Randall Schaetzl

University Distinguished Professors College of Social Science

• University Distinguished Professor

• Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences

Bio

Randall (Randy) Schaetzl’s research interests span the field of physical geography, but with a focus on soils, geomorphology, and to a lesser extent, vegetation systems.

He is a firm believer in the value of fieldwork in physical geography and is in the field for much of each summer season. His work is highly spatial and usually involves GIS data, analyses, applications and approaches, and many of the resultant research products are new and innovative maps.

He grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin and has been close to the physical environment ever since. His academic training has been entirely within Geography, and at Midwestern schools (Wisconsin, Kansas, Illinois). Randy came to MSU in 1987, deeming it at the time his “dream job,” and has been a professor here ever since.

Dr. Schaetzl was named a University Distinguished Professor in 2021.

Vist his website to learn more about his work.