Jay Zambito
Associate Professor of Geology
Department Chair for Geology
Director of School of Environment & Sustainability
Pronouns: he/him/his
Email: zambitoj@beloit.edu
Phone: 608-363-2223
Office: Room 434, Sanger Center for the Sciences
The courses that I teach at Beloit are directly related to my research interests, which means students in my classes get to take lots of field trips. These courses include include Earth’s Climate: Past and Future, Evolution of the Earth, and Paleontology. I incorporate multi-week projects into my courses to provide hands-on, critical-thinking activities that reinforce lecture material. I also strive for an inclusive classroom and I view our differences as strengths and believe that we can all learn from each other.
My research interests include paleoclimatology, paleontology, and environmental science. These interests lead me to study a variety of questions like: How did climate change cause extinctions in Earth’s past? and, What are the potential environmental impacts related to mining? Since these research interests are multi-disciplinary, I spent time in the field collecting fossils and rock samples as well as the lab studying those fossils and conducting geochemical analysis; you can find more info on my lab group at the Beloit Paleo Lab website.
I spend my free time gardening, cooking, and with family. I make pizza from scratch almost every weekend, and have recently started bottling hot sauce with the different peppers that I grow in my garden.
