Rate My Professor Joe Carlin

Joe Carlin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at California State University, Fullerton, specializing in marine geology. He holds a Ph.D. in Oceanography from Texas A&M University (2013), where his dissertation examined sediment dynamics, export processes, accumulation, and delta evolution in response to human activities at the Brazos River Delta, Texas. He also earned a B.S. in Ocean and Coastal Resources from Texas A&M University-Galveston (2008) and a B.A. in Communications from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (2004). After completing a postdoctoral research position at Texas A&M University-Galveston, focusing on shoreface mapping of a barrier island to distinguish hurricane- from sea-level rise-induced morphological changes, Carlin joined CSUF in fall 2014 as an Assistant Professor and advanced to Associate Professor.

Carlin's research centers on coastal and shallow marine geology, exploring how these systems evolve under natural forcings and anthropogenic influences, including climate change and sea-level rise. His projects span locations such as the Monterey Bay continental shelf, central Texas continental shelf, Seal Beach Wetlands, and Upper Newport Bay in Orange County, California. He employs sediment coring, X-ray and CT scanning, and microfossil analysis to reconstruct paleoenvironments and assess human impacts on the geological record. Notable publications co-authored by Carlin include "A diatom-inferred water-depth transfer function from a single core in the Salton Sea, California (USA)" (Journal of Paleolimnology, 2023), "Holocene hydroclimatic variability recorded in sediments from Maddox Lake, northern California Coast Range" (Quaternary Research, 2023), "Younger Dryas to early Holocene (12.9–8.1 ka) limnological and hydrological change at Barley Lake, California" (Quaternary Research, 2021), and "Evidence for insolation and Pacific forcing of late glacial through Holocene climate in the central Mojave Desert, Silver Lake, CA" (Quaternary Research, 2015). Carlin received recognition for outstanding faculty teaching efforts in 2019 and contributes to university governance through service on the Academic Senate (term ending 2027) and Graduate Education Committee. He has presented public lectures, including "Behind the Scenes at the National Science Foundation" during CSUF Research Week.