Faculty Advisors

During their first semester at Tufts, students are assigned an academic advisor who will be their advisor until they declare their major (before the end of their sophomore year). Students majoring in Environmental Studies must select an advisor from the list below and list that advisor on their major declaration form. Faculty on this list may be on leave or be at advising capacity, therefore, students must email to inquire first before listing them. If you need help finding an advisor or deciding who might align best with your interests, contact Dr. Sara Gomez at sara.gomez@tufts.edu. Visit our ENVS Step-by-Step guide for more information on becoming an ENVS major. 

List of Faculty Advisors

Alexander Blanchette, Anthropology
Expertise: Industrial agriculture, Ecology, Ethnography of labor, Food systems

Preferred tracks to advise in: II, IV

Accepting New Advisees: YES

Office Hours Fall 2025: Tuesdays 12:00-1:30pm, Eaton Hall, Room 133

Silvia Bottinelli, (On leave Fall 2025) Visual and Critical Studies

Expertise: History and theory of environmental art, Eco-art, Food-based art, Art and environmental activism, Social practice and public art

Preferred tracks to advise in: II, III, IV, V

Accepting New Advisees: Contact professor

Office Hours Fall 2025: Contact professor

Ujjayant Chakravorty, Economics 

Expertise: Resource and environmental economics, Energy and development, Food systems

Preferred tracks to advise in: II, IV

Accepting New Advisees: Contact professor

Office Hours Fall 2025: Contact professor

Tatiana Chudakova, Anthropology 
Expertise: Medical anthropology, science and technology, environment, ethnicity and indigeneity, nationalism, post-socialism

Preferred tracks to advise in: II
Accepting New Advisees: Contact professor

Office Hours Fall 2025: Contact professor

Jennifer Coates, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy

Expertise: Food systems

Preferred tracks to advise in: IV

Accepting New Advisees: YES

Office Hours Fall 2025: Thursdays 12-1pm, Bromfield-Pearson, Room 204, or via Zoom: https://tufts.zoom.us/j/3510974314?omn=92881208100 Meeting ID: 351 097 4314

Benjamin Davies, Environmental Studies 

Expertise: Environmental anthropology, environmental data, paleoecology, forager and pastoralist land use, climate adaptation, serious games

Preferred tracks to advise in: I, II, III, IV

Accepting New Advisees: NO

Office Hours Fall 2025: Wednesday 2-3pm, Bromfield-Pearson, Room 203

Julie Dobrow, Child Study and Human Development and Interdisciplinary Studies
Expertise: Media literacy, Children and media, Ethnicity/gender and media, Adolescents and media use

Preferred tracks to advise in: III

Accepting New Advisees: NO

Office Hours Fall 2025: Wednesdays 9-11:30am, Eliot-Pearson, Room 159

John Durant, Civil and Environmental Engineering 

Expertise: Air and water pollution

Preferred tracks to advise inI

Accepting New Advisees: Contact professor

Office Hours Fall 2025: Contact professor

Kyle Emerick, Economics 

Expertise: Agricultural and Resource Economics, Technology adoption by farmers, Economics of agricultural development, Development Economics, Applied Econometrics

Preferred tracks to advise in: IV

Accepting New Advisees: YES

Office Hours Fall 2025: Fridays 10-11:30am, Joyce Cummings Center, Room 620F

Patrick Forber, Philosophy 
Expertise: Ecology, Evolutionary biology, Philosophy of biology, Philosophy of science

Preferred tracks to advise in: II
Accepting New Advisees: YES

Office Hours Fall 2025: Tuesdays 3-5pm, Miner, Room 111B. 

Sara Gomez, Environmental Studies 
Expertise: Plant ecology, Plant-insect interactions, Invasive Species, Sustainable Agriculture

Preferred tracks to advise in: All tracks
Accepting New Advisees: YES

Office Hours Fall 2025: Thursdays 3-4pm, Bromfield-Pearson, Room 202 or virtual: https://tufts.zoom.us/my/saragomez

David Gute, Civil and Environmental Engineering 
Expertise: Environmental health, Environmental and social Justice

Preferred tracks to advise inI
Accepting New Advisees: Contact professor

Office Hours Fall 2025: Contact professor

Andrew Kemp, Earth and Ocean Sciences 
Expertise: Sea-level research, Wetlands, Coastal management, Climate change

