Jill Pasteris

Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences

Jill Pasteris is a Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and a member of the Institute for Materials Science and Engineering at Washington University, where she has taught since 1980. She is an applied mineralogist whose main research focuses on the mineral component of bone and on mineralogical approaches to environmental concerns, such as prevention of lead poisoning from drinking water that is transported through lead pipes. Professor Pasteris also is interested in the history of the science of geology and the religious outlooks of the early practitioners in this field, a number of whom were ordained ministers. She has given public talks on the compatibility of Christian thought and the scientific pursuit of geology. For many years, she and Professor Douglas Wiens, another core faculty member, have jointly taught a course on “Ideas and Controversies in the Geosciences,” which traces the development of and changes in geologic thought over the past few centuries.

Professor Pasteris earned an A.B. in geology from Bryn Mawr College, PA, and a Ph.D. in geology from Yale University, CT. She attends St. Paul’s Evangelical Church. She and her husband live in the St. Louis area and have two grown daughters.

Contact Jill Pasteris here.