Kent Ratajeski


Kent Ratajeski

Education

  • B.S., Geology, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
  • M.S., Geology, University of Maryland, College Park
  • Ph.D., Geology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Professional experience

  • Lecturer, Calvin University, Grand Rapids, MI (2023-present)
  • Senior Lecturer, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (2013-2023)
  • Lecturer, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (2007-2013)
  • Visiting Instructor, Wheaton College Science Station, Black Hills, SD (2002-2003, 2010-2016, 2018-2019) – summer field course instructor
  • Assistant Professor, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA (2005-2007)
  • Assistant Research Professor, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT (2004-2005) – post-doc
  • Visiting Assistant Professor, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA (2003-2004) – temporary sabbatical replacement
  • Visiting Assistant Professor, Bates College, Lewiston, ME (2002-2003) – temporary sabbatical replacement
  • Visiting Assistant Professor, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ (2001-2002) – temporary sabbatical replacement
  • Research Associate, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (2000-2001) – post-doc
  • Visiting Assistant Professor, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI (1999-2000) – temporary sabbatical replacement

Biography

  • Hometown(s): Pittsburgh, PA and Lakeland, FL
  • Interests and activities: my family, church and Christian community, music (piano and choir), outdoors (hiking and backpacking), geocollecting (rocks, minerals, fossils, and meteorites)

Academic interests

  • mineralogy
  • igneous petrology
  • online curriculum development
  • field-based geoscience education
  • science communication and journalism
  • science and faith

Research and scholarship

  • Igneous petrology and petrogenesis of the Sierra Nevada batholith (field geology, geochronology, geochemistry, and experimental petrology)
  • Geothermobarometry (emplacement depths) of granite plutons in the Sierra Nevada batholith
  • Online resources for geoscience education
  • Tactile graphics for visually-impaired geoscience student

Publications

Ratajeski, K., 2023, A science journalist’s life among the volcanoes: Geoscientist (the magazine of the Geological Society of London), March 8, 2023. (link)

Ratajeski, K., 2023, Accessible graphics: Geoscientist (the magazine of the Geological Society of London), Spring issue, March 1, 2023. (link)

Ratajeski, K., 2022, UK agricultural and medical biotechnology student’s education, career path, shaped by Alaskan internship: UK College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment News, Nov. 17, 2022. (link)

Ratajeski, K., 2022, The oldest things on campus: Kentucky Kernel, Oct. 7, 2022. (link)

Ratajeski, K., 2022, Through Fulbright Scholar program, UK geology professor unravels the erosion of the Appalachians — from Ireland: UKNow, Sept. 15, 2022. (link)

Ratajeski, K., 2022, Five years of mid-semester survey data from two introductory geoscience courses: what they reveal about the academic and personal lives of college students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 54. (link)

Ratajeski, K., Clark, S.L., Atchison, C.L., Reed, P.J., and Lee, D., 2021, The Geological Tactile Image Repository: a digital resource collection to support instructors of blind and low-vision geoscience students: Earth Educators Rendezvous, July 12-16, 2021. (link)

Ratajeski, K., 2019, Mineralogy field trip to the TN-NC Blue Ridge Mountains: Earth Educators Rendezvous, Nashville, TN, July 15-19, 2019. (link)

Ratajeski, K., Miller, R.B., 2018, Hornblende-plagioclase geothermobarometry of the Yosemite Valley and Sonora Pass intrusive suites, Sierra Nevada batholith, California: Geological Society of America Cordilleran Section Meeting, v. 50. (link)

Ratajeski, K., 2017, Examples of tactile aids for teaching introductory geology students with visual disabilities: Earth Educators Rendezvous, Albuquerque, NM, July 17-21, 2017. (link)

Ratajeski, K., Duff, J.R., and Phelps, D.J., 2016, The Ark Encounter: a new obstacle for scientific understanding for the religious public in northern Kentucky: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 48. (link)

Ratajeski, K., Barth, A.P., Miller, R.B., and Pignotta, G., 2015, How deep was the Intrusive Suite of Buena Vista Crest? Contrasting results from hornblende-plagioclase thermobarometry of granodiorites and zircon geochronology of broadly coeval volcanics (Minarets and Merced Peak complexes), Sierra Nevada batholith, California: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 47, p. 47. (link)

Ratajeski, K., Greenberg, J.K., Allard, S.T., Schwandt, C.S., Tulimiero, C.J., and Gates, C.H., 2013, Diverse, widespread static porphyroblasts: the last gasp of Proterozoic metamorphism in the Black Hills, South Dakota?: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 45, p. 113. (link)

Stock, G.M., Glazner, A.F., Ratajeski, K., and Law, B., 2010, Geologic mapping of the vertical southeast face of El Capitan, Yosemite Valley, California: Abstract V11C-2304 presented at 2010 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, Calif., 13-17 Dec. (link)

Campbell, D., Campbell, L.D., Cates, C., Davidson, G., Long, K., Mercer, R., Ratajeski, K., Young, D.A., 2010, PCA geologists on the antiquity of the Earth: Modern Reformation, v. 19, no. 3, p. 6-9. (link)

Ratajeski, K., 2010, Coeval mafic-felsic magmatism in the intrusive suite of Yosemite Valley, in Putirka, K. (ed.), From the Coast Ranges to the Sierra Nevada: the geology of central California: National Association of Geoscience Teachers Far Western Section Fall Conference, Oct. 8-10, 2010.

