Jess Phoenix (born 1982) is an American volcanologist, writer and multimedia personality. She is the Science Ambassador of the

Union of Concerned Scientists The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is a nonprofit science advocacy organization based in the United States. The UCS membership includes many private citizens in addition to professional scientists. Anne Kapuscinski, Professor of Environmenta ...

. She ran as a Democratic candidate for the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

. She is the co-host of the

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

series ''Hunting Atlantis'' and the author of ''Ms. Adventure''.

Early life and education

Phoenix grew up in Colorado, United States, with two parents who are FBI agents. She holds a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in history from

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

and a master's degree in

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

from California State University, Los Angeles, with a thesis titled ''Lava Flow Morphologies and Structural Features Along the Axis of the South Rift Zone of Loihi Seamount, Hawaii''. Phoenix later enrolled in a PhD program with the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...

in Australia studying Mexico's

Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American C ...

range, but withdrew after falling out with her PhD advisor.

Books

Phoenix has written a memoir titled ''Ms. Adventure: My Wild Explorations in Science, Lava, and Life'' published by

Timber Press Workman Publishing Company, Inc., is an American Publishing companies, publisher of Tradebook, trade books founded by Peter Workman. The company is comprised of either Imprint (trade name), imprints: Workman, Workman Children’s, Workman Calenda ...

, a division of Workman Publishing Group, 2021. The book was nominated as a finalist for the 2022 AAAS/

Subaru ( or ; ) is the automaker, automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate (company), conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the Automotive industry#By manufacturer, twenty-first ...

SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books in the category of Young Adult Science.

Media

Phoenix has appeared in the

series ''Trailblazers'' in 2016, ''Devil Sharks'' in 2017, and Science Channel's series ''What on Earth?'' in 2015. In 2021 she was a co-host with Stel Pavlou of the Discovery series ''Hunting Atlantis''. ''Hunting Atlantis'' has been criticized by scientists from the

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

, and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

communities for pseudoscience and misrepresenting history and archaeology for entertainment purposes.

Political career

Phoenix was a candidate in the 2018 election to represent California in the US House of Representatives in the 25th Congressional District in California. She lost in the Democratic primary on June 5, 2018, finishing in fourth place with 6.4% of the vote.

Personal life

Phoenix is married to Carlos Peláez. They both changed their last names to Phoenix in 2012. Together they founded Blueprint Earth, a volunteer-based non-profit focused on cataloging the ecosystem in one square kilometer of the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phoenix, Jess American women television hosts California State University, Los Angeles alumni Smith College alumni 1982 births Living people Television personalities from Colorado Candidates in the 2018 United States elections California Democrats