Sharon Hoffman

Sharon Hoffmann studies past climate and ocean circulation using geological materials, to better predict how modern and future climate will behave. She grew up on Long Island, NY, atop a glacial moraine - hills of sediments left by the last North American ice sheet.

Sharon studied geology at Columbia University, and worked as a lab assistant at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, identifying microfossils and washing mud through sieves to help learn about ancient ocean and climate conditions. As a graduate student she earned her PhD in Marine Geology at MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She participated in two oceanographic research cruises, one in the Bering Sea and one in the Laptev Sea north of Siberia, and got to make a snow angel on the Arctic sea ice cap. Her research has focused on researching how the intermediate and deep-water circulation varied with major past climate changes, using naturally-occurring radioactive elements and sedimentology in deep sea sediments.

Sharon has taught oceanography and marine geology since 2013, and now teaches introductory geoscience for the University System of Georgia. She has been part of Seminars on Science since 2012.