Jade Knighton, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Science
Office: Natural Sciences Buildin 337
Email: jknighton@wtamu.edu
Phone: 806-651-3871
Professional Profile
Dr. Jade Knighton joined the Department of Natural Sciences in August 2026. She received her B.S. in Geoscience from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2017, an M.S. in Environmental Geosciences from Mississippi State University in 2019, an M.S. in Geology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2023, and a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA in 2026. Dr. Knighton served 2 years as an adjunct professor at Vanguard University of Southern California from 2019-2021, where she taught Soil Science, Physical Geology, and Hydrology. She most recently worked as a Teaching Assistant at UCLA where she taught the Solar System and Planets and Dinosaurs and Their Relatives.
Teaching and Related Service
Dr. Knighton currently teaches environmental science courses in the Department of Natural Sciences, including Wildland Soils, the Environment and Man, Hydrogeology, Fundamentals of Earth Science, and Numerical Methods. She also advises students pursuing degrees in environmental science. Dr. Knighton is a member of the Geological Society of America, the American Geophysical Union, and the Gamma Theta Upsilon Geographical Honor Society, where she regularly presents her research. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Dr. Knighton is an advocate for veteran and military-connected students, having served throughout her graduate career as a mentor in the NSF-funded UCLA Center for Developing Leadership in Science's Veterans in STEM program. Her mentorship activities have resulted in awards from the Hispanic Scholarship Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and the Dallas Geological Society. She continues to actively support undergraduate researchers by mentoring them in her lab. As a Texas native, Dr. Knighton has a deep passion for environmental justice and frequently writes editorials for climate-themed science blog, Climate Currents.
Research and Creative Activity
Dr. Knighton's work focuses on extinct Mesozoic vertebrates. She has worked on giant marine reptiles such as mosasaurs, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and metriorhynchids, as well as coeval shark taxa and non-avian dinosaurs (Maiasaura, Troodon, and Oviraptor). Her work uses fossil tooth enamel and eggshells to estimate body temperature from carbonates using clumped isotope (Δ47) paleothermometry to determine metabolic strategies, as well as carbon (δ13C) and zinc (δ⁶⁶Zn) isotope proxies to study dietary habits in these long-extinct animals. Knighton also uses isotopes to study ancient environments such as that of the Permo-Triassic and K-Pg boundaries. She hopes quantitative temperature constraints of mass extinction events will better inform us as we navigate resource management and changing climates in the Anthropocene.