Kristen St John

I earned my B.S from Furman University and my M.S. and Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. My research areas are two-fold: focusing on marine sediment records of past climate change and on teaching and learning in the geosciences. I was the co-chief scientist for International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 403 and have participated as a marine sedimentologist for several other scientific ocean drilling expeditions. I was on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) committee for the 2025-2035 Decadal Survey of Ocean Sciences (DSOS) for the National Science Foundation and as such was a co-author of the 2024 consensus study report Progress and Priorities in Ocean Drilling: In Search of Earth's Past and Future and the 2025 consensus study report Forecasting the Ocean - The 2025–2035 Decade of Ocean Science. I chaired the 2023 NASEM workshop committee on Tipping Points, Cascading Impacts, and Interacting Risks in the Earth System, and was a committee member and co-author of the 2021 NASEM consensus study report Next Generation Earth Systems Science at the National Science Foundation. I currently serve on the NASEM Polar Research Board. I have received several research grants on individual and collaborative projects, most recently serving as PI of a NSF-funded pilot travel grant project to support faculty at under-resourced undergraduate institutions (4yr/2yr) participate in the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference. I’ve published ~40 peer-reviewed papers in a range of outlets (e.g., Paleoceanography, Nature, the Journal of Geoscience Education). My research on Cenozoic ice-rafting histories in the Arctic contributed to a paradigm shift in understanding ice evolution during Greenhouse to Icehouse transitions. I am the lead author of the textbook Reconstructing Earth’s Climate History: Inquiry-Based Exercises for the Lab and Class (2nd ed, 2021, Wiley), and the co-editor and author of an upcoming (contracted, in press May 2025, Springer-Nature) open access textbook Earth’s Climate: A Geoscience Perspective. I’ve led over 40 faculty professional development workshops, was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Geoscience Education for five years, and the project lead for a vision document: A Community Framework for Geoscience Education Research. I am the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Education Section Past-President. My teaching responsibilities include large general education courses on climate change and oceanography, and courses on research preparation and communication skills and on paleoclimatology/ paleoceanography. While at JMU, I’ve mentored many students in independent or course-based research experiences. I received the JMU General Education Distinguished Teacher Award in 2013 and the CSM Outstanding Teaching Award in 2014. I was recognized as a Geological Society of America Fellow in 2016, received the JMU Research and Scholarship Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017, the JMU Roberts Endowment for Faculty Excellence Award in 2019, the JMU Alger Award in 2022, and the JMU Madison Scholar Award for CSM in 2025.