Kaelin M. Groom, PhD

Art and science are two driving forces in my life, though this was not always so 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 in various facets of geography has allowed to me to 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, as well as having ties to UNESCO. The American Center for Research’s Amman, Jordan office asked me to blog about one such endeavor, and my work in Wadi Rum (Jordan) has been featured in The Jordan Times. I'm also a two-time Fulbright Scholar (Jordan). Much of this work has helped establish the Stone Heritage Research Alliance LLC, of which I am the current Director.