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Dr. Kellogg grew up on a charter boat in the Virgin Islands with the Caribbean Sea as her backyard, so it was no wonder she pursued a career in marine biology. Chris is a research microbiologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and currently leads an environmental microbiology laboratory specializing in coral microbial ecology. Her research on tropical corals has taken her to the Florida Keys, Caribbean, Hawaii and American Samoa, leading her friends to say that she specializes in ‘resort microbiology.’

Chris has been working in deepwater coral ecosystems since 2004 and considers herself extremely lucky to have had the privilege of visiting them personally using the Delta, Johnson-Sea-Link and Alvin submersibles. She has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed papers as well as a number of book chapters and has given invited keynote talks on both her aerosol microbiology and deep-sea coral microbial work. Chris served as a judge for the $2-million dollar Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE competition to design more accurate pH meters for the deep ocean and the $7-million dollar Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE to develop autonomous undersea mapping technologies. She was elected to the Council Policy Committee of the American Society for °®¶¹´«Ã½ (2012–2016), playing an active role in revamping the communication and governance structures of the organization. Chris is active in shaping the direction of microbiome research in the U.S., having represented the Department of Interior on the Federal Microbiome Interagency Working Group and being a part of the National Microbiome Data Collaborative.