Ruth M. Tinnacher Faculty Profile

Ruth  M.  Tinnacher

Assistant Professor

Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Ruth Tinnacher has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at California State University East Bay since Fall 2016. She completed M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Science and Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines in May 2001 and December 2008, as well as a Dipl. Ing. (Equiv. M. Eng.) in Chemical Process Engineering in Industrial Environmental Protection at the University of Leoben, Austria in 2000. After working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for three years, she joined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a Project Scientist in July 2011.

In her research, Dr. Tinnacher investigates environmental geochemistry problems that are driven by energy- and climate-related questions. Her primary research focus has been on the environmental impacts of nuclear energy and waste, with a particular interest in the mobility of radioactive contaminants in subsurface environments. In addition, she is also interested in the impacts of geologic CO2 sequestration and hydraulic fracturing on groundwater quality, and the link between environmental geochemistry and carbon cycling. Since joining Cal State East Bay, she has had the opportunity to teach lectures and/or lab sessions in the following areas: Environmental Chemistry, Quantitative Analysis and General Chemistry. Please see CV for more information.