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Dr. Rebecca K. Ambers Associate Professor of Environmental Science Department of Environmental Studies Tel: +1-434-382-6483 |
Dr. Ambers joined the faculty at Sweet Briar in 2001 after receiving her Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from the University of Oregon in 2000 and teaching for a year at Winona State University in Minnesota. Her other degrees include a B.A. in Anthropology and Geological Sciences from Indiana University in 1993 and an M.S. degree in Geology from the University of Oklahoma in 1996. In support of her graduate research, she received fellowships from both the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As the sole earth science professor on campus, Dr. Ambers teaches a range of geology, geography, and environmental science/studies courses. She is co-advisor of the student environmental club, a member of the campus Natural Areas Committee, and co-founder of the Sweet Briar Community Garden.
ENVR 101 - Introduction to Environmental Issues
ENVR 131 - Physical Geography: Landscapes
ENVR 133 - Physical Geography Laboratory
ENVR 208 - Surface Waters
ENVR 228 - Oceanography
ENVR 309 - Energy and Atmospheric Pollution
ENVR 316 - Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
ENVR 416 - Advanced Geographic Information Systems
ENVR 433 - Advanced Laboratory in Environmental Science
Although Dr. Ambers began her geology career as a "hard rocker" (someone who studies igneous and/or 
metamorphic rocks), she soon saw the light and switched to environmental geology when she began her doctoral studies. She has broad interests in GIS, fluvial geomorphology, erosion and sedimentation, watershed and reservoir management, and applied clay mineralogy (click here for more information on her research projects), as well as innovative science teaching methods. She has published articles in Catena, Geomorphology, Environmental Geology, the Journal of Hydrology, the Journal of College Science Teaching, Southeastern Geographer, the Journal of College Science Teaching, the Journal of Geoscience Education, and the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
For more information on research for Sweet Briar students, including possible research topics, follow the link on the right to the Ambers Research Group page.
Ambers, Rebecca K. R. (2007) Effects of a small, century-old dam on a second-order stream in the Virginia piedmont. Southeastern Geographer, v. 47, p. 181-201.
Ambers, Rebecca K. R., Druckenbrod, Daniel L., and Ambers, Clifford P. (2006) Geomorphic response to historical agriculture at Monument Hill in the Blue Ridge foothills of central Virginia. Catena v. 65, p. 49-60.
Ambers, Rebecca K. R. (2005) The value of reservoir-bottom field trips for undergraduate geology courses. Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 53, no. 5, p. 508-512.
Ambers, Rebecca K. R. and Ambers, Clifford P. (2004) Dr. Daniel Norborne Norton and the origin of the Norton grape. American Wine Society Journal, v. 36, no. 3, p. 77-87.
Ambers, Rebecca K. R. (2003) Effects of using single-gender group exams in a large, introductory geology class. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning v. 3, no. 2, http://www.iusb.edu/~josotl/VOL.3/NO.2/ambers_vol_3_no_2.htm.
Ambers, Rebecca K. R. (2002) Learning about teaching: A graduate student’s perspective. Journal of College Science Teaching, v. 31, no. 5, p. 327-330.
Hygelund*, Bretagne N., Ambers, Rebecca K. R., and Ambers, Clifford P. (2001) Tracing the source of mercury contamination in the Dorena Lake watershed, Western Oregon. Environmental Geology, v. 40, no. 7, p. 853-859.
Ambers, Rebecca K. R. and Hygelund*, Bretagne N. (2001) Contamination of two Oregon reservoirs by cinnabar mining and mercury amalgamation. Environmental Geology, v. 40, no. 6, p. 699-707.
Ambers, Rebecca K. R. (2001) Using the sediment record in a western Oregon flood-control reservoir to assess the influence of storm history and logging on sediment yield. Journal of Hydrology, v. 244, no.3-4, p. 181-200.
Ambers, Rebecca K. R. (2001) Relationships between clay mineralogy, hydrothermal metamorphism, and topography in a Western Cascades watershed, Oregon, USA. Geomorphology, v. 38, no. 1-2, 47-61.
Dr. Ambers has interests in gardening, cooking, British literature, and hiking, and she has recently taken up yoga. She and her husband Cliff own a 65-acre farm and circa-1898 farmhouse in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where they have a 1-acre vineyard and have recently opened a small winery.
