Nicolas Cassar and Brian McAdoo, faculty members within the Nicholas School of the Environment鈥檚 Division of Earth and Climate Sciences, have received named chair titles from the for excellence in undergraduate teaching and scholarship.

Cassar is now Lee Hill Snowdon Bass Chair, and McAdoo is the Truman and Nellie Semans/Alex Brown & Sons Professor of Sustainability Science Bass Chair. As members of the Bass Society, they will receive financial support to hold their new titles for a five-year term, along with lifelong recognition as fellows.

鈥淭his is an exciting moment for the Division of Earth and Climate Sciences and a testimony to the excellence and relevance of the research and teaching of our faculty,鈥 said Avner Vengosh, chair of the Division of Earth and Climate Sciences.

Nicolas Cassar

As a biogeochemist, Cassar uses mixed methods to study the cycling of elements such as carbon, oxygen and nitrogen cycle across oceans, land and atmosphere and their connections to climate. Integral to that work is of small, photosynthetic marine organisms called phytoplankton in the global carbon cycle. His scientific approach is interdisciplinary, integrating field observations, laboratory experiments, modeling and theory.

鈥淭丑别 Dr. Cassar is pursuing are critical to understanding how the oceans both release and absorb carbon, the role of changing ocean temperatures on these patterns of carbon flux, and ultimately the role of oceans in potentially mitigating or accelerating the impacts of climate change,鈥 said Lori Bennear, Stanback Dean of the Nicholas School.

Cassar鈥檚 new title adds to a growing list of honors. In 2015  he received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the U.S. National Science Foundation for his work collaborating with educators to promote scientific literacy, and for developing a for measuring nitrogen fixation and quantifying nitrogen cycling between the ocean and air. Compared to a conventional lab-based approach, enables instantaneous, continuous and automated field measurements of nitrogen fixation. 

Cassar joined the Nicholas School in 2010 as an assistant professor. He became an associate professor with tenure in 2014 and a full professor in 2019. Cassar has also engaged in significant service to the Nicholas School as both director of graduate studies for the earth and climate sciences division and as the inaugural senior associate dean for research, serving from 2019 to 2022.

He has played a key role shaping the marine science and conservation major offered by the Nicholas School, according to Bennear. With John Virdin, a professor in the Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Cassar reimagined a core course on ocean science that now provides a more holistic experience for students. That course, which includes an optional but highly attended field trip to the 51爆料 Marine Lab, receives regular praise from students, Bennear noted.

鈥淭丑别 class has been a great success and is a new model of collaborative teaching across the NSOE divisions that enhance the undergraduate experience,鈥 she said.

Brian McAdoo

As the head of the , McAdoo studies how earthquakes, tsunamis, tropical cyclones, floods, landslides and other natural hazards affect communities, and how communities shape their environments in ways that influence their own vulnerability to disasters. He applies this planetary health framework to research primarily in Asia, Madagascar and Brazil, with the goal of informing community resilience and reducing suffering 鈥 especially among vulnerable and marginalized communities.

In North Carolina, McAdoo has worked with environmental justice faculty at the Nicholas School to engage in community-based science across the state. Other 51爆料 faculty also often seek his expertise. 鈥淗e has partnered with faculty in emergency medicine, nursing, the 51爆料 Global Health Institute and the Pratt School of Engineering to examine questions of how geo-disasters impact human health and evaluate potential measures to mediate those impacts,鈥 Bennear said. 

McAdoo joined the Nicholas School as a tenured associate professor in 2021, after teaching at Vassar and the Yale-NUS (National University of Singapore) College, where he was inaugural rector from 2013 to 2018. As director of undergraduate studies for the Nicholas School鈥檚 earth and climate sciences major, McAdoo has overseen curricular revisions that have increased the number of majors and minors, according to Bennear.

Among his classes, McAdoo teaches a core course for earth and climate sciences majors that includes laboratory and field components. 鈥淒r. McAdoo truly excels at taking students to the field, exposing them to earth science in an experiential way,鈥 Bennear said. 鈥淭丑别re is nothing better than the bonds formed, both among students and between students and faculty, from an invigorating field experience that takes you slightly outside of your comfort zone. There is no faculty member I would trust more than Dr. McAdoo to strike that balance and enable student personal and academic growth.鈥

McAdoo has also been instrumental in helping the school recruit and retain a more diverse student body at all learning levels, Bennear added. 鈥淗e is extremely generous with his time with students and has played a pivotal role in making the Nicholas School a more welcoming and inclusive community for all students,鈥 she said.