Laguna Beach resident Richard J. Behl, a professor of geological sciences at California State University, Long Beach, has become the second CSULB faculty member to be named a Fellow of the Geological Society of America (GSA), joining Professor Stanley C. Finney, a 2011 Fellow. Behl will be recognized at the GSA’s annual meeting in November in Charlotte, N.C.
Members are nominated by existing GSA Fellows in recognition of distinguished contributions to the geosciences.
Behl earned a B.A. in chemistry with a specialization in earth sciences at UC San Diego, a Ph.D. in earth sciences from UC Santa Cruz and did postdoctoral studies at UC Santa Barbara. He was a wellsite geologist for several firms in the geothermal and petroleum industries before starting his post-graduate education and embarking on his academic career at CSULB in 1995.
His specialties are marine sedimentology, stratigraphy and paleoceanography, including the role of methane in climate change and the geologic history of the California margin as well as its relationship to petroleum formations.
Additionally, Behl is active in Orange County community science activities. Each year, he helps train docents for the Orange County park system, and he and his students have developed original geologic displays and trail guides for the Nix Nature Center at the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.
