Sarah Keenan

Dr. Sarah Keenan serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines. Her office is located in Nucor MI 331, contactable at sarah.keenan@sdsmt.edu or (605) 394-5163. She holds a B.S. from the University of St. Andrews, M.S. from the University of Bristol, and Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee.

Educational background:

• B.S., University of St. Andrews
• M.S., University of Bristol
• Ph.D., University of Tennessee

Her Geobiology in Modern and Ancient Systems research group employs interdisciplinary methods including geochemistry, microbial ecology, and paleontology to investigate element cycling across geological timescales, fossil bone composition, and microbially-mediated bone preservation processes. Work spans diverse environments from Louisiana swamps to Black Hills outcrops, examining depositional settings over 2.6 billion years of Earth history.

Dr. Keenan's team utilizes the Paleontology Research Laboratory housing the Museum of Geology's 500,000-specimen collection. Students and community volunteers participate in curation within the state-of-the-art prep lab, with field opportunities adjacent to Rapid City's world-class geological exposures.