Preferred tracks to advise inI
Accepting New Advisees: Contact professor

Office Hours Fall 2025: Contact professor

Hassaan Khan, (On leave Fall 2025) Environmental Studies and Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning
Expertise: Water-energy-food nexus, Urban water systems, Transboundary water conflicts, Hydroeconomics

Preferred tracks to advise inI, II, IV
Accepting New Advisees: Contact professor

Office Hours Fall 2025: Contact professor

Karen Kosinski, Environmental Studies and Community Health 
Expertise: Environmental health, Environmental justice, One Health, Global health, Water resources, Sanitation, Infectious diseases

Preferred tracks to advise in: I, II, IV

Accepting New Advisees: YES

Office Hours Fall 2025: Mondays 12:30-2pm on Zoom. Email karen.kosinski@tufts.edu for a link

Nimah Mazaheri, Political Science
Expertise: Comparative political economy, Developing countries, Oil and mining sectors, Government-business relations

Preferred tracks to advise in: II
Accepting New Advisees: Contact professor

Office Hours Fall 2025: Contact professor

Colin M. Orians, Biology & Environmental Studies

Expertise: Plant Biology, Tropical Ecology, Food systems, Conservation

Preferred tracks to advise in: All tracks

Accepting New Advisees: YES

Office Hours Fall 2025: Thursdays 2:00-3:30pm, Robinson, Room 364

Alisha Rankin, History 
Expertise: Early modern Europe, History of science and medicine, Women's history, History of the body and sexuality

Preferred tracks to advise in: II, III
Accepting New Advisees: NO

Office Hours Fall 2025: Wednesdays 3-5pm, East Hall, Room 101

J. Michael Reed, Biology 
Expertise: Conservation, Habitat Loss, Animal Behavior, Biodiversity

Preferred tracks to advise in: I

Accepting New Advisees: YES

Office Hours Fall 2025: Mondays 3-4:30pm, Robinson, Room 360 (go through 359 to find it)

James Rice (on leave until Spring 2026) History 
Expertise: Early America, Native American history, Environmental History

Preferred tracks to advise in: V
Accepting New Advisees: NO

Office Hours: On sabbatical for the 2025-2026 academic year

Modhumita Roy, English 
Expertise: Environmental humanities, Anglophone literatures of Africa and the Africa diaspora, South Asian literature, Feminist theory, Literary theory

Preferred tracks to advise in: III, V
Accepting New Advisees: Contact professor

Office Hours Fall 2025: Contact professor

George Scarlett, Child Studies and Human Development
Expertise: Child-Nature Connection, Ecological literacy Development

Preferred tracks to advise in: II, III
Accepting New Advisees: NO

Office Hours Fall 2025: Via Zoom--email george.scarlett@tufts.edu for appointment

Caleb Scoville, Sociology
Expertise: Environmental sociology, Science and technology studies, Political sociology, Economic sociology, Social and political theory

Preferred tracks to advise in: II
Accepting New Advisees: YES

Office Hours Fall 2025: Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:15-10:15am, Eaton Hall, Room 311. Sign up at https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/rmfmh or by appointment Caleb.Scoville@tufts.edu

Ninian Stein, Environmental Studies

Expertise: Environmental Policy, Environmental Justice, Environmental Communication, Landscape Change, Archaeology, Environmental Anthropology

Preferred tracks to advise in: II, III, IV, V

Accepting New Advisees: NO

Office Hours Fall 2025: Mondays 2:45-4pm, Tisch, Room 316; Wednesdays 11:45-12:30pm, Tisch, Room 304 and by appointment

Markus Wilczek, German 
Expertise: Literature and the Environment, Discourses of Sustainability; Literary and Cultural Theory, Theories of Reading; Intersections of Literature, Science, and Philosophy; Media Studies

Preferred tracks to advise in: III, V
Accepting New Advisees: Contact professor

Office Hours Fall 2025: Contact professor

Benjamin Wolfe, Biology
Expertise: Food microbiology, Evolution, Metagenomics, Comparative genomics/transcriptomics, Genome engineering, In situ community reconstructions

Preferred tracks to advise in: IV
Accepting New Advisees: Contact professor

Office Hours Fall 2025: Contact professor

 

Learn more about the different thematic tracks here.