The catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis in Sumatra, 2004; Haiti, 2010; Chile 2010 and Japan 2011 heightened public awareness to these natural hazards and of their consequence for the heavily populated coastal regions of the world. Large earthquakes and tsunamis associated to tectonic plate boundaries cause devastating loss of life and property. Recent research applies new methodologies to document pre-instrumental earthquake ruptures along fault segments of tectonics boundaries. We use high-resolution geophysical instruments (sidescan sonar, multibeam bathymetry, subbottom profiles) and sediment sampling (piston and gravity cores, multicores, dredges) to study the seafloor and subbottom layers. Students Jessica Dutton, George Lozefski and Adina Hakimian have been studying the North Anatolia Fault in the Marmara Sea Turkey, El Pilar Fault in Cariaco Basin, Venezuela, and the floor of the Ionan Basin in the Mediterranean associated to the Calabrian Ridge plate boundary. 
     Other research projects investigate a paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic signal from sediments recovered in marginal basins such as the Marmara Sea and Black Sea, Turkey. The reconnections of these marginal basins to the world's ocean after the Last Glacial Maximum can track global sea-level rise due to the dramatic sedimentation changes and complete replacement in the fauna and flora that occurs as these basins change from lacustrine to marine settings. Damayanti Gurung a Ph.D. student is involved in this project.
     Closer to home we are studying Sandy Hook Bay and Long Island Sound, highly urbanized estuaries that have been severely impacted by anthropogenic activities. Students Elana Klein, Alexandrea Bowman, Andrea Balbas and Theanet Charles are measuring heavy metals, organic matter concentrations, and interpreting the abundances in terms of coastal and estuarine processes that erode, transport, and deposit sediments.
     Long Island Sound was covered by ice ~20,000 ago and has recorded in its sediments the transition from glacial deposits to a fresh water lake, marine transgression, estuarine sedimentation and anthropogenic impact. Vadim Acosta and Jeniffer Rios are studying the glacial to interglacial climatic transition from the biostratigraphic record of sediment cores and geophysical images.
Long term research (3 Ocean Drilling Program Legs, Alvin Dives, and oceanographic cruises) to the Canterbury Basin offshore New Zealand and New Jersey Continental passive margin have permitted to study the consequences of global sea level change and paleoclimate on sedimentation. These studies have provided insights into the future consequences of climate change. Students Robert Applebaum Corinne Hartin and Helene Gould.
     Recent research is focusing on Bangladesh. A country where seismic risk is high, fluvial processes mighty, and where ~160 million people inhabit at or near coastal zones. An international, multinstitutional program is being implemented to study tectonics, seismic risk and fluvial processes of the mighty Ganges-Brahmaputra fluvial system. Opportunities to become involved in this program are open to both graduate and undergraduate students. Please contact C. McHugh for this purpose.

Teaching students at Queens College and The City University of New York is a great experience due to the diverse student population. Having immigrated to New York City from Buenos Aires, Argentina after high school and without speaking the language, the most important message I give my students is, "set a goal, something that you truly like, and go for it!" It can be done!