Rachel Carson College Faculty Fellows

Sikina Jinnah

Sikina Jinnah is Rachel Carson College's new faculty chair!

The Chair of the Faculty is an Academic Senate member, other than the Provost, who is elected by the college Faculty to serve a two year term, and will serve as a member of the Executive Committee.

Dr. Jinnah is an Associate Professor in the Politics Department, an affiliated faculty member in the Environmental Studies Department, and a 2017 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Her research focuses on the shifting locations of power and influence in global environmental governance, and in particular the role of transnational actors in environmental decision-making. Her most recent projects examine how key norms in global climate politics shape power relations, the role of U.S. preferential trade agreements in shaping environmental policy in trading partner nations, and the politics of climate engineering governance. 

Erik Asphaug
  • Title
    • Professor Emeritus
  • Division Physical & Biological Sciences Division
  • Department
    • Earth & Planetary Sciences Department
  • Affiliations Astronomy & Astrophysics Department
  • Phone
    831-459-2260
  • Email
  • Fax
    831-459-3074
  • Website
  • Office Location
    • Remote work location, N/A
  • Mail Stop Earth and Planetary Sciences

Summary of Expertise

Planetary collisions and origins
Comet and asteroid geophysics
Surface processes
The Moon
Near-Earth objects
Solar system exploration

Research Interests

Asteroid and comet geophysics, Mars surface evolution, planetary collisions of all kinds, and the origin of planets, satellites, meteorites and their parent bodies. I am also interested in spacecraft exploration of comets and asteroids, and zero gravity experiments to understand the rheology and petrology of small bodies and accreting planetesimals.

Biography, Education and Training

2006-: UCSC Earth and Planetary Sciences, Professor
2002-2006: UCSC Earth Sciences, Associate Professor
2000-2002: UCSC Earth Sciences, Assistant Professor
1998-2000: UCSC Earth Sciences, Assoc. Geophysicist
1996-1998: SETI Institute, Principal Investigator
1993-1995: NASA Ames NRC Postdoctoral Fellow
1988-1993: U. Arizona, Tucson, Graduate Researcher
1985-1988: St. Gregory HS, Science and English Faculty
PhD: 1993: U. Arizona: Planetary Sciences, Geophysics
BS: 1984: Rice University: Mathematics and English

Honors, Awards and Grants

Asteroid 7939 Asphaug
Harold C. Urey prize of the AAS

Teaching Interests

Planetary Surfaces
Planetary Discovery
Formation of the Solar System
Planetary Collisions