Rate My Professor Trevis Matheus

Trevis Matheus serves as Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Geography and the Environment at California State University, Fullerton. He earned his PhD in Geography from Indiana University Bloomington, completing his doctorate in 2016. Since joining CSUF in 2017, he has advanced to associate professor and assumed the role of department chair. Matheus directs the Cal-Dendro tree-ring laboratory, a fully equipped facility dedicated to dendrochronology and paleoclimate research. His work employs tree rings and other proxies to contextualize modern climate patterns, focusing on hydroclimate dynamics such as eastern Sierra Nevada Mountain snowpack, millennial-scale North American Monsoon examinations, species-specific climate responses, and development of new species and methodologies in dendroclimatology, including Pinus edulis and Pinus lambertiana.

Matheus's research output includes peer-reviewed publications in leading journals. Notable works are 'Dendroclimatic reconstructions from multiple co-occurring species: a case study from an old-growth deciduous forest in Indiana, USA' (International Journal of Climatology, 2015), 'Late summer temperature variability for the Southern Rocky Mountains (USA) since 1735 CE: applying blue light intensity to low-latitude Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelm' (Climatic Change, 2020), 'Sampling density and date along with species selection influence spatial representation of tree-ring reconstructions' (Climate of the Past, 2020), 'A dendrochronological evaluation of three historic pioneer cabins at Spring Mill Village, Indiana' (Dendrochronologia, 2017), 'Placing modern droughts in historical context in the Ohio Valley using tree-rings' (Physical Geography, 2018), and 'A method for measuring sub-annual ring widths of Pinus edulis for seasonal climate reconstructions' (Tree-Ring Research, 2017). His dissertation, 'A 332-year reconstruction of Midwest droughts from tree-rings' (Indiana University, 2014), exemplifies his early contributions. These studies have garnered over 100 citations and inform understandings of historical droughts, temperature variability, and wildfire recovery, as seen in Yosemite research. Matheus teaches courses including Meteorology, mentors students on field studies like Mountain Field Geography, and provides expertise through university news on tree rings, heat waves, and climate.