Joseph D. Ortiz

About Joseph D. Ortiz

Earning a Ph.D. provides one not only with content knowledge, but with critical thinking skills that enable the creation of new knowledge and the ability to learn in new areas. I believe that advances in scientific fields often occur at the interfaces between well-established disciplines. I have developed a quantitative, Earth System Science perspective throughout my career. My scholarship is multidisciplinary, and student centered. I explore how the Earth’s systems function together, the influence society has on those systems through anthropogenic climate and environmental change, and how we can address related problems arising from societal impact. My work has led to fundamental discoveries related to planktic foraminiferal ecology and physiology that improve their use as proxies of paleoclimate and paleo-productivity. I have contributed substantially to our understanding of millennial scale climate variability in the Late Quaternary. I transitioned my pioneering work on visible derivative spectroscopy from a tool to study sediment lithology and paleoclimate to a sophisticated environmental remote sensing method for enhanced detection of harmful algal blooms. I have received funding for my research through the National Science Foundation, the Ocean Drilling Program, Ohio SeaGrant, NOAA, the HW Hoover Foundation, the KSU Farris Family Innovation Fund for Early Achievement, and the KSU University Research and Teaching Councils.Specialties: Environmental Remote Sensing, Water Quality, Energy and Sustainability, Oceanography, Paleoclimate, Paleoceanography, Geostatistics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Petrophysics, Isotope Geochemistry

Experience

1. Professor of Earth Sciences

   Kent State University

   Jan 2026 — Present · Kent, OH, US

   I conduct research, teaching and provide service to the department, college and university. I am a National Geographic explorer working on environmental remote sensing using visible derivative spectroscopy, climate change on various time scales and studies of energy and sustainability.I believe that advances in scientific fields often occur at the interfaces between well-established disciplines. Because of this, I have intentionally directed my research objectives toward multidisciplinary paths. For example, my expertise in aquatic biology allows me to study the response of marine microplankton to their environment to improve the quality of paleoclimate reconstructions. I use my expertise in core and wireline logging methods like diffuse spectral reflectance to quantify physical properties of lacustrine and deep-sea sediments and to determine provenance of archeological artifacts. Advances in one area often help me to fine tune or develop new approaches for use in other aspects of my research.My research background has provided me with a broad and powerful set of tools with which to address problems using a multi-dimensional, interdisciplinary approach. My interest in a variety of research topics allows me to continuously refine existing skills while developing new ones. These skills and experiences enable me to conduct significant research on topics ranging from climate change to water quality. I have received funding for my research through the National Science Foundation, the Ocean Drilling Program, Ohio SeaGrant, NOAA, the HW Hoover Foundation, the KSU Farris Family Innovation Fund for Early Achievement, and the KSU University Research and Teaching Councils.Specialties: Environmental Remote Sensing, Water Quality, Oceanography, Paleoclimate, Paleoceanography, Energy and Sustainability, Geostatistics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Petrophysics, Isotope Geochemistry, marine micropalentology

Education

• Brown University

  B.S., with Honors, Aquatic Biology/Limnology

  1984 — 1988

• Oregon State University

  Doctor of Philosophy, Oceanography

  1988 — 1995

Skills

• Climate Change
• Paleoceanography
• Gis
• Research
• Laboratory
• Remote Sensing
• Earth Science
• University Teaching
• Ecology
• Sedimentology
• Scientific Writing
• Higher Education
• Soil Sampling
• Geostatistics
• Arcgis
• Geographic Information Systems (Gis)
• Isotope Geochemistry
• Stable Isotopes
• Geochemistry
• Spectroscopy
• Groundwater
• Oceanography
• Teaching
• Sampling
• Science Education
• Petrophysics
• Soil
• Marine Biology
• Geomorphology
• Biology
• Marine Geology
• Physics
• Environmental Awareness
• Hydrogeology
• Paleoclimate
• Geological Mapping
• Science
• Geology
• Grant Writing
• Data Analysis