LAPS Faculty Students Classroom 02

Cristin Ashmankas

Assistant Professor Ashmankas has had a long-time love affair with the oceans and natural environment, relentlessly pursuing the study of both throughout her formal schooling.

Faculty Christine Ashmankas Cristin Ashmankas
Professional Title:  Assistant Professor of Oceanography
Areas of Academic Focus and Expertise:  
Geological Oceanography, Climatology, Natural Disasters, and General Physical Sciences
Area of Work and Concentration at Lesley:  
College of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies Natural Science and Mathematics Division, Physical Science
Representative List of Recent Courses Taught:  
Earth Science, Oceanography, Meteorology, Our Changing Climate,Physical Geology, Sediments: The Language of the Earth, Astronomy, The Science and Practice of Survival, Exploring New England’s Natural Systems
Education:  BS, Eckerd College; PhD candidate, University of Rhode Island
Representative List of Recent Publications / Exhibitions:  

  • Taylor, O., M. McKenna, A. Lester, C. Ashmankas, S. Broadfoot, S. McComas, J. McKenna, 2012.  “Resolving the 2010 El Mayor-Cucapah Segmental Rupture Evolution Using a 192-Geophone Array.”  Submitted to BSSA.
  • Ashmankas, C., 2012.  “A History of Sea Ice in the Cenozoic Arctic Ocean.”  PhD Dissertation submitted to URI.
  • Cole, L., C. Herbert, and C. Ashmankas, 2010.  “Disappearing Sediments: The cost of climate change to Massachusetts’ beaches.”  GSA NE Conference 2010- Abstracts.
  • Ashmankas, C., 2010. “Geological Semester-long Research: Constructing a Gateway to Professionalism.”  GSA NE Conference 2010- Abstracts.
  • Ashmankas, C., O’Regan, M., and Moran, K., 2007.  “Paleo- Currents and –Ice, Using Grain Size Analyses in the ACEX and ARCTIC ’91 Cores”  AGU Fall Conference 2007-Abstracts.
  • Moran, K., Altmann, V., O’Regan, M., and Ashmankas, C., 2007.  Acoustic compressional wave velocity as a predictor of glacio-marine sediment grain size.  Geotechnical Testing Journal 30.
  • Ashmankas, C., Moran, K., O’Regan, M., and Sugisaki, S., 2006.  “ACEX Grain Size Analyses, Revealing Arctic Paleo-Ice Environments” AGU Fall Conference 2006- Abstracts.
  • Ashmankas, C.,  2003.  “Baffin Bay Deep Water (+1000m) Warming from 1924-1997” Eckerd College Senior Thesis, Eckerd College.

 


Cristin Ashmankas grew up locally, graduating from Sandwich High School on Cape Cod, MA. She left New England for warmer waters, attending Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Marine Geophysics from Eckerd, all while teaching sailing regularly. She spent most of her summers returning to her roots, working for various outdoor education groups in Massachusetts. After graduation, she started a PhD degree at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography.

The focus of her dissertation is the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program's (IODP) Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX). She determined the history of sea ice in the Central Arctic Ocean through much of the Cenozoic Era (last 65 Million years). In addition to her dissertation work, she assisted on the Kurishio Extension System Study off of Japan, the Discovery Channel/BBC funded exploration of the December 25th Tsunami off of Sumatra, and additional smaller projects.