Mažeika Sullivan

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Overview

Dr. Mažeika Patricio Sullivan is Professor in the School of Environment and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University (OSU) and the Director of the Ramsar-designated Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park. His research addresses the ecology, conservation, and policy of watershed, wetland, and coastal ecosystems. His research group – the Stream and River Ecology (STRIVE) Lab – is broadly interested in two questions: 

1. How do both natural environmental variability and human activities shape biodiversity, community and food-web organization, and ecosystem condition and function in linked aquatic-riparian ecosystems? 

2. How can we apply findings from Q1 to management, conservation, restoration, and policy of aquatic ecosystems and water quality? 

To date, Dr. Sullivan has published 64 peer-reviewed articles, four book chapters, and offered ~200 scholarly presentations and talks. He has been awarded ~$8 million in research funding from several sources including the US Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Fish & Wildlife Service, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Land Management, Ohio Division of Natural Resources, Ohio Corn and Small Grains Marketing Programs, and the Ohio Water Development Program. In addition to work in Ohio, Dr. Sullivan conducts research in multiple geographic regions of the U.S. and internationally in Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, and South America. Research in the STRIVE lab is consistently linked to outreach activities related to aquatic ecosystems and water quality. 

Dr. Sullivan’s service activities include participation as a member of the EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board’s “Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters” Panel (2013-2014), acting as a technical expert for the Ohio EPA’s Coldwater Streams Designation, and reviewing for >35 ecological and environmental journals. Dr. Sullivan has also participated in Congressional Briefings to Members of Congress on “waters of the US” (WOTUS), and has offered two national seminars on the topic. He is a Distinguished University teacher, was awarded the CFAES Distinguished Junior Faculty Research Award in 2020, and served as a Fulbright Distinguished Chair of Biodiversity and Sustainable Development (Colombia, 2014-2015). 

Dr. Sullivan is also actively engaged in promoting and supporting equity, inclusion, and diversity in ecology and natural resources through teaching, research, and service activities. At the national level, Dr. Sullivan leads the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Task Force for the Society for Freshwater Science, and is working with the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe of northern Idaho on issues relative to Native American water rights. Dr. Sullivan also serves as the Chief Diversity Officer for SENR.