are in peer-reviewed journals, in addition to numerous research reports. He serves on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control (IJGGC), the Energies Journal (Geo-Energy Section), and is also an Editorial Policy Advisor for the Journal of Geomechanics for Energy and Environment (GETE). Dr. Birkholzer leads the international DECOVALEX Project as its Chairman, is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, and a Senior Fellow of the California Council on Science and Technology.

For more information about Jens Birkholzer, go to his profile at http://eesa.lbl.gov/profiles/jens-birkholzer/. ‎

Associate Laboratory Director Announcement – February 15, 2022
Division Director Welcome Announcement – September 15, 2015

Peter Nico is a Soil and Environmental Biogeochemist who studies transition metal redox processes and their impact on the fate and transport of environmental contaminants. He has also investigates soil carbon stabilization and mineralization mechanisms with an emphases on the role of mineral surfaces and redox active metals such as Fe and Mn. Much of his work uses synchrotron based X-ray spectromicroscopic techniques to probe chemical and physical heterogeneity on the micron and nanometer scale. He received his B.S degree in Chemistry from the University of California, Davis, and a M.S. in Organic Chemistry from U.C.L.A. He received his Ph.D in 2001 in Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry from the University of California, Davis. From 2001-2002 he was a post-doctoral fellow in Soil and Environmental Biogeochemistry at Stanford University and still maintains a visiting scholar appointment there. From 2002-2005 he held the position of Assistant Professor of Chemistry at California State University Stanislaus before joining the Earth Sciences Division in 2005. In September 2016, Peter Nico was appointed to lead the Resilient Energy, Water and Infrastructure Program Domain (previously known as Sustainable Energy Systems Program Domain), and, as of February 2022, is the (Acting) Division Director for the Energy Geosciences Division. ‎

EGD Division Director Announcement – February 15, 2022

Dr. William Collins is an internationally recognized expert in climate modeling and climate change science. He serves as the Director for the Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab). In addition, Dr. Collins is a senior scientist at LBNL, a Professor in Residence in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, and the Director of the Climate Readiness Institute (CRI), a multi-campus initiative to prepare the Bay Area for climate change. Before joining UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab, Dr. Collins was a senior scientist and Chair of the Scientific Steering Committee for the DOE/NSF Community Climate System Model project at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). He was a Lead Author on the Fourth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), for which the IPCC was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and is also a Lead Author on the Fifth IPCC Assessment.  Dr. Collins is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and was awarded the DOE Secretarial Honor Award for launching DOE’s Accelerated Climate Model for Energy in 2015. For more information about Bill Collins, go to his profile at http://eesa.lbl.gov/profiles/william-collins/. ‎

Welcome Announcement – September 15, 2015

As the Associate Lab Director for Earth & Environmental Sciences Area at Berkeley Laboratory Dr. Susan Hubbard leads a premier organization of ~500 staff and affiliates with expertise in climate and ecosystem sciences and energy geosciences. This organization is focused on tackling some of the most pressing environmental and energy challenges of the 21st Century. Dr. Hubbard is also a Senior Scientist at Berkeley Lab and an Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley.

Susan Hubbard is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Geophysical Union, and the Geological Society of America. Dr. Hubbard’s awards include the Society of Exploration Geophysicists Frank Frischknecht Award; the Society of Exploration Geophysicists Harold Mooney Award; the American Institute of Hydrology Robert G. Wetzel Award; and the Geological Society of America Birdsall Dreiss Distinguished Lecturer Award.

Dr. Hubbard earned her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley, an MS in geophysics from Virginia Tech and a BS in geology from UC Santa Barbara. She has been recognized as a Distinguished Alumna of her graduating departments at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara. Prior to joining Berkeley Lab, she was a geologist at the US Geological Survey and a geophysicist in industry.

Hubbard’s research focuses on quantifying how complex environmental systems function. Her particular emphasis is on the development of geophysical approaches to remotely sense hydrological, geochemical, biological and geomechanical processes; how these processes couple over scales; and how the integrated processes govern water availability, water quality, carbon cycling, agriculture and subsurface geological system behaviors. She is recognized for her contributions to the development of the field of hydrogeophysics.

Hubbard is committed to efforts to increase diversity and foster equity and inclusion for women and members of underrepresented minorities in STEM, and to the development of early-career scientists. She has served widely on advisory and editorial boards and serves as a leader or advisor on many initiatives and large team projects.

Associate Laboratory Director (Departure) Announcement – February 15, 2022
Welcome Announcement – June 26, 2015

Don DePaolo was appointed Director of the Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division in October 2007 by former Berkeley Lab Director, and former U.S. Department of Energy Secretary, Dr. Steven Chu. In 2010, DePaolo was named as Associate Lab Director for Energy Sciences (2012-Present, Acting 2010-2012). In Spring of 2009, DePaolo became the Director of the Center for Nanoscale Control of Geologic CO2 (EFRC). DePaolo also served as head of the Earth Sciences Division’s Geochemistry Department. He also established and directs the Center for Isotope Geochemistry, joint research facility between Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley. DePaolo is also the Class of 1951 Professor of Geochemistry in UC Berkeley’s Department of Earth and Planetary Science. His research interests include applications of mass spectrometry and isotope geochemistry to fundamental problems in geology, origin and evolution of the earth’s continental crust and mantle, radiometric dating of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks, and isotopic hydrology and oceanography. He received a Ph.D. in geology from the California Institute of Technology in 1978. For more information about Don DePaolo, go to his profile at http://eesa.lbl.gov/profiles/donald-j-depaolo/.