Loveless, W.T., and Ratajeski, K., 2007, High-precision U-Pb zircon geochronology of the Elberton Granite, northeast Georgia: preliminary Ca-TIMS results: Geological Society of America, Southeast Section meeting. (link)

Ratajeski, K., 2006, A digital resource collection supporting the use of Earthchem databases in geoscience courses: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 38, p. 524. (link)

Lehnert, K., Ratajeski, K., and Walker, D., 2006, Using online igneous geochemical databases for research and teaching: handbook for short course at the Geological Society of America Meeting, Philadelphia, October, 2006.

Ratajeski, K., 2005, Students as field trip leaders: promoting active learning and group collaboration with a semester-culminating field trip project in Montana: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 37, p. 412. (link)

Ratajeski, K., Mogk, D., and Warnick, M., 2005, The Montana-Yellowstone geologic field guide database: a digital resource to integrate field-based research, teaching, and learning: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 37, p. 283. (link)

Ratajeski, K., Sisson, T.W., and Glazner, A.F., 2005, Experimental and geochemical evidence for derivation of the El Capitan Granite, California, from hydrous, mafic lower crust: Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 149, p. 713-734. (link)

Ratajeski, K., Mogk, D., and Downs, R.T., 2005, Teaching mineralogy with crystal structure databases and visualization software: a digital resource collection: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 15th Annual Goldschmidt Conference, Moscow, Idaho, May 20-25, v. 69, p. A665. (link)

Coleman, D.S., Bartley, J.M., Glazner, A.F., and Ratajeski, K., 2005, Field evidence for the assembly of the Half Dome Pluton by the emalgamation of small intrusions: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 37, p. 71. (link)

Sisson, T.W., Ratajeski, K., Hankins, W.B., and Glazner, A.F., 2005, Voluminous granitic magmas from common basaltic sources: Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 148, p. 635-661. (link)

Ratajeski, K., Glazner, A.F., and Miller, B.V., 2001, Geology and geochemistry of mafic to felsic plutonic rocks in the Cretaceous intrusive suite of Yosemite Valley, California: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 113, p. 1486-1502. (link)

Ratajeski, K., 1999, Field, geochemical, and experimental study of mafic to felsic plutonic rocks associated with the intrusive suite of Yosemite Valley, California (Ph.D. thesis): Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina, 196 p.

Ratajeski, K., and Sisson, T.W., 1999, Loss of iron from gold capsules in rock-melting experiments: American Mineralogist, v. 84, p. 1521-1527. (link)

Taylor, R.Z., Frankel, K.L., and Ratajeski, K., 1999, Variation in composition and texture with elevation within the El Capitan Granite, Yosemite National Park, California: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Cordilleran Section, p. A101.

Ratajeski, K., Sisson, T.W., and Glazner, A.F., 1999, Fluid-absent partial melting of mafic lower crust in continental-margin arcs: implications for the origin of low silica granites of the Sierra Nevada Batholith: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Cordilleran Section, v. 31, p. A-86.

Ingersoll, R.V., Ratajeski, K., Glazner, A.F., and Cloos, M., 1999, Mesozoic convergent margin of central California, in Wagner, D.L., and Graham, S.A. (eds.), Geologic field trips in northern California: California Division of Mines and Geology, Special Publication 119.

Ratajeski, K., Sisson, T.W., and Glazner, A.F., 1998, Generation of Sierran granite from mafic lower crust: preliminary results from partial melting experiments at 8 kbar and 800-975 C: Geological Society of America Penrose Conference on Crustal Differentiation, Verbania, Italy, July 4-10 (poster).

Ratajeski, K., and Glazner, A.F., 1997, Field and isotopic characteristics of mafic rocks associated with the El Capitan granite in Yosemite Valley, California: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Cordilleran Section, v. 29, p. A58.

Ratajeski, K., 1995, Estimation of initial and saturation water concentrations of three granitic plutons in the central Great Basin, Nevada (M.S. Thesis): College Park, University of Maryland, 299 p.

Ratajeski, K., and Candela, P.A., 1995, Estimation of initial and saturation water contents of three Mesozoic granitic plutons in the north-central Great Basin, Nevada, in Brown, M., and Piccoli, P. (eds.), The Origin of Granites and Related Rocks (Abstracts), U.S.G.S. Circular 1129.

Ratajeski, K., and Candela, P.A., 1994, Predicted crystallization paths and oxygen fugacity-temperature trends for some Mesozoic granitic rocks of the central Great Basin: comparisons with published phase equilibria and the "MELTS" model of Ghiorso and Sack: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, v. 26, p. A-295.

Ratajeski, K., and Campbell, A.R., 1994, Distribution of fluid inclusions in igneous quartz of the Capitan pluton, New Mexico, USA: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 58, p. 1161-1174. (link)

Ratajeski, K., and Campbell, A.R., 1992, Distribution of high-temperature, high-salinity fluid inclusions in igneous and miarolitic quartz of the Capitan pluton, NM: New Mexico Geological Society, Annual Spring Meeting, Proceedings Volume, p. 27.

Ratajeski, K., and Campbell, A.R., 1992, High-temperature, high-salinity fluid inclusions in igneous and miarolitic quartz of the Capitan pluton, NM: PACROFI IV (4th Pan-American Conference on Research on Fluid Inclusions), Lake Arrowhead, CA, May 21-25, p. 68.

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