Rate My Professor Isaac Larsen

Isaac Larsen is an Associate Professor in Geoscience at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences, specializing in geomorphology and cosmogenic nuclide geochemistry. He earned his PhD from the University of Washington in 2013. Larsen's research integrates field observations, geochemical analyses, remote sensing data, and numerical modeling to quantify rates of Earth surface change and understand landscape evolution. He operates a cosmogenic nuclide geochemistry laboratory capable of extracting isotopes 10Be and 26Al for exposure dating and denudation rate measurements. His ongoing projects investigate landscape responses to mega-floods from glacial Lake Missoula, active tectonics, agricultural practices such as soil erosion in the US Corn Belt, and climate change impacts on non-glaciated Alpine landscapes.

Larsen has advanced knowledge in soil production, chemical weathering, landslide-driven erosion, bedrock incision, and canyon formation. Key publications include "Landslide erosion controlled by hillslope material" (Nature Geoscience, 2010), "Landslide erosion coupled to tectonics and river incision" (Nature Geoscience, 2012), "Rapid soil production and weathering in the Southern Alps, New Zealand" (Science, 2014), and "The extent of soil loss across the US Corn Belt" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021), which documents soil erosion rates exceeding formation by over 100 times in Midwestern agricultural fields, affecting soil carbon budgets. His contributions have earned him election as a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 2025, recognizing his interdisciplinary application of geochemistry, remote sensing, geochronology, and modeling to geomorphic challenges; the Luna B. Leopold Young Scientist Award from the American Geophysical Union Earth and Planetary Surface Processes Focus Group in 2017; and a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award for spring 2020 at the University of Salzburg, Austria, to teach graduate courses and research Alpine erosion rates.