Steven Petsch

Steven Petsch is an Associate Professor in the School of Earth and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, affiliated with the Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences department. As the Associate Department Head for Curriculum, he oversees academic program development and serves as an advisor in Geology and Earth Systems. His research focuses on the transport and transformation of organic matter in sedimentary and earth surface environments, emphasizing long-term preservation, microbial interactions, and global biogeochemical cycles.

Research Interests:

• Biogeochemical processes governing carbon cycling across temporal and spatial scales
• Mechanisms of organic matter preservation and degradation in soils, rivers, and sediment
• Diagenesis and chemical decomposition in subsurface environments
• Methanogenesis and anaerobic biodegradation of fossil organic matter (e.g., shale, coal)
• Interactions between chemical, physical, microbiological, and human processes
• Development of analytical techniques for characterizing natural organic matter

Education: PhD in Geology from Yale University (2000). Contact: spetsch@umass.edu, (413) 545-4413, Morrill 3 256, 611 N Pleasant St, Amherst, MA, USA.