Susan Allen-Gil

Susan Allen-Gil

Professor, Environmental Studies and Science
Faculty, Latin American Studies

Specialty:Environmental Toxicology
Phone:(607) 274-1066
E-mail:sallen@ithaca.edu
Office:253 Ctr for Natural Sciences
Ithaca, NY 14850

Education

  • Ph.D., Oregon State University (1995)
  • M.E.M., Duke University (1989)
  • B.Sc., St. Lawrence University (1984)

Research

My primary area of research is environmental toxicology, which is the study of how pollutants affect ecological systems.  Although my Ph.D. research focused mainly on long-range transport of air pollutants into remote areas, I now do primarily laboratory-based research on pollutants.  Recently, my students and I have investigated: 

  •  the effect of atrazine, a common herbicide,  on the morphology of sperm in the fathead minnow (accepted, NCUR Proceedings 2011)
  •  the environmental and health impacts of hyrdraulic fracking (accepted, NCUR Proceedings 2011)
  •  the efficacy of herbal dewormers in controlling parasites in equine species
  •  compiled species accounts for the Neotropical Birds website

Teaching

I teach a variety of environmentally-related courses.  My favorite courses to teach are ones that have an international component.  I love teaching ENVS 204: Special Topics: Belize's Rainforests, Reefs and Ruins in the fall semester with a two-week trip in January.  You can read about the course from a student's perspective in FUSE.  I am hoping to offer ENVS 380:Sustainability in the Amazon Basin that will include a trip into the pristine Amazon basin of Ecuador.  I also love teaching upper level electives as ENVS 340: Topics in Pollution, in which we either examine the human health effects of pollutants or the effects of pollutants on ecological systems.  I often focus these courses on recent events, such as the Gulf Oil Spill in 2010.  Lastly, I often teach the environmental seminar (ENVS 101/ENVS 401) and the Capstone course for seniors (ENVS 451): both of which I greatly enjoy,

Service

I am very involved in promoting sustainability in education, at Ithaca College and beyond.  We published an article in Sustainability: The Journal of Record on Sustainability as an Academic Discipline.  I also led a NATO-sponsored workshop and co-edited a book on Addressing Global Environmental Security Through Innovative Educational Curricula.