Kathryn Schubel

Kathryn Schubel is a sedimentary geologist. She has done research on modern and ancient sedimentary deposits in Australia, western China, Italy, the Bahamas, and across the United States. She has been teaching courses in earth science, geology, oceanic and atmospheric processes and ecology at the undergraduate and graduate level since 1996. She has also translated science for public audiences – creating exhibits for the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. Kathy and her husband got into the aquaculture business about five years ago. They are owners of the Carlsbad Aquafarm, a shellfish farm in Carlsbad, California. The main crops of the Carlsbad Aquafarm are oysters and mussels. They are starting to grow scallops as well.

Kathy is inspired to share her love, understanding and appreciation of the natural world, both marine and terrestrial, with people of all ages and from all walks of life. She seeks to engage people through a variety of different modalities, including online learning, inquiry-based learning and creative exploration. She received a MA and PhD from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, a MA from the Department of Geological Sciences at Binghamton University, and a BA with Honors from Oberlin College.

Kathy has been teaching in the Environmental Sciences and Policy Program at JHU continuously since 2006. She first taught for the Program on campus in Baltimore in 2001 and again in 2006. Kathy moved to California in 2008 and has never looked back. She enjoys stand up paddle boarding in the ocean and hopes for close encounters with marine organisms—sea lions, dolphins and gray whales to name a few. She currently teaches two core courses online, Geological Foundations of Environmental Science and Oceanic and Atmospheric Processes. She also teaches three electives, Coastal Zone Processes and Policy (online), Coral Reefs and Caves: The Geology of the Bahamas (field), and Geology and Tropical Ecology of Hawai’i (field).

If you find yourself in Southern California please reach out to her via email. She would be happy to give you a tour of the Carlsbad Aquafarm or tell you the best places to paddle.