Dorothy Merritts

Dorothy Merritts is the Harry W. & Mary B. Huffnagle Professor of Geosciences at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She holds adjunct roles as a visiting professor at institutions like Stanford University and has been recognized with prestigious awards, including election to the National Academy of Sciences (2022) and the Geological Society of America Distinguished Career Award. Her research focuses on geomorphology, climate change impacts, and river restoration, particularly in the Appalachian mid-Atlantic region and internationally.

• Education: B.Sc. Indiana University of Pennsylvania; M.Sc. Stanford University; Ph.D. University of Arizona.
• Key Research Areas: Human-induced landscape transformation, wetland restoration, lidar-based geomorphic analysis, and tectonic processes in regions like California and Costa Rica.

Her work highlights the legacy of milldams on sediment dynamics and water quality, with notable contributions to understanding permafrost thaw and Anthropocene stratigraphy. She has led interdisciplinary projects on floodplain restoration and collaborated on National Research Council reports. Awards include the GSA Kirk Bryan Award (2011) for her Science paper on milldam legacies and the Association of Women Geoscientists’ Educator Award (2006).