Research Microbiologist, United States Geological Survey (USGS)
United States

Dr. Christina Kellogg is a Research Microbiologist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the sole science agency for the U.S. Department of Interior. Dr. Kellogg joined the USGS as a Mendenhall Fellow, characterizing the microbial communities in aerosolized African desert dust, beach sediments, seagrass beds, and coral reefs.

Currently, she leads an environmental microbiology laboratory specializing in coral microbial ecology. Her research on tropical corals has taken her to the Florida Keys, Caribbean, Hawaii, and American Samoa, leading her friends to say that she specializes in “resort microbiology.” Dr. Kellogg has been working in deepwater coral ecosystems since 2004 and considers herself extremely lucky to have had the privilege of visiting them personally during one dive in the Delta submersible and eight dives in the Johnson-Sea-Link. She has also spent time at sea working with the remotely-operated vehicles JASON and Kraken 2, and participates from shore during telepresence cruises on the exploration vessels Okeanos Explorer and Nautilus.

She has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed papers as well as a number of book chapters and has given invited keynote talks on both her aerosol microbiology and deep-sea coral microbial work. In 2015, Dr. Kellogg served as a judge for the $2 million Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE competition.

Dr. Kellogg holds a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of South Florida and a B.S. cum laude in Biology from Georgetown University. Other interests include photography, science fiction, fried pickles, colored gemstones, and the music of 80s big hair bands.