Welcome Announcement – October 25, 2007

Ernie Majer was appointed as the Acting Earth Sciences Division Director in November of 2006 by former Berkeley Lab Director, Dr. Steven Chu. Majer then served as a Senior Advisor to the Division Director (2010-2015). Prior to becoming the Deputy Director for ESD (in 2001), Majer was the Department Head for Geophysics (known prior to 2001 as “Geophysics and Geomechanics”). Up until ESD’s 2013 scientific reorganization, Majer served as the Program lead for the Energy Resources. Prior to ESD’s reorganization into an Area in 2015, Majer served as the Program Area Lead for Fundamental Earth Sciences and Lead for the Fundamental Geosciences Program.  He received a Ph.D. in geophysics from UC Berkeley in 1978. For more information about Ernie Majer, go to his profile at http://eesa.lbl.gov/profiles/ernest-l-majer/.

In Memoriam – November 11, 1952 — November 29, 2006

In 2001, Bodvarsson became the first native of Iceland to hold a Division Director appointment at this laboratory or, in all likelihood, any other DOE national laboratory. He was appointed by then Berkeley Lab Director Charles Shank, who praised Bodvarsson for his “creativity and insights.” Prior to being named the Director for the Earth Sciences Division, Bodvarsson served as the Head of ESD’s Nuclear Waste Program (now called the Nuclear Energy & Waste Program) and served on the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Yucca Mountain Project as the Berkeley Lab Lead. Bodvarsson’s research interests included fluid flow and transport in heterogeneous medium, theoretical and applied research on multi-phase, multi-component systems, coupled processes (TH, THC, THM)/geothermal system evaluation, and multi-disciplinary testing and modeling evaluations of complex underground systems.

Norm Goldstein appointed as the Acting Director for the Earth Sciences Division, by then Lab Director Charles Shank. In 1998, Goldstein became the Deputy Director for ESD. Goldstein previously served as an ESD group leader in Geophysics (known prior to 2001 as “Geophysics and Geomechanics”) and in the Geothermal projects under the Energy Resources Program Area. Following his retirement from the Lab in 2002, Goldstein continues to collaborate on various ESD projects and works in Sonoma, CA. He received a Ph.D. in engineering geoscience (geophysics) from UC Berkeley in 1965.

Sally Benson served as Division Director for Earth Sciences and as the Associate Laboratory Director for Energy Sciences beginning in 1992. Beginning in 2000, Sally Benson completed a four-year term as the Deputy Director for Operations at the Berkeley Lab returning to Earth Sciences to continue her research. A groundwater hydrologist and reservoir engineer, Benson has conducted research to address a range of issues related to energy and the environment, including environmental remediation, gas storage, geothermal energy production, and in carbon sequestration, particularly on sequestration in deep geologic formations. Benson completed her graduate education in 1988, at the University of California, Berkeley, receiving her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science and Mineral Engineering. By 2007, Benson made the move to Stanford University as a research Professor in the Department of Energy Resources Engineering, in the School of Earth Sciences and is currently Stanford University’s Global Climate and Energy Project Director and she continues to collaborate with the ESD.

In Memoriam – September 2, 1934 — February 22, 2002
University of California’s In Memoriam published by the Academic Senate

In the 1970s Tom McEvilly began working with the Earth Sciences Division on the exploration for new sources of geothermal energy, which involved a number of geophysical investigations in California, Nevada, and Mexico. His research covered a broad range of topics, mostly in the field of seismology. They included studies of crust and upper mantle structure, detailed investigations of earthquake sources around the world, exploratory studies of geothermal energy, contributions in support of a nuclear test ban treaty, tests of earthquake prediction scenarios, application of seismic reflection methods to a variety of tectonic problems, and use of controlled sources to measure anisotropy and temporal changes in seismic velocity. McEvilly obtained his Ph.D. in Geophysical Engineering from St. Louis University in 1964.

In Memoriam – February 9, 1919 — February 10, 2012

• October 30, 2007 – Video feature on The Hydrogeologist Time Capsule – a project supported by the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) and other sponsors. This is a conversation between Paul Witherspoon and Alan Freeze
• 90th birthday announcement (February 2009)
• ESD Staff Page (archived)

The Division was founded on July 21, 1977, when then Lab Director Andrew Sessler signed a letter enacting its creation. Earth Sciences was an outgrowth of the Energy and Environment Division, which was formerly known as the Environmental Energy Technologies Division. ESD’s first director was Paul Witherspoon, who transferred the Geothermal and Geosciences Program and other research areas from the Energy and Environment Division to formulate the technical scope of the Earth Sciences Division. Witherspoon’s research included reservoir engineering, geochemical and production engineering, geophysical studies and land subsidence research (related to the impact of geothermal wells) and applied it to geothermal activities and nuclear waste isolation projects. Witherspoon received his Ph.D in petroleum engineering physics at the University of Illinois, Urbana in 1956. For more information about Paul Witherspoon, go to his profile at http://eesa.lbl.gov/profiles/paul-a-witherspoon/.