Hans-Peter Plag

Dr Hans-Peter Plag is a known expert on societal and environmental sustainability, climate change, sea level rise, Earth system dynamics, solid Earth geophysics and geodesy. He started as carpenter, then studied mathematics and geophysics, and obtained his PhD in Natural Sciences in 1988 from the Free University of Berlin. He joined ODU in June 2013 as Co-Director of the Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Initiative and Professor of Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. He is the founding Director of the Mitigation and Adaptation Research Institute (MARI) at ODU. His educational efforts focus on sustainability leadership, and he has been leading the development of an undergraduate and graduate program utilizing case studies in sustainability to create a real-world learning experience for students. He provides scientific advice on global and climate change and sea level rise and engages in assessments of global catastropic and Anthropocene risks, including those related to plastics, land use, extinction, and modern climate change and sea level rise. He contributes to the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), and he is representing IEEE as a Participatory Organization in GEO.  His particular focus is on Earth observations in support of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.