Biography

Dr. Philip Reeder's research and areas of expertise focus on environmental change, paleo-climate and landscape evolution; environmental education, sustainability and the human role in environmental change; and most recently paleo-environments, geoarchaeology and cultural landscape evolution.

During his career, Dr. Reeder has garnered grant funding from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Geographic Society, among others. His fieldwork and research have been conducted around the world, including sites at Jeju Island in South Korea, Mary's Well in Nazareth, the Cave of Letters in the Judean Desert, the Northern Vaca Plateau in Belize, and most recently (since 2015) Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Dr. Reeder came to Duquesne in 2013, and served as the Dean of the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences (now the School of Science and Engineering) until 2021.  He is currently a professor in the Center for Environmental Research and Education (CERE).  Prior to Duquesne, Dr. Reeder served as Director of the Environmental Science and Policy Program in the College of Arts and Sciences, at the University of South Florida. He has also taught at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Waikato in New Zealand and Valdosta State University. In 1994, Reeder served as a prestigious Fulbright Scholar in Peru, where he led workshops about the environment for Peruvian educators and conducted environmental contamination and geoarchaeological research.

Dr. Reeder's recent research has appeared in the Journals Geophysics, Human Remains and Violence, and Heritage and he was the editor for the book “Richard Freund’s Legacy of Ideas, Research and Teaching about the Holocaust” two which he also contributed two chapters. He earned his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, his master's degree in Geography from Western Kentucky University, and his bachelor's degree in Earth Science from Frostburg State University.

Education

  • Ph.D., Geography, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
  • M.S., Geography, Western Kentucky University
  • B.S., Earth Science, Frostburg State University (Maryland)

Research Interests

  • Water Resources
  • Hydrology
  • Karst Studies
  • Soils
  • Geomorphology
  • Environmental Science & Policy
  • Resource Management
  • Geoarchaeology
  • Environmental Contamination
  • Middle East (Israel)
  • Latin America (Belize)
  • Southeast Asia (Philippines)

Profile Information

Publications

  1. Philip Reeder (editor), 2023, Richard Freund’s Legacy of Ideas, Research, and Teaching about the Holocaust. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. UK. 421p.
  2. Philip Reeder, 2023, Preface, Acknowledgements and Introduction, Richard Freund’s Legacy of Ideas, Research and Teaching About the Holocaust, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK, pp. xxvii-xl.
  3. Philip Reeder, 2023, Research at Holocaust Sites – 2009-2021(Chapter 1), Richard Freund’s Legacy of Ideas, Research and Teaching About the Holocaust, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK, pp. 1-34.
  4. Philip Reeder, 2023, Mapping the Holocaust: Examples from Sobibor (Chapter 7), Richard Freund’s Legacy of Ideas, Research and Teaching About the Holocaust, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK, pp. 154-194.
  5. Reeder, Philip., Jol, H., Freund, R., McClymont, A., Bauman, P., and Šmigelskas, R., Investigations at the Heereskraftfahrpark (HKP) 562 Forced-Labor Camp in Vilnius, Lithuania. Heritage 2023, 6, 466–482. (Impact factor = 1.95 in 2023)
  6. Connor Jol, Harry M. Jol, Mikaela Martinez Dettinger, Kayla Singleton, Richard A. Freund, Philip Reeder, Colin Miazga, Paul Bauman, Patrick Wiley, Ilya Lensky, Karen Frostig, 2022, Subsurface Imaging of a Holocaust Mass Burial Site: Jungfernhof Concentration Camp, Riga, Latvia. Proceedings 19th International Conf. on Ground Penetrating Radar, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, June 12-17, 2022.
  7. Abigail Fischer, Harry M. Jol, Grace Uchyti, Noah Hall, Richard Freund, Paul Bauman, Alastair McClymont, Colin Miazga, Philip Reeder, Jacek Konik, Joe Beck, Connor Jol, Kayla Singleton, Mikaela Martinez Dettinger, Searching for The Ringleblum Archives: Documentation of Life During the Holocaust-A Ground Penetrating Radar Investigation of Krasinskich Park, Warsaw, Poland. Proceedings 19th International Conf. on Ground Penetrating Radar, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, June 12-17, 2022.
  8. Grace Uchytil, Harry M. Jol, Abigail Fischer, Noah Hall, Richard Freund, Paul Bauman, Alastair McClymont, Colin Miazga,  Philip Reeder, Jacek Konik, Joe Beck, Connor Jol, Kayla Singleton2, Mikayla Martinez Dettinger, Archaeological GPR investigation of the Bersohn and Bauman Jewish Children’s Hospital in Warsaw, Poland: Locating potential Holocaust artifacts. Proceedings of the19th International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, June 12-17, 2022.
  9. Noah Hall, Harry M. Jol, Abigail Fischer, Grace Uchytil, Richard Freund, Paul Bauman, Alastair McClymont, Colin Miazga, Philip Reeder, Jacek Konik, Joe Beck, Connor Jol, Kayla Singleton, Mikayla Martinez Dettinger, Holocaust Archaeology: GPR Subsurface Imaging of the Mila 18 Memorial in Warsaw, Poland. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, June 12-17, 2022.
  10. McClymont, A., Bauman, P., Bensimen, K., Freund, R., Jol, H., Reeder, P. and Seligman, J., 2021, Preserving Holocaust History: Geophysical Investigations at the Ponary Extermination Site. Geophysics. Vol. 87, No. 1, pp. 15-12. (Impact Factor = 2.79 in 2020)
  11. Seligman, J., Bauman, P., Freund, R., Jol, H., McClymont, A., and Reeder, P., 2020, Mapping Ponar (Paneriai): A Reassessment, Human Remains and Violence, Volume 6, No. 1 (2020), pp. 15–39. (No Impact Factor Available)
  12. Philip Reeder, Harry M. Jol, Paul Bauman, Maha Darawsha, Vanessa Workman, Shalom Yanklevitz, Richard Freund and Carl Savage.  2019, From Bethsaida to Yavne and Beyond.  A Festschrift in Honor of Rami Arav: “And They Came to Bethsaida…” Edited by Fred Strickert and Richard Freund.  Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK.  pp. 315-335.
  13. Dead Sea: New Discoveries in the Cave of Letters. 2018, Edited by Savage, C., Reeder, P., Jol, H. and Freund, R., Peter Lange Publishing, New York.  295p.
  14. Reeder, P., 2018, Mapping the Cave of Letters, Israel. Part of the Book, Dead Sea: New Discoveries in the Cave of Letters.Edited by Savage, C., Reeder, P., Jol, H. and Freund, R., Peter Lange Publishing, New York.  pp. 69-88.
  15. Reeder, P., 2018, Micro-Climatic Studies in the Cave of Letters, Israel. Part of the Book, Dead Sea: New Discoveries in the Cave of Letters. Edited by Savage, C., Reeder, P., Jol, H. and Freund, R., Peter Lange Publishing, New York.  pp. 119-139.

DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY, BAYER SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, Pittsburgh, PA.Dean - July 2013 to June 30, 2021, Professor – July 1, 2021 to Present.  As Dean: Chief academic and administrative officer for the Bayer School, which houses the Departments of Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry; programs in Environmental Science, Forensic Science and Law, and Biotechnology; and the Cyril Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law. The Bayer School has seven undergraduate degree programs, five Master’s Programs, and two doctoral programs.  As a Professor (now in the school of Science and Engineering):  Director of the newly created Center for Urban Resiliency and a faculty member in the Center for Environmental Research and Education teaching courses in water resources; earth system science; and the environment.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, AND PLANNING, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLICY PROGRAM, Tampa, Florida (August 2003 to June 2013), Tenured Senior-Level Associate Professor, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses including Introduction to Physical Geography, Process Geomorphology, Soils Geography, Hydrology, Water Resources, Research Methods, Doctoral Dissertation Preparation, and Caves and Karst. Chair of the Environmental Science and Policy Division (since August 2006); Director of the Environmental Policy and Management Graduate Certificate Program (since August 2006); Director of the Geography Master of Arts Program (from August 2004 to August 2007); Director of the Geography and Environmental Science and Policy Doctoral Program (From October 2004 to August 2007).

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-LA CROSSE, DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND EARTH SCIENCE, La Crosse, Wisconsin (August 2002 to May 2003), Associate Professor of Geography teaching the courses Introduction to Earth Science (ESC 101), Soil Genesis and Morphology (GEO 426), and ESC/GEO 222 Landforms: Process and Regions.

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AT OMAHA, DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY, Omaha, Nebraska, (August 1994 to May 2002), Tenured (granted in August 1999) Associate Professor of Geography, and Geography Graduate and Undergraduate Program Chair, teaching courses in Introductory Physical Geography, upper level and graduate courses in Water Resources, Soils, Geoarchaeology, and Caves and Karst. Geography Graduate Program Chair (From August 1998 to May 2002) and Geography Undergraduate Program Director (From August 2001 to May 2002).

THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO, DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY, Hamilton, New Zealand, (April 1996 to August 1996), Visiting Professor, Taught a portion of the course The Human Geography of Natural Hazards, presented a lecture in the department seminar series, presented a guest lecture in the course Environmental Impact Assessment, and an invited presentation to the Geographical Society of New Zealand-Waikato Chapter.

VALDOSTA STATE UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY AND GEOLOGY, Valdosta, Georgia, (August 1992 to June 1994), Assistant Professor of Geography, taught 15 hours per quarter in introductory Physical Geography, Physical Geology, and upper level courses in the Physiography of North America, and Weather and Climate.