Dr. Chad Yost

Dr. Chad Yost
Assistant Professor
Earth and Environmental Systems, Department of
Arts and Sciences, College of
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Education

  • Ph.D. - Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson - 2019
  • M.S. - Geography, Saint Cloud State University - 2007
  • B.S. - Biology, University of Minnesota - 1995

Professional Webpage

https://chadyost.weebly.com

Licensures and Certifications

Teaching Interests

  • ENVI-110 (Intro to Environmental Science), ENVI-170 (Intro to Earth Science), ENVI-270 (Earth History), ENVI-389 (Global Climate Change), ENVI-389 (Intro to Field Methods), ENVI-479/579 (Microfossils in the Earth and Archaeological Sciences), GEOG-615 (Modes of Climate Variability)

Intellectual Contributions

  • Plio-Pleistocene environmental variability in Africa and its implications for mammalian evolution - PNAS - 2022
  • Reconstructing the Environmental Context of Human Origins in East Africa through Scientific Drilling - Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences - 2022
  • Reconstructing the Environmental Context of Human Origins in East Africa through Scientific Drilling - Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences - 2022
  • Orbital influence on precipitation, fire, and grass community composition from 1.87 to 1.38 Ma in the Turkana Basin, Kenya - Frontiers in Earth Science - 2021
  • Late Pleistocene shasta ground sloth (Xenarthra) dung, diet, and environment from the Sierra Viejo, Presidio County, Texas - Texas Journal of Science - 2021

Presentations

  • Why are there phytoliths in my diatom samples, and what can I do with them? . 26th North American Diatom Symposium, 2022.
  • Phytoliths and microcharcoal reveal Earth’s orbital influence on Plio-Pleistocene eastern African savannas.. Rast-Holbrook Seminar , 2022.
  • Phytolith and microcharcoal records from the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project reveal eastern African savanna dynamics during the Plio-Pleistocene. UConn-Stony Brook University Archaeology Lecture Series (Invited talk), 2022.

Contract, Fellowship, Grant or Sponsored Research

  • Contract: Wild rice (Zizania palustris) population reconstruction from Lac Vieux Desert lake sediments - US Army Corps of Engineers 2021 - 2022. Funded - $12,000

Research Interests

  • Paleoenvironmental reconstructions, Paleoclimatology, Archaeobotany, Archaeology, Paleoanthropology, Plant microfossils
ENVI-110: Introduction to Environmental Science
ENVI-170: Introduction to Earth Science
ENVI-270: Earth History
ENVI-497/597: Microfossils in the Earth and Archaeological Sciences
GEOG-615: Modes of Climate Variability

Ph.D. ­– Geosciences, University of Arizona, 2019

M.S. – Geography, Saint Cloud State University, 2007

B.S. – Biology, University of Minnesota, 1995

  • No support for Plio-Pleistocene environmental variability driving mammalian macroevolution in eastern Africa - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - 2022
  • Reconstructing the environmental context of human origins in eastern Africa through scientific drilling - Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences – 2022
  • A phytolith supported biosphere-hydrosphere predictive model for southern Ethiopia: Insights into paleoenvironmental changes and human landscape preferences since the Last Glacial Maximum - Geosciences - 2021
  • Orbital influence on precipitation, fire, and grass community composition From 1.87 to 1.38 Ma in the Turkana Basin, Kenya - Frontiers in Earth Science - 2021
  • Late Pleistocene shasta ground sloth (Xenarthra) dung, diet, and environment from the Sierra Viejo, Presidio County, Texas - Texas Journal of Science - 2021
  • Phytoliths and microcharcoal from the Baringo Basin, Kenya reveal savanna dynamics during the Plio-Pleistocene transition - Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology - 2021
  • An in situ and morphometric study of maize (Zea mays L.) cob rondel phytoliths from Southwestern North American landraces - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports - 2021
  • Diatom microfossils in archeological settings - Handbook for the Analysis of Micro-particles in Archaeology - 2020
  • The contents of a complete vessel found in southeast New Mexico - Late Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers and Farmers of the Jornada Mogollon - 2018
  • Subdecadal phytolith and charcoal records from Lake Malawi, East Africa imply minimal effects on human evolution from the ∼74 ka Toba supereruption - Journal of Human Evolution - 2018
  • Pollen and phytolith paleoecology in the St. Louis River Estuary, Minnesota, USA, with special consideration of Zizania palustris L. - Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology - 2017
  • Corn, beer, and marine resources at Casas Grandes, Mexico: an analysis of prehistoric diets using microfossils recovered from dental calculus - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports - 2017