Kaelin M. Groom, PhD

Art and science: two driving forces in my life. Though this was not always evident to me. Practically stumbling upon Geography after swinging between art school and engineering, I was instantly fascinated by its multidisciplinary and diverse nature. Here was an art that is structured, researched, and challenging like science but also a science that is creative, open-ended, and vibrant like art. It sparked a fire in me and I never looked back. My expertise since has allowed me to not just teach, but also work as a heritage research scientist and consultant for domestic and international agencies such as the US National Park Service, Grenada National Museum (Caribbean), Petra National Trust (Jordan), and USAID, among others. The American Center for Research’s Amman, Jordan office asked me to blog about one such endeavor, my work in Wadi Rum (Jordan) has been featured in The Jordan Times, and I recently published a book on Petra. I'm also a two-time Fulbright Scholar (Jordan). I am also the Stone Heritage Research Alliance's (LLC) current Director.