Kenneth Rasmussen
Professor of Geology
Northern Virginia Community College
Kenneth Rasmussen is Professor of Geology at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), where he has taught since 1992. Dr. Rasmussen has created a variety of new geoscience offerings since joining the faculty at Annandale, where he mentors a diverse group of students ranging in age from 17 to 70.
Dr. Rasmussen won the NOVA Alumni Federation’s Faculty of the Year Award, and the John H. Moss Award for Excellence in College Teaching from the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. He won a NOVA Presidential Sabbatical Award dedicated to Quaternary paleoclimate research on Lake Issyk-Kul, a remote and deep lake in the central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan. Dr. Rasmussen received a Post-Doctoral Fellowship for investigations of Lake Issyk-Kul from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NATO in 1993, and was one of the first Western geoscientists to live, conduct research, and lecture in this newly independent, formerly Soviet republic.
Dr. Rasmussen’s interests range from oceans to lakes, sedimentation to paleoclimate, with research spanning the Bahamas, Belize, Europe, and Asia. He led four separate research expeditions to Lake Issyk-Kul, which involved SCUBA diving, sediment-coring, and seismic studies of the world’s sixth deepest lake. He has contributed to 26 scientific publications since joining NOVA, and has received many research and educational grants from the NSF and VCCS.
Dr. Rasmussen believes that all students should get out of the classroom and into the field to “study nature, not books.” His many field courses include trips to the Chesapeake Bay, ancient inland seas of West Virginia, and modern coral reefs and active volcanoes of Hawaii. His students have served as research interns, participating in paleoclimate studies at the Smithsonian Institution via grants from the NSF. He recently created Mid-Atlantic Field Geology, a summer course during which teachers learn to use our region as a geological laboratory.
Dr. Rasmussen received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biology-Geology from the University of Rochester, and a Ph.D. in Marine Science from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives near the water in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, where he maintains a front-row seat overlooking the nature that inspires him and his family.
"I believe that all 21st century citizens need to appreciate how the Earth works, and their role in its future. Geoscience is a global subject full of unparalleled grandeur, endless cross-disciplinary linkages, and a depth of history spanning roughly 4.5 billion years – so, there’s a lot to teach."