Rate My Professor Robert Hamersley

M. Robert Hamersley serves as Dean of Faculty and Professor of Environmental Biogeochemistry at Soka University of America. He joined the university in 2007 as Assistant Professor of Environmental Microbiology, advancing to Associate Professor in 2014 and full Professor in 2021. His administrative roles at SUA include Assistant Dean of Faculty from 2020 to 2022, Interim Dean of Faculty from 2022 to 2023, and Director of Laboratories from 2015 to 2022. Prior to SUA, he held positions as Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Southern California Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies from 2005 to 2007, Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Germany from 2004 to 2005, Visiting Lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2003, and Research Associate at the University of Massachusetts School for Marine Science and Technology from 2002 to 2004.

Hamersley earned a PhD in Biological Oceanography from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a Master of Environmental Design in Environmental Science from the University of Calgary, and a BSc (Honours) in Biology from the University of Victoria. His research focuses on aquatic biogeochemistry and environmental microbiology, including denitrification, links between the carbon and nitrogen cycles, and methanogenesis. He has authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, such as “Heterogeneity of nitrogen fixation in the mesopelagic zone of the South China Sea” (2024), “Global oceanic diazotroph database version 2 and elevated estimate of global oceanic N2 fixation” (2023), “Nitrogen fixation associated with the decomposition of the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera” (2015), and earlier works on anammox, denitrification in oxygen minimum zones, and salt marsh nitrogen cycling dating back to 2001. His teaching includes courses on climate change, sustainable agriculture, water resources, and modes of inquiry, often incorporating field trips, team-based problem solving, and student research opportunities in his laboratory.