Rate My Professor Mark Baskaran

Dr. Mark Baskaran is a tenured full professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Geology at Wayne State University, specializing in Geoscience, where he served as department chair from 2018 to 2024. He earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the Physical Research Laboratory, a premier institution in India, followed by two years as a postdoctoral fellow there. Subsequently, he conducted research at the Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and spent 11 years at Texas A&M University at Galveston, teaching introductory physics and geology courses while investigating atmospheric fluxes of radionuclides, radionuclide mobility in groundwater, scavenging and particle cycling in marine environments, and dating of recent sediments and carbonates. Joining Wayne State University as a senior lecturer in 1999, he became associate professor in June 2000 and tenured full professor in 2007. Baskaran teaches introductory courses in oceanography, meteorology, and physical geology, as well as upper-level courses including Environmental Fate and Transport of Pollutants, Isotopes: Applications in Geological and Environmental Sciences, and Environmental Geochemistry.

Professor Baskaran's research focuses on the applications of short-lived radionuclides as tracers and chronometers in Earth subsystems, encompassing geochronology of sediments and carbonates, particle cycling, export, and remineralization in marine environments, Arctic sea ice and ice-rafted sediments, and submarine groundwater discharge using radium and radon isotopes. He has authored over 165 peer-reviewed articles, garnering more than 10,594 citations with an h-index of 61. Notable publications include the edited two-volume Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry (Springer, 2011) and the monograph Radon: A Tracer for Geological, Geophysical and Geochemical Studies (Springer, 2016). His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Department of Energy, including participation in U.S. GEOTRACES cruises as chief scientist on six expeditions in the Gulf of Mexico and Arctic Ocean. Awards and honors include Senior Fulbright Scholar at Ege University, Turkey (2015), election to Wayne State University's Academy of Scholars (2021, lifetime), Distinguished Graduate Faculty award (2023), and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2024). He has delivered over 60 invited and plenary talks worldwide, served as associate editor for Journal of Environmental Radioactivity and Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, chaired the American Geophysical Union's Devendra Lal Memorial Medal Selection Committee (2017-2021), and currently serves on AGU's Honors and Recognition Committee.