Charles W. Carrigan is a geoscientist and educator.  He has been a professor of geoscience at Olivet Nazarene University since 2004. His passion is to help others see the wonder and value of the Earth, our home.

He completed his bachelor’s degree in geology in 1996 at Olivet Nazarene University, and earned his Master’s degree from Vanderbilt University in 2000.  He pursued a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, defending his dissertation on the Winter solstice in 2004.  He returned to ONU as a professor in 2004 and has remained there since.  

He has given numerous presentations at meetings of the Geological Society of America, and has authored several published journal articles.  His research interests are in deciphering the evolution of mountain belts through the study of minerals and their chemistries.  His M.S. thesis focused on the age & geochemistry of billion year old basement rocks of the Southern Appalachians.  For his dissertation, he focused on Precambrian & Paleozoic rocks in various regions of Bulgaria, comparing and contrasting the rocks of eastern Europe with those of western and central Europe.

He now primarily spends his time as a teacher, working and researching how to improve geoscience education at various scales.  His interests in GeoPhotography, Earth Caching, teaching in the field, and others, all stem from a desire to help others better understand Earth’s processes and past.

He resides with his wife Dana and their four children in Bourbonnais, IL.