Dr. Ben Hagedorn, June 2025 Snapshot

Published June 20, 2025

Dr. Ben Hagedorn is a professor in the Earth Science Department and leads the Environmental Geochemistry Research Group. He and his students tackle issues of environmental sustainability quantitatively. Their current research focuses on environmental justice gaps that indicate pollution exposures in disadvantaged communities, which have shown to be disproportionally associated with contaminated water exposure.

The lab is also conducting field research at Long Beach's Colorado Lagoon to differentiate between tidal- and groundwater inflow to the lagoon, a distinction that can help in the evaluation of pollution sources and pathways to the lagoon.

Dr. Ben Hagedorn and Edgar
Dr. Ben Hagedorn and Edgar Villasano deploying radon measuring equipment at the Colorado Lagoon.
auguring a borehole
Students in Dr. Ben Hagedorn's Environmental Geochemistry class auguring a mini borehole for groundwater sampling.
Nick and Edgar in the lab
Nick and Edgar are prepping vials for the analysis of pCO2 in river water mass spectrometer. The instrument also measures the isotopic signature of the CO2.
Brian at a computer
Brian is processing a major ion analysis run. The software defines peaks of individual ions as a proxy to calculate concentrations.
Dr. Hagedorn and Gavin in the lab
Dr. Ben Hagedorn and Gavin making calibration standards for major ion analysis.

Dr. Hagedorn's laboratory conducts research all over the world, from the California Sierra Nevada Mountains to French Polynesia. CSULB students work on projects using AI to predict water quality and supply across diverse landscapes, and conduct time series trend analysis to evaluate the effects of climate extremes like drought, heatwaves, and floods.    

Learn more about Dr. Ben Hagedorn and his work.

Ben Hagedorn and student researchers
Environmental Geochemistry Research Group; from left to right: Brian Slusser, Edgar Villasano, Gavin Lucsik, Nicholas Januario and Dr. Ben Hagedorn.