Kristin C. Burkholder
Chair of the Environmental Science and Studies, Associate Professor of Environmental Science, Associate Dean of the May School of Arts & Sciences, Faculty Athletic Representative
Biography
Kristin Burkholder, Ph.D., joined the Stonehill College community in 2012. Her teaching and research interests focus on understanding how global environmental changes are affecting key circulation pathways in the ocean, particularly within the Gulf of Maine.
Outside of the classroom and research lab, she has served the College in a variety of roles. She has been the chair of the Environmental Sciences and Studies Department since 2019 and served as a member of the Rank and Tenure Committee from 2024 to 2025, the Faculty Senate from 2021 to 2025 and the General Education Committee from 2016 to 2021. She became faculty athletic representative for Stonehill College in 2023. She also serves as team faculty liaison for the Women’s Ice Hockey team.
Burkholder is an evaluator for the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), an MPOWIR mentor group leader and a 2025 graduate of the HERS Leadership Institute.
Education
- Ph.D., Physical Oceanography, Duke University
- B.S., Chemistry, Bucknell University
Courses Taught
- Introduction to Oceanography
- Climate Science
- Physical Geology
- Principles of Environmental Science
- Research Methods in Environmental Science
- The Ethics and Science of Climate Change
Areas of Expertise
Titles
Chair of the Environmental Science and Studies, Associate Professor of Environmental Science, Associate Dean of the May School of Arts & Sciences, Faculty Athletic Representative
Departments
Env. Sciences & Studies
Selected Publications & Grants
- Burkholder, K., Lee, J., Kime, M.*, Calabro, C.* and J. Manning (2024), Decadal-Scale Variability in the Gulf of Maine Coastal Current: The Impact of Changing Climate Conditions on Coastal Circulation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 129, e2023JC020512, doi: 10.1029/2023JC020512
- Hirst, R., Wai-Ling Packard, R., Liotta, L., Bleakley, B., Lombardi, P. and K. Burkholder (2021), Faculty Learning at the Individual and Group Level: A Multi-Year Analysis of an Interdisciplinary Science FLC Focused on Inclusive Teaching and Mentoring, J. Coll. Sci. Teach., 50(6).
- Burkholder, K.C., Devereaux, J.*, Grady, C.*, Solitro, M.* and S. Mooney (2017), Longitudinal Study of the Impacts of a Climate Change Curriculum on Undergraduate Student Learning: Initial Results, Sustainability, 9(913), doi: 10.3390/su9060913
- Burkholder, K. C. and M. S. Lozier (2014), Tracing pathways of the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation’s upper limb, Geophysical Research Letters, 41(12), 4254-4260, doi: 10.1002/2014GL060226.
- Burkholder, K. C. and M. S. Lozier (2011), Subtropical to subpolar pathways in the North Atlantic: Deductions from Lagrangian trajectories, J. Geophys. Res., 116, C07017, doi:10.1029/2010JC006697.
- Burkholder, K. C. and M. S. Lozier (2011), Mid-depth Lagrangian pathways in the North Atlantic and their impact on the salinity of the eastern subpolar gyre. Deep Sea Research I, doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2011.08.007.
- 2023-present National Sea Grant Marine Debris Community Action Coalitions: Special Projects “H”: Massachusetts Marine Debris from Source to Stellwagen, co-Principal Investigator. $286,284.
- 2022-present Maine Sea Grant Program Development Award: Student-Built, Satellite-Tracked, Fishermen-Deployed Drifters: A Relaunch, Principal Investigator. $5,000.
- 2018-2020 Maine Sea Grant Program Development Award: A Lagrangian Study of the Subsurface Pathways in the Gulf of Maine Using a High-Resolution Model of Ocean Circulation, Principal Investigator. $5,000.
- 2017-2023 National Science Foundation (NSF), Strand 2: S-STEM: Design and Dev- Type 1; Overcoming the Challenges to the Science Education of a Liberal Arts College for Economically Disadvantaged Students, Co-Investigator. $999,999.
- 2019 Northeast Cyberteam, Selected Project, Tracing Oceanic Pathways Using High Resolution Model Output