INSTITUTION | Washington University in St. Louis
POSITION | Director of Environmental Studies and Interim Director of the International Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability.
David Fike is a professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University, where he also directs the Environmental Studies program and the International Center for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability (InCEES).
In his roles at WashU, David seeks to develop and foster interdisciplinary approaches to advance our environmental curriculum, research, and outreach.
David obtained B.S. degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in engineering physics, astronomy, and geology; an M. Phil in polar studies from Churchill College, Cambridge University; and a Ph.D. in geochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research uses geochemical techniques, particularly stable isotope analyses, to investigate the global carbon cycle. These measurements are also applied to ancient marine sediments to reconstruct environmental change over Earth history, particularly the rise of atmospheric oxygen and its relationship to animal evolution and subsequent mass extinctions.
David serves on the Executive Committee for the Summit.