Kanchan Maiti

Chair of the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Science, Louisiana State University 

Dr. Kanchan Maiti is a Shell Professor of Oceanography/Wetlands and the Department Chair in the Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University (LSU). His interests over his career have ranged from hard-rock geochemistry to blue water oceanography to coastal carbon cycling. His laboratory group at LSU focuses on understanding the fate and transport of different forms of carbon across the land ocean continuum from wetlands to open ocean environments using a suite of geochemical tracers and autonomous observation platforms.  He has worked across the global ocean including the Arctic and the Antarctic and has spent almost two years at sea conducting his research. He currently serves on the Science Steering Committee for the US Office for Ocean Carbon Biogeochemistry (OCB) and on the NSF Science Oversight Committee for Regional Class Research Vessels.  In the past he has served as the Program Director for the NSF Chemical Oceanography Program and as the Associate Director of Undergraduate Program in the LSU College of Coast and Environment. He is also an Associate Editor for Marine Chemistry.