Kerstin Lehnert is Doherty Senior Research Scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and Director of the Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance that operates EarthChem, the System for Earth Sample Registration, and the Astromaterials Data System. Kerstin holds a Ph.D in Petrology from the University of Freiburg in Germany.

Kerstin's work has centered on the development of community-driven data infrastructures for the solid Earth sciences and, in particular, on using cyberinfrastructure to improve access and sharing of Earth and space science physical samples and sample-derived data. She led the development of the IGSN Global Sample Number starting in 2004 and has been President of the IGSN implementation organization, the IGSN e.V., since its foundation in 2011. Her new focus is the development of the Internet of Samples (iSamples), a multi-institutional and multidisciplinary project funded by the US NSF, and the Astromaterials Data System for NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Kerstin is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Geophysical Union and president of the IGSN e.V. She was chair of the EarthCube Leadership Council from (2015 - 2018), member of the NSF Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure (2012 - 2016), President of the Earth and Space Science Informatics Focus Group of the American Geophysical Union (2015 - 2016), and chair of the Geoinformatics Division of the Geological Society of America (2012 - 2014). She co-chairs the ESIP COPDESS Cluster, and the RDA Interest Groups Domain Repositories and Physical Samples and Collection in the Research Data Ecosystem.

Kerstin received the Ian McHarg Medal of the EGU in 2018 and the Outstanding Contributions to Geoinformatics Award of the GSA in 2017, as well as the Distinguished Service Award of the Geochemical Society.