Head Shot

Susan Allen

Professor and Chair, Department of the Environment
School: School of Humanities and Sciences
Phone: 607-274-1066
Office: Center for Natural Sciences 253, Ithaca, NY 14850
Specialty: Environmental Toxicology

My primary area of research is environmental toxicology, which is the study of how pollutants affect ecological systems.  Although my Ph.D. research focused mainly on long-range transport of air pollutants into remote areas, I now do primarily locally-based research on pollutants.   You can learn more about my research on the IC EcoTox Lab webpage!

Lab Alumni

Students who have worked in my lab have gone to graduate school (Masters and PhD) for Environmental Toxicology, Biogeochemistry, Environmental Engineering, Public Health, and more.  They have attended University of California -Berkeley, Michigan State University, John Hopkins University, Indiana University, and Oregon State University. Upon graduation, alumni are ready for employment in academia, consulting firms, and non-profit organizations.

Teaching

I teach a variety of environmentally-related courses.  I teach the required course, ENVS 292: Critical Skills for Envvironmental Professionals.  In this course, we function as a fictitious consulting company that is hired to carry out a number of projects, ranging from reintroducing endangered species, minimizing bird mortality on off-shore wind farms, creatign urban grardens in Brooklyn, and using eDNA to detect invasive species on the East Coast.

My favorite courses to teach are ones that have an international component.  I love teaching ENVS 204: Special Topics: Belize's Rainforests, Reefs and Ruins in the fall semester with a two-week trip in January.  You can read about the course from in the Ithacan, or get a student's perspective in FUSE

I also love teaching upper- level electives such as ENVS 340: Topics in Pollution, in which we either examine the human health effects of pollutants or the effects of pollutants on ecological systems.  I often focus these courses on recent events or local issues.  I most recently developed courses in Environmental Technologies that delve into appropriate technologies for the developing world (ENVS 376) and cutting edge technologies for the developed world and the use of space to address environmental problems on earth (ENVS 476). 

Lastly, I often teach the capstone environmental seminar for fourth-year majors.

Education

  • Ph.D., Oregon State University (1995)
  • M.E.M., Duke University (1989)
  • B.Sc., St. Lawrence University (1984)

I am often in my office (CNS 253) - stop by or make an appointment!