John Karavias

John Karavias earned his Bachelors of Science in Biology and his Bachelors of Science in Education at Delaware Valley College, PA. He earned is Masters of Arts and Science at Stony Brook University, NY. John is a veteran high school teacher of Biology and Marine Biology in Long Island, NY.

John started his career teaching biology; however in 2004 he created a marine biology program in his high school. As part of his program, John has a one thousand gallon salt water lab containing animals from local waters and exotics from around the world. Being a firm believer in "practice what you preach," John spent a month out at sea on the USCG Healy ice breaker in the Bearing Sea during the summer of 2008. John was one of ten teachers nationally funded by the ARMADA Project to be part of the International Polar Year. The team of scientists he studied with was collecting data to observe the effect the warming seas have on carbon flux. John's research experience stoked his creativity and spurred him to develop first hand experiences for his curricula.

In the summer of 2012, John was selected by Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) to travel to the Northern Slope of Alaska with a team of scientists to collect core samples of the Tundra. The goal of the study was to reconstruct paleoclimate using macrofossils of Sphagnum peat. The types of flora present in a core samples allow scientists to gain insight to past warming and cooling trends and provide data to predict how the Arctic will behave as a result of the current warming trend.

When John is not out at sea or has his boots on the ground doing research, he spends his time with his wife and three children. They camp all summer and love to fish, hike, kayak, and fall asleep around the camp fire. He believes there is no better bonding for a family than being all together in 150 square feet for weeks on end.

Since his trips to the Bering Sea and the tundra, John has vowed to set foot on Antarctica. He loves the cold and is an ice fisherman. John's love of science has rubbed off on his children. His son Jacob wants to be a paleontologist or a physician and his son Troy wants to be a marine biologist. His youngest, Logan, does not know what he wants to be yet but loves nature and being outdoors.