Jess Phoenix’s career as a volcanologist and science consultant has taken her around the world. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Smith College in Northampton, Mass., and a master’s in geology from California State University, Los Angeles.
“I was definitely a latecomer to the geo-party, but I dove in wholeheartedly,” Phoenix said.
She moved to Australia seeking a geology doctorate from Queensland University of Technology, but she fell out with her adviser and left without finishing her dissertation.
Leaving the program for which she had uprooted her family was terrifying, she said. But she soon realized that doctor or not, her geology education had provided her with a very marketable set of skills. (It was also around that time that she got the first of her many tattoos.)
“Geology is literally everywhere,” she said. “With the skill set you gain, even if you haven’t done the most terminal degree possible, you still have a very solid core of skill sets—pun intended.” Whether it’s making a detailed rock description (important in many industries), analyzing macro- and microscale problems, writing reports, or understanding the scientific method, “those are, fundamentally, extremely valuable skills,” she said. “Once you have them, no one can take them away from you.”
“As long as you maintain that curiosity, that flexibility, that willingness to interrogate your own assumptions and beliefs, you’re going to be OK.”
Phoenix’s wide-ranging career has taken her from the depths of the sea to fields of flowing lava. She wrote a memoir, consults on TV shows and documentaries, and appears as a subject matter expert on international news networks. She cofounded the environmental nonprofit Blueprint Earth, is a fellow of The Explorers Club, and ran for U.S. Congress in 2018.
“By allowing my curiosity to be pretty much unfettered, it’s given me a lot of opportunities to just try things and say yes,” Phoenix said. “You’ve got to be willing to take in new information and update your worldview constantly with your own career as well as your scientific interest. As long as you maintain that curiosity, that flexibility, that willingness to interrogate your own assumptions and beliefs, you’re going to be OK.”
Phoenix also emphasized how crucial staying connected with other scientists has been in her career. “Support their work and be their cheerleaders, and they’ll do the same for you.”
She was an ambassador for the Union of Concerned Scientists for 2 years and has recently returned to freelance science consulting, leading field research expeditions, and personally advocating for science.
“I’m in my own period of shifting and change,” Phoenix said, “but the rocks are always solid beneath my feet.”
—Kimberly M. S. Cartier (@astrokimcartier.bsky.social), Staff Writer
This profile is part of a special series in our August 2025 issue on science careers.
Citation: Cartier, K. M. S. (2025), Jess Phoenix: Curiosity unfettered, Eos, 106, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EO250259. Published on 28 July 2025.
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