Area of specialization: Professor Young is a nationally recognized expert on wetland ecosystems and coastal environments.
 
Some of his classes: "Investigations in Geology" (Geol-140), "Wetlands" (Geol-491), "Oceanography" (Geol-260), all in the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resources.

When he’s not in the classroom: You might find him in the field with his students, surveying wetlands or studying the effects of erosion on Appalachian terrain. Or you might find him flying over coastal wetlands, at the beach looking at erosion, or studying dams on tribal lands.

Assessing Katrina: Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Professor Young chartered a small airplane to get a bird’s eye view of Gulf Coast communities from Florida to Louisiana. His observations and video footage were featured on major TV news channels. He also provided expert testimony before Congress about the development of our nation’s coastal regions.

Grave concerns: Dead men tell no tales— but their graves do. Professor Young led students and Jackson County volunteers in a project to recover gravesites in an abandoned cemetery near campus using ground-penetrating radar and sophisticated data analysis. With Professor Young’s help, the volunteer group hopes to recover an estimated 200 graves.

Connecting science with tribal culture: Through a weeklong education project, Professor Young worked with 25 young people from Washington’s Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe to show how the nation’s largest dam removal project will impact the tribe’s cultural heritage. “The project is unique in that the kids are being taught science and culture side by side. We hope this makes the science more interesting and more relevant,” says Professor Young.