Racine Cleveland, a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and a native of Prague, Oklahoma, has earned a doctoral degree from the University of Arkansas, becoming the first in her family to receive a Ph.D.
Cleveland previously earned a bachelor’s degree in geography from Oklahoma State University in 2019 and a master’s degree from the University of Arkansas in 2021. Throughout her college career, she received support from the Choctaw Nation Higher Education Program scholarship.
Her research focuses on planetary surfaces and atmospheres, using spacecraft imagery to study how landscapes reveal long-term atmospheric activity. Cleveland studies ice features at the south pole of Mars and sand dunes on Titan, which help scientists understand how wind, ice and climate shape planetary environments over time. During graduate school, Cleveland presented research at scientific conferences in Canada and Italy and conducted fieldwork in Namibia’s Namib Sand Sea, an Earth analog for Titan’s dunes.
Cleveland said her interest in space began when she looked through a telescope with her father as a child. She is also a descendant of Gilbert Wesley Duke, who served as chief of the Choctaw Nation from 1900 to 1902.
Her doctoral research was funded by NASA through the Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) Program. She has published research on Mars and has additional work under review focusing on Titan.
Cleveland will next serve as a postdoctoral research fellow at Boise State University, where she will mentor undergraduate students studying planetary science and participate in outreach programs that bring telescope nights and space education to local schools.
She said she hopes to continue researching planetary science while encouraging young students to pursue careers in science.
“I am proud to represent my Choctaw heritage, my hometown and my family,” Cleveland said.