Gregory S. Baker currently holds the Jones/Bibee Endowed Professorship in Geophysics in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at the University of Tennessee, where he is an Associate Professor.  His area of specialization is “near-surface geophysics” which deals with remote imaging of the upper 200 m of the Earth’s subsurface.

Dr Baker received his B.S. (1992; Honors) and M.S. (1994) in geology from Lehigh University, and Ph.D. (1999; Honors) in geophysics from The University at Kansas under Dr. Don W. Steeples.  He was on the faculty of the Department of Geology at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) from 1999-2005 and retains a position there as Research Associate Professor.

He is the Director of the Environmental Geophysics Research (EGR) Laboratory at the University of Tennessee and was Director of the University at Buffalo Summer Geology Field Program (a.k.a., Field Camp) from 2001-2005.  In addition, he is currently Co-Director of the Buffalo Geosciences Program (BGP) which has the objective of promoting diversity in the geosciences by providing unique opportunities to underrepresented minority student populations.

Since 1999, Dr. Baker has published 2 monographs and 23 refereed journal articles, presented 45 research seminars at national conferences and universities, been PI or co-PI on grants totaling over $1.7 million, and served as major advisor for 6 PhD students and 10 M.S. students.  His research is focused in: (1) developing new geophysical instrumentation and data processing techniques; (2) improving standard operating procedures of data collection; and (3) demonstrating applied examples of state-of-the-art techniques.

Some of his current projects include: imaging Pleistocene sediments within lakes on Baffin Island for climate-related studies (NSF); environmental site characterization on Fort Wainwright & Fort Richardson, Alaska (DOD); glacio-geophysics research at Matanuska Glacier, Alaska (NSF); archaeo-geophysics studies on a 4th Century Roman fort in Humayma, Jordan (NSF); a joint EPA/Forest Service ecosystem management project involving restoration of wet meadows in the Great Basin of Nevada; a 3D tracer mapping project in the fractured bedrock of Altona Flats, New York (NSF), and a time-lapse hydrogeophysicical study at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (DOE).

Dr Baker was an Associate Editor for the journal Geophysics from 2001-2004 and served on the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) Technical Program Committee in 2002, 2003, & 2004.  He has been elected to several offices in the Near-Surface Geophysics Section of SEG and served as President of the Section in 2003-2004.  Dr Baker is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Geoscience Education.  In 2001 Dr. Baker was the recipient of the Milton Plesur Excellence in Teaching Award (University at Buffalo), and from 2001-2005 was selected to the College of Arts & Sciences Honor Roll of Top Teachers (University at Buffalo).

Updated January 2007.