Mohamed Sultan’s curiosity fuels discoveries across the globe, inspires student geologists
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Where passion meets excellence, you find Dr. Mohamed Sultan. An award-winning, internationally-recognized professor in Western Michigan University's Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Sultan balances his roles as a devoted family man, inspiring educator and relentless researcher. But at his core lies an enduring love for geosciences and remote sensing.
“The variety is the reason I like remote sensing,” says Sultan. “It has so many different facets and fulfills every niche that I find interesting. It looks at water, land, urban areas and vegetation. It covers everything I’m interested in.”
Sultan’s path to Western
Sultan's journey in geosciences began far from Michigan, at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, where he earned his bachelor's degree in geoscience and his master's degree in stratigraphy. His thirst for knowledge led him to the United States, where he pursued a Ph.D. in geochemistry at Washington University in St. Louis. Since then, Sultan has dedicated himself to his research and teaching, becoming a mentor for the many students and postdocs who have enrolled in his courses and joined his research group to work alongside him.
“By nature, I don’t really like to work on one particular thing, and just keep digging,” says Sultan. “I like to branch out into different areas, and try to be interdisciplinary.”
Originally from Egypt, Sultan was fascinated by the landscapes that surrounded him and the inspiration that research offered him. He is particularly inspired by the idea that research helps to form people’s perception of the world, remarking, “We have this curiosity about things that we try to answer. Researchers actually open all these doors.”
His early experiences and education led Sultan to dedicate his career solely to research for nearly twenty years. Yet, as time passed, he felt a calling to teach—an aspiration that eventually led him to WMU.
“At some point, I reevaluated my earlier decisions,” Sultan says. “I decided I wanted to do both teaching and research. It's not always intentional decisions that make you actually choose a career, but incidents that happen throughout your life.”
Exploring the world through remote sensing
Today, as Sultan embarks on his 19th year at Western, the crux of his work centers on guiding students and researchers within the Earth Sciences Remote Sensing Lab. As the lab's director, Sultan collaborates with esteemed organizations such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), spearheading pioneering geological and environmental research that spans the globe—from the banks of the Nile River to the shores of Lake Michigan.
Working within the lab affords Sultan the privilege of working on a wide range of projects, from tracking land changes in Qatar via satellite data to examining the impact of climate fluctuations on Saharan fossil aquifer systems. This versatility suits him well, as he humorously admits that keeping his research to a single area is an impossible feat.
“I would work on the whole world if I could,” Sultan says.
Sultan’s breadth of work is a widely cast net that includes the development of remote sensing methods for tracking harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes, creation of advanced statistical models for mapping shallow groundwater in Saudi Arabia and the Western Desert of Egypt and collaboration with NASA to study climate change's effects on the Nile and Tigris-Euphrates watersheds.
Most recently, Sultan has successfully acquired two grants from King Saud University, with a combined funding value of approximately $700,000. One grant focuses on natural radioactivity and the factors controlling its distribution in Saudi Arabian groundwater. The other will be used to monitor the distribution of sand dunes and sabkhas in Saudia Arabia, to better understand and mitigate the hazards they pose to infrastructure and properties.
Sultan's distinguished geoscience career has earned him numerous awards and substantial research funding from many other prestigious organizations, including NASA, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the United Nations Development Program, the Qatari Ministry of Municipality and the Geological Society of America, where he is a fellow. He was also honored with the Farouk El-Baz Award for Desert Research.
Fostering student excellence
Beyond his work as a classroom instructor and world class researcher, Sultan fervently champions student participation in research. He firmly believes in the transformative power of experiential learning, emphasizing, “We want our students to be prepared and be competitive in the workforce. In every part of our university, we want the students to be a part of the research.”
In alignment with this commitment, Sultan has dedicated himself to creating opportunities for students to actively engage in geological research. A standout initiative is the course he introduced in 2020: GEOS 5170, Research Project. In this dynamic course, students gain hands-on research experience in geological and environmental sciences. They tackle real-world problems using authentic datasets, identifying research topics, formulating critical questions and hypotheses, and proposing innovative solutions.
Students also gain profound insights into the broader applications and implications of their findings, as well as the limitations of their chosen methodologies. Sultan's commitment extends to ensuring that students acquire essential skills in effectively presenting their research findings, equipping them to become well-rounded professionals in their field.
“Students have to learn how to think about topics outside of the classroom,” Sultan says. “You give them a proper opportunity to research a topic, you know, and get results from their research. You inject it into the classes, and then all of a sudden you get them excited about that stuff.”
While Sultan is deeply dedicated to his students and his field, he is even more devoted to his family. A husband, father and grandfather, Sultan spends weekends and breaks with his loved ones every chance he gets. Additionally, Sultan loves to travel the world, experiencing it as both a scientist and a tourist.
“My wife is the one who books the trips, but it’s really growing on me,” Sultan says. “I have to work on finding hobbies—that's what she keeps telling me.”
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