Rate My Professor David Sunderlin

David Sunderlin serves as the John H. Markle Professor of Geology and Department Head of Geology and Environmental Geosciences at Lafayette College. He earned a Ph.D. in Geology/Paleontology from the University of Chicago from 1999 to 2005 and a B.S. in Geology and Biology from Colgate University from 1995 to 1999. Joining Lafayette College in July 2006, he advanced through the ranks to full professor and was appointed to the endowed John H. Markle Chair, reflecting his contributions to teaching and research. Additionally, he was appointed NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative in 2023.

Sunderlin's academic interests focus on paleontology and paleoecology, stratigraphy and basin analysis, terrestrial ecosystem evolution, islands and biotic effects of isolation, paleoenvironments, and the geology of Alaska. Identifying as a natural historian, he integrates paleoecology, geology, and paleoclimatology in his work, examining fossil records from Alaska, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, as well as modern microplastics from North American beaches. His key publications include "Census collection of two fossil plant localities in Jameson Land, East Greenland supports regional ecological turnover and diversity loss at the end-Triassic mass extinction" (2025), "Stitch in the ditch: Nutzotin Mountains (Alaska) fluvial strata and a dike record ca. 117–114 Ma accretion of Wrangellia with western North America and initiation of the Totschunda fault" (2019), "Biological Inclusions in Amber from the Paleogene Chickaloon Formation of Alaska" (2018), "Sedimentology, facies architecture and chemostratigraphy of a continental high-latitude Paleocene–Eocene succession—The Chickaloon Formation, Alaska" (2011), and "Paleoclimatic and paleoecological implications of a Paleocene-Eocene fossil leaf assemblage, Chickaloon Formation, Alaska" (2011). Among his honors are the James P. Crawford Award (2013), Student Government Superior Teaching Award, CITLS Distinguished Teaching Fellow (2020-21), and Fellow of the Geological Society of America (2025). He leads student field expeditions to sites including Alaska's Tongass National Forest, Ecuador, and the Galapagos Islands, delivers public geological tours, and presented the Last Lecture in 2025.