Research with University Students
Undergraduate and graduate students are co-authors, not assistants, in my research group. Since 2015, students at Hofstra University (and previously the University of Brighton and University of Florida) have co-authored more than a hundred conference papers, posters, and peer-reviewed journal articles on floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, climate, groundwater, and AI.
How students join the group
- Independent Research Study (GEOL-151): every semester, students run 1–3 credit individual projects. Recent topics include a live R–GIS earthquake monitoring system for New York, sandstorm detection with GIS, hurricane periodicity forecasting, sunspot–temperature analysis, LiDAR erosion mapping of Long Island, and AI for K-12 Earth science education.
- New for Fall 2026: Intro to R for Geoscience and Sustainability (Earth Data Analytics): a 2-credit course that starts from zero coding experience and works with real climate, groundwater, air quality, and map data. No exams: weekly hands-on work and a short final mini-project. Seats are still open for Fall 2026. In this first year it registers as an independent study listing: undergraduates enroll in Independent Special Projects 152-01, graduate students in Graduate Independent Study in Sustainability 251-02.
- Honors options (INHO) and theses: individually negotiated honors research, B.S./M.S. theses, and Ph.D. co-supervision.
- NSF GEOTeams (2021–2023): the NSF-funded GEOTeams: Summer Research Pathways to Geoscience program (co-PI, award #1911514) built multilevel research teams pairing Hofstra undergraduates with a high school researcher each year, and took students on funded fieldwork to the active volcanoes of Greece: Nisyros, Santorini, and Korinthos.
- Conference pipeline: the group presents every year at the Conference on the Geology of Long Island and Metropolitan New York, Hofstra’s Undergraduate and Graduate Research Days, the Mohawk Watershed Symposium, GSA and AGU meetings, and the NJBDA Big Data Symposium.
The new R course in half a minute
Thirty seconds on why the course exists: the question seniors ask every year, and the map a few lines of R can draw with free software you keep after you graduate. No coding experience needed, and all course materials are provided free.
To register, use the listings above, or write to antonios.marsellos@hofstra.edu and I will help you enroll.
See what students found with it: Student Research, Made in R and Python, short clips of published student projects re-run in R.
How to get started
Write to me at antonios.marsellos@hofstra.edu before registration, with a topic idea or with none at all (we can shape one together), then enroll in GEOL-151 or the matching independent study listing in your major. Students majoring in Sustainability are welcome in every research area.
Supervised theses & dissertations
Ph.D. (co-supervisor)
- Liam Hardy (Univ. of Brighton): Rare earth element behaviour in surface environments (funded £60,000/3 yrs)
- Khawla Mahmood (Univ. of Brighton): Enhancing river flood prediction using multivariate time series methods
- Eva Tita (National Technical Univ. of Athens): GPS noise reduction and time series analysis of ground deformation in Greece
M.S. (chair or co-supervisor)
- Nikolas Braunwart (2022, Univ. of Bolton): A sustainable volcanic thermometer for monitoring active volcanoes
- Carolina A. Urrea (2020, Hofstra): Spatial examination of urban green space in Hempstead, NY
- Keshanti Nandlall (2018, Hofstra): Environmental policy and mangrove evolution in Tampa Bay, FL
- Morgan Jones (2018, Hofstra): Sustainability of residential life and monitoring sensors on the Hellenic Volcanic Arc
- Antonis Kavalieros (2016, Univ. of Athens): Data mining and online warning system for flooding prediction
B.S. (selected)
- J.A. Foster (2012, Univ. of Florida): LiDAR flood-trigger prediction, top-ten undergraduate research across the university
- Eight thesis students at the University of Brighton (2014–15), from forecasting SOI with neural networks to geochemical mapping of the Troodos ophiolite