Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach
Professor — Ph.D., University of Minnesota-Minneapolis
Professor--Raymond Dickson Centennial Professor #1; Founding Director, Water Quality & Environ. Hydro. Lab; Past President, American Association of Geographers

Contact
- E-mail: slbeach@austin.utexas.edu
- Phone: 512-232-1583
- Office: RLP 3.702
- Office Hours: By Appointment please email
- Campus Mail Code: A3100
Interests
Geoarchaeology; Hydrology and Water Quality; Geomorphology; Spatial Statistics; Gender, Science, and Human Rights; Mesoamerica; Mediterranean and Near East; Iceland.
Biography
Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach is Professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas-Austin, where she is Raymond Dickson Centennial Professor #1. She served as Department Chair from 2014-2018, as the only woman to ever lead the Department. Dr. Luzzadder-Beach is Associate Faculty of the Theresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies and was Fellow of the C.B. Smith Centennial Chair in U.S.-Mexico Relations from 2014-2019. She is also Affiliated Faculty of the Center for European Studies and the Bernard and Audrey Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice at UT. She was Professor of Geography and Associate Provost at George Mason University, where she was a faculty member for over 20 years prior to arriving at UT Austin. She is the Past President of the American Association of Geographers (President, 2018-19). Dr. Luzzadder-Beach was awarded, along with Dr. Tim Beach, the 2010 AAG G.K. Gilbert Outstanding Research Award in Geomorphology, and the 2020 Paper of the Year Award (AAG Ellen Mosley Thompson Award) in Paleoenvironmental Change, and in 2013 she was recognized with the GMU College of Science Outstanding Publication Award. In 2018 Drs. Luzzadder-Beach and Beach were both selected as CSU Chico's Distinguished Alumni for the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. Dr. Luzzadder-Beach was elected as a 2020 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science where she serves on the Council of the AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition, and as a 2022 Fellow of the American Association of Geographers. She specializes in physical geography, hydrology and geomorphology, water chemistry, geoarchaeology, geostatistics, and gender, science and human rights, with field research in Mesoamerica, California, the Mediterranean and Near East, and Iceland. Dr. Luzzadder-Beach’s research has been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Geographic Society, among other sources, publishing more than 80 peer reviewed scholarly works and edited journal volumes. Dr. Luzzadder-Beach is the Founding Director of the Water Quality and Environmental Hydrology Lab (Beach/Butzer Geoarchaeology Labs) in the Department of Geography and the Environment at UT Austin. She received both her M.A. and Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Minnesota- Minneapolis, and her Bachelor of Arts in Geography from California State University at Chico.
Courses
GRG 396T • Enviro Hydrology & Society
37385 • Fall 2022
Meets T 1:00PM-4:00PM RLP 3.102
GRG 356C • Geo-Archaeol And Envir History
36855 • Spring 2022
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM RLP 1.106
GRG 390L • Research In Geography
36954 • Spring 2022
Meets M 3:00PM-6:00PM RLP 3.102
GRG 382K • Geo-Archaeol And Envir History
37885 • Fall 2021
Meets TH 2:30PM-5:30PM RLP 3.102
GRG 401C • The Natural Environment-Wb
37265-37290 • Spring 2021
Meets MW 10:00AM-11:30AM
Internet; Synchronous
N1
GRG 410C • Spatial Data And Analysis-Wb
37385 • Spring 2021
Meets MW 2:30PM-4:00PM
Internet; Synchronous
GRG 396T • Enviro Hydrology & Society-Wb
36395 • Fall 2020
Meets T 2:00PM-5:00PM
Internet; Synchronous
GRG 410C • Spatial Data And Analysis
36965 • Spring 2019
Meets MW 2:30PM-4:00PM RLP 1.404
GRG 310C • Spatial Data And Analysis
36890 • Spring 2018
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM CLA 1.402
GRG 390K • Issues In Geography
37325 • Fall 2016
Meets T 4:00PM-7:00PM CLA 3.710
GRG 396T • Enviro Hydrology & Society
36585 • Fall 2015
Meets T 4:00PM-7:00PM CLA 3.106
GRG 390K • Issues In Geography
37695 • Fall 2014
Meets TH 4:00PM-7:00PM CLA 3.710
Recent Research News
2022. “Geography Professor Selected as 2022 American Association of Geographers Fellow.” https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/news/geography-professor-selected-as-2022-american-association-of-geographers-fellow 1/25/22.
2021. “NASA Images Reveal Important Forests and Wetlands are Disappearing in Belize.” https://news.utexas.edu/2021/03/15/nasa-images-reveal-important-forests-and-wetlands-are-disappearing-in-belize/ 3/15/21.
2020. “2 UT Scholars Join Ranks with Nation’s Top Scientists.” https://news.utexas.edu/2020/12/03/2-ut-scholars-join-ranks-with-nations-top-scientists/ 12/30/20.
2020. Science. “2020 AAAS Fellows approved by the AAAS Council” Vol. 370, Issue 6520, pp. 1048-1052. DOI: 10.1126/science.370.6520.1048 . AAAS News and Notes. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6520/1048 11/27/20.
2020. Advanced Science News. “Low-carbon solar energy for water desalination.” Covering 4/7/20 WIREs Water Article. https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/low-carbon-solar-energy-could-power-water-desalination/ 4/24/20.
T. Beach, S. Luzzadder-Beach, S. Krause, T. Guderjan, F. Valdez, Jr., J. C. Fernandez-Diaz, S. Eshleman, C. Doyle. 2019. “Ancient Maya wetland fields revealed under tropical forest canopy from laser scanning and multiproxy evidence.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116(43):21469–21477. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1910553116. https://www.pnas.org/content/116/43/21469.short?rss=1
Press Sources covering 10/22/19 PNAS paper: https://pnas.altmetric.com/details/67880504