Steven Semken is a geoscience education researcher and ethnogeologist who works at the intersection of Earth science with cognitive science and human geography. He studies cultural and affective influences on geoscience learning, with the objective of better engaging the diverse communities of the southwestern United States in the Earth and space sciences. Semken and his students are currently engaged in projects that include the effective leverage of sense of place in geoscience teaching, characterization of ethnogeologic concepts from American Indian and Latino cultures for use in place-based curricula, development and testing of national-scale models for K-12 teacher preparation, and preconceptions research to enhance informal geoscience education for southwestern National Parks and the EarthScope Project.

Semken is a collaborator in the ASU Center for Research on Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (CRESMET), and a Past-President of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers.