Rate My Professor Jane Alexander

Dr. Jane Alexander serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering and Environmental Science at the College of Staten Island, part of the City University of New York. She earned her Ph.D. in Geology from University College London, England, and her B.Sc. (Honors) in Geology from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Since at least 2012, she has contributed significantly to curriculum development at CSI, overseeing the writing, approval, and introduction of two new bachelor's programs launched in 2016: the B.S. in Earth and Environmental Science and the B.S. in Earth Science for educators in grades 7-12. She coordinated these programs, along with the Geology minor, until 2022. She maintains an active program of teaching and research, mentoring numerous undergraduate student researchers and a small group of graduate students.

Dr. Alexander's research focuses on the geochemistry and provenance of sediments and sedimentary rocks in active tectonic settings, including geochemistry of accretionary wedge sediments and pore fluids, tracing volcanic ashes in sediments, and provenance of sedimentary rocks in the Newark Basin, New Jersey. Her projects also examine recent sedimentary processes and geomorphology, such as Staten Island beach morphology and sand characteristics, the origin and age of fluvioglacial sediments on Staten Island, and the distribution of microplastics on its shoreline. Key publications include "The oxygen isotopic composition of seawater during the Last Glacial Maximum" (Quaternary Science Reviews, 2002), "The geochemistry of fluids from an active shallow submarine hydrothermal system: Milos island, Hellenic Volcanic Arc" (Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 2005), "Hydrothermal sediments associated with a relict back-arc spreading center in the Shikoku Basin, recovered from the Nankai accretionary prism, Japan" (Island Arc, 1999), and "Evidence for subsidence rate variation in the Newark Basin and its influence on the deposition of fluvial sediments of the Stockton Formation" (The Depositional Record, 2025). She has delivered presentations at the AGU Fall Meeting and Geological Society of America conferences. Dr. Alexander serves as Delegate-at-Large in the College of Staten Island Faculty Senate for the 2025-2026 term, representing Engineering & Environmental Science, and was recognized as a fifteen-year honoree at the CSI Convocation.