Rate My Professor Douglas Edmonds

Douglas Edmonds is Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Malcolm and Sylvia Boyce Chair in Geological Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, where he also directs the Sedimentary Systems Lab. He received his Ph.D. in Geosciences from The Pennsylvania State University in 2009 with a dissertation on the growth and evolution of distributary deltas, an M.Sc. in Geosciences from the same university in 2006 on the mechanics of river mouth bar formation, and a B.Sc. in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences from Saint Louis University in 2003, graduating summa cum laude.

Edmonds' research centers on the sedimentology, stratigraphy, and geomorphology of depositional sedimentary systems, investigating processes from secondary circulation and turbulence to the formation of reach-scale features like levees and the whole-system dynamics of deltas and river belts. He integrates mathematical modeling, field observations, and experimentation to understand the coupled surficial and sedimentological evolution of these environments. His career at Indiana University Bloomington progressed from Assistant Professor (2012–2017) to Associate Professor (2017–2023) and Professor (2024–present). Previously, he was Assistant Professor at Boston College (2010–2012) and Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Minnesota's National Center for Earth Surface Dynamics (2009–2010). Notable awards include the 2025 Guggenheim Fellowship for studies on sediment, rivers, and flooding with applications to soil conservation; the SEPM Dickinson Medal (2026); IU Trustees Teaching Award (2016); Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in Ocean Sciences (2014–2016); and Editors’ Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Geophysical Research Letters (2015). He serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Sedimentary Research (2021–present) and has organized sessions on deltas, avulsions, and quantitative stratigraphy at AGU, GSA, and AAPG meetings.

Key publications encompass 'Rules of River Avulsion Change Downstream' (Nature, 2024, lead-authored by Gearon et al.); 'Land loss due to human-altered sediment budget in the Mississippi River delta' (Nature Sustainability, 2023); 'Coastal Wetlands in the Anthropocene' (Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 2024); 'Significant effect of sediment cohesion on delta morphology' (Nature Geoscience, 2010); and 'Metrics to quantify the morphology of river deltas and their channel networks' (Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 2011). His scholarship has exceeded 6,000 citations on Google Scholar, influencing fields of river morphodynamics, avulsion prediction, and coastal restoration.